Page 56 of Blood Submission

“No. It’s safer for you here.” He went over to get his boots.

“But what if it’snot?”

He stopped, looked back over his shoulder, and then he was suddenly in front of her. The heat of his chest made her breasts tingle, even through their clothes, the warm masculine scent of him heady in the small space. Vampires were not cold at all. Tilting her face up, he leaned down until his lips were but an inch from hers. “We will talk more. Later. For now, I need you to trust me, and do as I say.” His eyes bore into hers with a possession that was frightening in its intensity.

“Okay,” she breathed.

“But be ready. Just in case.” He kissed her gently, his lips soft and warm on hers, then he released her and finished putting his bootson.

Beginning to feel really scared now, Laney also put on her shoes. After what he’d recently admitted to her, she knew he wouldn’t be taking her out of here unless there was a very good reason. One that threatened one or both of their lives.

“Do you have a jacket in there?” he asked, indicating her backpack on the floor.

She shook her head. “No.”

“I’ll get you something upstairs if I need to come getyou.”

“Okay,” she said again.

He stared at her as if he wanted to say more, but was uncertain as to whether he should. Laney didn’t press him, knowing by the look on his face that he would either tell her or he wouldn’t. He made to leave, stopped, and turned back again.

“The room that you found, the one where you got the knife.” He paused.

Laney didn’t want to ask, she really didn’t, but she needed to know. Shoving her hands in her front pockets, she shifted her weight nervously. “What happens in that room, Dante?”

His expression hardened. “What do you think happens in that room, little mouse?”

“I’d prefer to hear it from you.” Laney waited. Waited for him to tell her that all of that stuff was here when he’d moved in. Waited for him to tell her that he didn’t use the diabolical equipment in there. Waited for him to tell her that people weren’t tortured and killed by his hands. That he was a collector. That he had a good reason for thatroom.

He gave her none of those things. Offered no excuses. Displayed no regret.

“The bench, the one with the leather straps in the back corner. There’s a hidden latch under the front end. If you release it, you can lift the seat to reveal a tunnel that I dug out. There’s a ladder, but be careful. It will take you all the way out to the Puget Sound, if you find the need to run…for any reason.”

He was giving her a way out. A way to escape. “What is it exactly that I should be afraidof?”

He was in front of her again, running the tips of his fingers down her cheek. But all he said was, “No one will hurt you, little mouse.”

“Includingyou?”

“I am what I am, Laney. And I’ll make no apologies forit.”

A vampire. A beautiful, seductive killer.

As she watched him leave, she took a shaky breath and tried to calm her racing pulse. He looked back over his shoulder once, running his eyes up and down her form, and then he wasgone.

* * *

Laney’s accusingeyes haunted Dante as he walked down the hall to Luukas’s, pulling a clean shirt over his head. He halted in front of the door, one eyebrow lifting in surprise that it wasn’t attached to its hinges, but rather propped haphazard in the doorframe. Moving it out of the way, he let himself into Luukas’s apartment. They were all gathered there waiting for him, lounging silently on the overstuffed furniture. Except for Christian, who was sitting on the fireplace near Ryan’s chair.

“Where is Laney?” Emma asked him from the couch she shared with Nikulas.

It appeared they’d been talking without him. “She’s none of your concern,” he toldher.

The look of surprise that flashed across her features was quickly replaced by a stubborn skew to her jaw that he was becoming well acquainted with from these witches. “She is so my concern, you big oaf. She’s family.”

Big oaf?Dante cocked a half-amused eyebrow at the female.

“Em.” Nik put his hand on her knee. “I guarantee that she’s fine.” He looked up at Dante, daring him to say differently. “Isn’t that right?”

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