Page 35 of Sleepless Beauties
“Y-yeah,” he says on an unsteady exhale.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
His palm skims over my stomach and he holds me. My instinct is to shove him off me, but… it feels like the most natural reassuring thing in the world to have him close.
It feelsgood.
“Will I have a mark where you bit me? Do I need to cover it for a while?”
I think back to the things I left behind in my apartment. Concealer is in my old life. And these flawless fuckers probably can’t even fathom needing an under eye cream or even a smidge of makeup coverage.
“Hopefully fucking not.”
Ah, there’s that asshole tone I’ve grown used to hearing.
“Okay,” I whisper, turning my head this way and that, but not feeling any stiffness where his fangs pierced my skin.
Maybe vampires have a quick healing saliva or some magical shit. Maybe Prey just spits on me a little and no one will know an assistant spent the night feeding on a high council vampire.
“Can any of them read minds?” I ask, suddenly nervous. But seeing as we’re both locked up in this tomb, it feels like now is as good a time as any to vent all of my curious questions.
“No,” he says with a heavy sigh.
God, why is he suddenly acting like he has a lot of shit to do today?
He is an assistant. He probablydoeshave a lot of shit to do.
That’s too bad for him. I need answers.
“Why is it that I’m on the council, but you’re just an assistant? What makes someone worthy of the High Council of vampires?”
This draws another annoyed sigh out of Prey.
“Power. Once you’re turned, your powers, strengths and abilities can vary greatly. You —I mean Kyra— was averypowerful vampire. She was just as strong as Rival, that’s why they got along so well.”
“And they were… mates?”
“What? No! Fuck no. If they were, he probably would have cared enough about her to protect her more.”
Ouch. Hostility is truly his forte.
Another angry breath heaves from his lungs, but he continues.
“Kyra and Rival were friends. He let people believe it was more because he knew people didn’t screw with her if he claimed her. But she wanted friends. She would never admit it to the others, but she wanted to feel like she once did when she was alive. She wanted some sense of normalcy in this undead world. And Rival saw that in her. He befriended her when she only had me.” A heavy pause drifts in between us before he speaks like a ghost of a word. “But neither of us were there for her when she needed us the most.”
My heart drops, and I hate that I can relate to the bloodthirsty monster so much right now.
I should have been there for Kyra. There were so many times I wasn’t there for my twin the way she was for me.
“What about Cardence?” I think about how he taunted me, and how I saw him act terribly with Kyra once before. He saw right through me. “Were the two of them ever more?”
Prey’s scoff fans across my skin and I find myself suddenly brushing my fingers along the back of his knuckles.
I blink at that and pull my hand away stiffly.
“Everyone hates Cardence. He’s fucking depressing. He’s unique, and a cocky prick because of it. He’s an energy vampire. Kyra hated him just as much as we all do.”
Then how did he know?
