Page 33 of Captive
“Yeah, well, fuck you too,” Dean muttered.
I sighed heavily. I’d hoped that their ability to put their differences aside might mean they’d eventually come to actually get along, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, if ever.
“Well, you don’t even know what I am and you’re both tolerant of me,” I said.
“That’s different,” Alistair said. When I glanced over, he was facing me, a faint smile on his lips.
“How so?”
“Because it doesn’t matter what you are,” he answered. “You’re good.”
“I’m here for a reason, just like everyone else,” I reminded him. “I must have done something pretty fucking bad to get this,” I said, looking down at my mark.
“Maybe,” he murmured, brushing his fingertips across the ink. His touch made me shiver, and I was worried he’d get the wrong idea… or the right one. “But I’m sure you had a reason.”
“That’s wishful thinking.”
His smile widened. “I guess I am a bit biased. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what you did. It wouldn’t change what I feel.”
“Yeah, not like you can scare us,” said Dean.
“Maybe I should,” I reasoned. “I could be something horrible. Like a demon.”
“You’re not a demon,” Alistair said confidently.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because I have math class with one. You don’t smell like brimstone.”
“Oh,” I murmured. Should have figured they’d be here, too. Then again, given the nature of demons, what exactly did one have to do to land in supernatural prison?
“You smell like nothing I’ve ever smelled before,” Dean mused. “You smell like wildflowers, only they aren’t flowers I’ve ever encountered.”
“That’s almost poetic,” Alistair said in a tone of false admiration. “Did you get that out of a cookie?”
Dean glared viciously at him. “You shut your mouth. You know she smells like flowers, and you know they’re not flowers you’ve ever smelled.”
I pursed my lips to stifle a laugh, since I was pretty sure he had no idea why the things he said were funny and it would just hurt his feelings.
“Yes, she smells like flowers,” Alistair finally conceded. He muttered, almost as an afterthought, “Her blood especially.”
His words made me feel conflicting emotions, especially after he’d tasted my blood earlier. I wasn’t sure what the typical reaction for a vampire thinking you were delicious was, but I doubted it was supposed to be arousal. Or that I was supposed to be blushing.
Dean seemed to notice because he gave Alistair a dangerous look. “You’d better settle for smelling it, ‘cause you aren’t gonna taste it. Ever.”
Alistair looked like he wanted to say something, but he held it back. I could imagine what it was, too, and I wasn’t sure if he was holding back on my account, or because he knew Dean would flip. Either way, I was grateful.
“Sure,” Alistair muttered.
Dean seemed satisfied by his response and drew a blanket over me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me in close. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him bite you in the night,” he mumbled into my ear.
I thought of pulling away, but it felt nice to be pressed against his warm body, his strong arms enveloping me securely. His scent was comforting, too. I wasn’t sure how it smelled to vampires, or if Alistair was just being dramatic, but it was pleasant enough to me. “I’m not worried,” I sighed, snuggling in.
Dean seemed surprised, and I could feel his steady heartbeat pounding away a bit harder. His fingers were in my hair, stroking absently, and I found myself wondering if the bliss I felt had something to do with the fact that he really had imprinted on me. I’d felt the same way when Alistair drank my blood, and as impossible as it seemed, everything that happened just lent more credence to the fact that they had both imprinted.
I wasn’t even fully sure what that meant, but I couldn’t deny, it felt good to have that strong of a tie to someone, let alone two people I’d already grown to trust. It made up for the isolation that came with having no tether to my past, or anyone in it, save for the cult.
Being this close had to be hard for him. For both of them, really, but werewolves seemed to have a much harder time curbing their instincts than vampires did if they were both representative of their respective species. Even I couldn’t deny that their close proximity stirred feelings that were both new and overwhelming.
