Page 62 of Fanged Desire
“Yeah.” I raked my hand through my hair, frustration with the situation and with myself steadily building. “Working on it.”
“I’ve already inspected this place.” Addison murmured, biting her lip as she looked around the room. “It doesn’t exactly offer any easy exits.”
I glanced around too, noticing how meticulously the room was designed for containment, fighting down the creeping fatigue and keeping my expression calm. “Well, yeah. It’s meant to keep people in.”
“Then what do we do?”
I clenched my fists and stalked over to the walls, running my hands over the cold surface, searching for any weak spot, any gap. But the walls were solid, built to keep anything from getting out.
"Damn it.” I pressed my palms to the walls, trying and failing to calm the roar in my head. “I should have… I should havetoldsomeone, Jordan, Maxine – anyone.”
I cursed again, anger and frustration bubbling over as I swung my foot into the wall, the impact reverberating painfully up my leg. “I shouldn’t have rushed in. I shouldn’t have fucked up Esmerelde. They’re all gonna know what I did – they’re gonna –Fuck!”
My voice rose, louder and louder, and I kicked at the wall again. “But I ran in blindlike I always doand now here we are, trapped in some psychotic laboratory and nobody knows how to find us.”
I spun around to face Addison again, throwing my arms up, shame and fury written plainly on my face. “So in other words – I’m an idiot, and we are royallyfuckedbecause of it."
"Hunter, hey, it’s okay. We’ll get out of here.” Addison approached slowly, hands raised like I was some sort of wounded animal she wanted to tame.
Her words were gentle but rang hollow to my ears. She’d been waiting here, waiting for me to rescue her, and all I’d done was make the situation worse. I’d failed her, like I knew I would – failed everybody – and then I had the audacity to act surprised about it.
Addison was edging closer, reaching for my hand. “Just… breathe. Okay? We’ll think of something."
But when she stood right in front of me the heat of anger and guilt gave way to something else, something primal, as a scent drifted toward me, sharp and intoxicating.
My body seized with a sudden wave of hunger, ripping through me with a violent intensity. I slapped a hand over my mouth, stumbling back as the craving pulsed through me, my senses zeroing in on her for all the wrong reasons.
Addison looked at me, confused, taking a small step forward. "Hunter? What’s wrong? What’s going on?"
My pulse pounded and I took a ragged breath, doing everything I could to resist the scent of her, the warmth of her skin, the suddenly tantalizing pulse of her heartbeat.
“Nothing! I just – I got tased, it scrambled my brain a little.” I managed a small, reassuring grin, masking the mounting discomfort tearing at me from the inside. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Really? Because you look like you’re about to keel over.”
I laughed, but it came out thin. “Rough day.”
I wanted to hold her gaze, to reassure her with some easy quip, but I could feel my control slipping. She watched me with such open, unguarded curiosity that I couldn’t help but feel another stinging pang of guilt. She had no idea what I was, what I needed just to function.
What I needed…
It hit me like a freight train. This was a hunger pang, pure and undeniable.
In all the time I’d been spending with Addison, I’d skipped multiple feeding sessions with Caden, convincing myself that it was fine, that I’d manage. But I needed fresh blood. I could feel the ache gnawing at me already, a weakness creeping in around the edges of my resolve.
My gaze flicked to Addison, and a shiver of dread settled in my stomach as the desperation clawed its way up my spine. I pushed away from the wall, taking a few steadying breaths.
Addison stepped closer, her hand reaching out to rest on my arm again, her voice tinged with concern. “Hunter, if there’s something wrong, you can tell me. I won’t freak out or anything.”
I assessed the situation in my head. I was trapped in this cell, no contact with the outside world, and the only other person here was Addison, whose pulse was a maddening, tempting beat in my ears.
“Trust me.” I glanced at her, hysterical laughter straining my voice. “You really don’t want to know.”
Chapter 22
Addison
It had been hours since Hunter and I had been trapped, and the silence was wearing on us both. What was left of Hunter's usual ease was slipping into something... frantic. Her movements were sharper, more restless. She kept her distance, pacing back and forth at the opposite end of the room. Her gaze would flick to me occasionally, then away, fighting some internal battle I couldn’t see.
