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“Leave? What? Why? I thought we were… you know. Uh…” I look back at the bedroom. “Doing stuff.”

Because I really want that stuff to continue. Damn my brother for interrupting!

“I need to go. I can’t say here. I’m not thinking straight. I need to eat.”

“I can feed you!” I say, taking a few steps into the kitchen.

He gets to his feet and runs a hand through his wet hair. “No, I told you. I can’t drink human bl—”

“I’m not human!” I shout, though I didn’t mean to say it so loud. I clear my throat. “I’m not human, so you can feed from me… right?”

He blinks a few times, looking me up and down. He shakes his head. “I can’t.” He pushes past me.

“Why not?” I call after him. “If you’re hungry, I have blood. Lots of it, inside my body. You can have all—okay, maybe not all of it, but you can have whatever I don’t need to stay alive.”

He turns to look at me, brow furrowed and a frown on his lips. I have no idea what he’s thinking, and I hate that I can’t figure it out.

“You’re married,” he says sternly.

What the hell does that have to do with him eating?

“Why does that matter?”

“You don’t understand! I’m starving. I already lost control in there,” he points to the bedroom, “with you and that soul sucking toy. There is no doubt in my mind I’ll lose control again, and I can’t let that happen, because you are married.”

“But—”

“No buts!” He throws his arms up and spins around. “Roger, where the hell are you?” he calls, stepping into the bedroom and getting on his hands and knees to look under the bed for his alien. Hopefully, he stays good and hidden, because Felix will not leave without finding that damn cat. So, maybe it’s a good thing he’s missing.

I could tell him I saw him head toward the basement, but I’m not going to do that.

I step into the bedroom. “I don’t want to be married,” I say, hoping that’ll help things.

“And I don’t want my cat to be missing, but here we are.”

He gets up and pops his head into the bathroom.

“He’s not missing. He’s just… hiding.”

Felix glares as he turns to face me. “Well, you actually are married, so—”

“You don’t understand!” I shout at him, repeating the words he said to me only a short time ago. “He’s not a good person. He’s… evil. And I know that’s crazy because he’s a demon, and most demons are, but he’s like really evil. I… I didn’t agree to the marriage. He just took me, and forced me to marry him, and that’s… that’s why I’m here because I’m trying to get away from him, but living up here is hard. There are so many things and rules and laws and I don’t know what to do but I can’t go back. I can’t let him find me.”

I’m panting by the time I’m done, wondering where all of that came from. I hadn’t meant to let loose all of that information. I’m not usually so emotional when it comes to this stuff, but I guess the thought of Xadrian finding me and taking me back has me crazy.

Felix stares at me for a long time. So long I think maybe he’s turned into a statue somehow.

Can vampires do that?

Finally he speaks. And when he does, his words come out so softly, I barely hear them.

“He forced you?”

How is it this man has so many inflections and tones in just one voice? It’s like magic.

“Yeah, but I mean, it’s not a big deal. It happens all the time in Hell.” I shrug, then look down at my feet, unable to meet his eyes.

His feet come into view, and when I look up, he’s standing right in front of me.