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Chapter Fifty-Five

LUNA

I jam my feet into my Keds and go into the hall, then remember it’s cold outside. I really don’t want to get dressed. I want to be with him now . Sooner.

The closet has a few things in it, one of which is a heavy-duty black pullover hoodie. I.B.E.W is printed on the back in white, over a fist catching lightning bolts.

“Perfect.” I put it over my head on the way to Serafina’s room.

The knob won’t turn. Locked. Putting my ear to the door, I hear her snoring. After a light rap, I whisper against the wood.

“Serafina, it’s me.” I rap again. The soft snores continue. “Let me in.” Rap, rap . “I just need to walk through.”

I try a couple more times, but her breaths don’t even break rhythm. Shit. Maybe this is a sign. It’s a bad idea. I should just forget it. It’s not as if I won’t see Carmine again. Just not tonight.

Like hell. I’m up already, out of bed, and finishing what I started. On stealthy silent feet, I make my way down the stairs to the living room.

The curtains are drawn across the glass doors to the patio overlooking Central Park North, cutting the light into a shining rectangle around them. Everything else is in deep shadow.

This is how I convince myself there’s no one in the room with me.

I take an orange from the bowl and wait to feel him. It’s just an orange. I pocket it, then reach for the seam between the curtains, but before I can pull them open, a voice comes from behind me.

“Luna.”

I gasp and spin to see a tall shadow coming toward me. Only the glints in their eyes tell me they’re human. I blink, trying to get my vision to adjust. They stop. I see the contours of dark cheekbones.

“Alex?”

“I wouldn’t go with him tonight.” The cameo Carmine gave me glows in the night’s light.

“He won’t hurt me.”

They sigh. “He probably will, but not tonight.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you were born to hurt each other.” When they come a little closer, the refracted light reveals an old scar on their neck that a shirt collar hid before. It’s too dark to tell if it’s a vampire bite or something else. “And you will. You will. But tonight, you are under our protection.”

“So, you won’t let me go?”

They shake their head. “We can protect you from everything but bad decisions.”

I laugh a little. “My mother tried to do that. Ask her how that went.”

“You’ve been scented. You will be sought. You will be found. Carmine is in no condition to protect you against the forces that want you.”

That gives me pause. I’m sure Alex is right. I don’t have all the information, and I have none of the power. If I was forced to bet between the two of us, I’d wager my entire Amex against myself.

None of that matters when I can feel him behind the curtain. Yes, it’s the thrall that makes him feel so present, but it’s also not. He asked, and it was me who answered.

“But I already decided,” I say with an apology.

“You did.”

I put my hand on the edge of the curtain, then stop myself to ask one question. “What do you see? Maybe you have some magic advice?”

“I’m just a human. Not even a witch.” They drape a thin-fingered hand on my arm. “Just be careful.”

“Okay.”

They step back into a corner of the room that’s so dark that when I open the curtains to the three-quarter moon and the city lights, they’re gone.

And outside, in the geometric center of the patio, with his feet far apart and his arms crossed, Carmine stands as if the entire structure was built as a pedestal for him.

He holds out his hand to me, and I slide open the door.