Page 35 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Tuesday

Emma

Callum’s gaze turned dark as he lowered his lips to my neck.

My heart was beating out of control. Which only made his eyes turn blacker.

“Callum.” My voice was barely a whisper. “I think you need the handcuffs.”

He didn’t listen as his lips brushed against my neck.

“Callum. The handcuffs.”

“Baby.” His teeth gently grazed my flesh. “Do you really think I waited ten years for just a little taste? I want all of it.”

I knew he wasn’t himself right now. He didn’t know what he was saying. “The handcuffs,” I said more firmly and tried to reach for them.

But he put his hand around my throat to stop me. “You’re done restraining me from what I want most.”

I tried to scream, but he tightened his grip and bit into my neck hard.

“Baby.” He shook me. “Emma? What’s wrong?”

“You’re hurting me,” I choked. But I knew he didn’t care. He wanted me to hurt. He wanted all of me.

He shook me harder. “Emma. Wake up.”

I sat up with a start. I reached up and wiped the sheen of sweat off my forehead. It was just a dream. A nightmare. I knew it, yet I was still having trouble catching my breath.

Callum had a tortured look on his face. But it wasn’t because he was devouring my blood. He was sitting there calmly, staring at me. “Did you have a bad dream?” he asked.

“It was nothing.” My fingers touched the side of my neck. There was a bruise there from the other day. And I’d wanted it. I’d asked for it.

Callum lowered his eyebrows. “It wasn’t nothing. Tell me.”

I’d never been scared of him. Well, not since I first found out he was a vampire. I trusted him. He’d never hurt me. “It was just a stupid dream.”

“About?”

“Nothing.”

“Emma. Tell me.”

“It was stupid. I dreamed that you were...losing control. And I couldn’t get you to put on your handcuffs.” I stared at them hanging off one of the four posts of his bed.

“I’d never hurt you.”

Purposefully. I shook the thought away. “I know. It was just a silly dream.”

“It’s not silly.” He sighed. “Lying here while you’re sleeping...my thoughts sometimes do wander.”

“To...me?”

“For so long my thirst was all I thought about. It’s a bad habit. To look at you sleeping and think how easy it would be to satisfy that thirst.”

I just stared at him.

“But I’d never hurt you,” he said again, more firmly this time. “I think watching you sleep has helped me more than I realized. You usually look so peaceful. So pristine and pure. I’d never want to take such beauty out of the world. Watching you grounds me.”

Watching me sleep also tempted him though. “I didn’t realize you sat there all night with a battle raging in your head.”

“A battle easily won. Besides, it’ll all be over on Saturday.”

I swallowed hard. The way he said it sounded so final. And that was what I was worried about. The end. Of him. Of us. I didn’t want it to all be over. I threw myself into his arms.

He laughed, the tension of the discussion drifting off of him.

I nestled my face against his chest. “Can we just stay in bed all day?”

“I’m not opposed. But your phone has been buzzing like crazy.”

“It’s probably Zoey.” I reached over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. I had a million texts from her. But I was focused on the last one. “Crap. She’s on her way over...” The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard the doorbell ring.

“Go.” Callum lightly swatted my ass. “I’ll make you two coffee.”

“You’re the best fiancé in the world.” I kissed his cheek.

We both climbed out of bed. I quickly got dressed as he just pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants.

One of my favorite things about living with him was seeing him in outfits like that every morning. I hurried downstairs and answered the door.

Zoey looked very frustrated as she stormed inside .

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“No I’m not alright. Why haven’t you answered any of my calls or texts?”

“I was asleep...”

“We have a huge problem. We put it up to a vote and Titan and I were the only ones that wanted to torture her. I can’t believe it. Since when have only Titan and I been on the same page?”

I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Sorry...who do you and Titan want to torture?”

“Kebe. She’s obviously responsible for making Bennett’s friends go missing.”

I sighed. “Zoey. We’ve been over this.”

“We haven’t been over anything. I caught her red-handed last night...” her voice trailed off as Callum walked in with two cups of coffee.

“Hey, Zoey,” he said with a smile.

I knew his hearing was good. Had he heard all of that? Because no, I didn’t fully trust Kebe. But I was trying my best to be supportive of Callum’s decision to take the cure. I was trusting him. Even if I couldn’t trust her.

“Hey,” Zoey said.

Callum handed me a coffee mug and then he offered the second cup to Zoey.

“Thank you.” She took a sip. For just a second her eyes grew round. And then she squinted at him. “This is good.”

“Thank you?” he said.

“Too good, actually. I thought vampires didn’t like human food or drinks. Why are you so good at making coffee when you don’t drink it? ”

I laughed. “Because he asked me how I liked it and I told him.”

“Oh.” Zoey still stared at him skeptically. “So you don’t like coffee?”

“Not even a little,” Callum said.

“You haven’t grown a fondness for it over the years?”

“No,” he said.

“What about a tolerance?”

“I really don’t like it at all.”

“Maybe you just need to try it again? To see if you enjoy it. After a couple of hundred years, tastes evolve, right?” She lifted her cup toward him.

“I promise my tastes haven’t evolved. What I tolerate is animal blood. Coffee and other human food?” He shook his head. “It’s like cardboard.”

“You’re sure? Cardboard?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. It’s disgusting.”

“I knew it!” she said. “This is great. I’m going to go to the bank real quick and talk to the guys again. We need another vote.”

For torturing Kebe? “Zoey, what the heck is going on?” I asked.

Zoey looked at Callum and then back at me. “Could we maybe talk in private?”

“Whatever you’re about to say, I think Callum should probably hear it too.”

“Okay. But Callum, you can’t be mad at me. Kebe is evil and I have so much proof.”

“I’m listening,” Callum said instead of immediately telling her she was wrong.

“I had Kebe over last night to taste test the food for your wedding. ”

“Odd choice. She’s also a vampire so I wouldn’t trust her opinion on human food unless you were serving blood sausages.”

“But that’s the thing. She was really into it.

And obviously it wasn’t blood sausages we were testing.

Gross. She said she’s grown a tolerance for human food over the years.

And she ate a lot of stuff. And apparently she really likes Greek food for some reason?

I don’t know. But she ate everything like she was enjoying it.

I even told her she didn’t need to. She dove right in though.

” Zoey turned to me. “We’re doing the chicken and mashed potatoes by the way. ”

I shook my head.

“I promise it’s good.”

“I’m not disagreeing with that,” I said. “The chicken will be fine. I’m just confused. Are you sure she really enjoyed it?”

“Positive.”

“Huh.” Callum folded his arms across his chest. “She’s been around a lot longer than me though. Maybe it is possible to stop wanting blood?”

“No, she kept saying she still liked blood. She made jokes about using blood instead of gravy. And she said she’d had a ton of blood for lunch already.”

Callum frowned. “Whose blood?”

“What?”

“Whose blood has she been drinking? I told her she couldn’t do that in this town.”

Zoey shrugged. “I have no idea. She didn’t say. But she has mentioned drinking animal blood before.”

“I should probably talk to her about this again,” Callum said. “The last thing we need is for someone to go missing. We’re making roots in this town. I don’t want to be forced to move.”

“That is all very concerning,” Zoey said. “But can we focus on the her eating human food and loving it? Because I think that means she’s not a vampire.”

“I agree,” I said. “That’s very suspicious.” I couldn’t help it. I was trying to be supportive of Callum, but this was odd behavior.

“We don’t know any other vampires though,” Callum said. “Maybe the thirst for blood really does fade over time, allowing us to enjoy normal food with only an occasional indulgence of blood. I had no idea it was possible.” He actually looked excited about the thought.

Zoey sighed. “Okay, fine. Say that it is possible if you’re a bajillion years old. Whatever. But Emma already told you about the disappearing thing, right? Because I think that’s the only proof we need. Vampires aren’t that fast.”

Oh shit. Of course I hadn’t told Callum about that!

I was trying to be on his side! I’d asked him about vampire speed in the middle of a bunch of other questions so he wouldn’t suspect that I was fishing for information about Kebe.

Zoey had already brought up the disappearing thing at the bank when we first confronted Kebe.

But Callum had been talking to Bennett during that part of the conversation.

I sighed, because what else could I do? At least it wasn’t me talking about being suspicious of Kebe.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Callum said.

Zoey looked at me. “But you told me you talked about vampire speed. And how it creates a blur to the human eye. ”

“We did talk about that,” Callum said. “But not in the context of Kebe. What is this about disappearing?”

“The girl disappears,” Zoey said. “She doesn’t blur. She completely vanishes into thin air.”

Callum frowned. “That’s not possible. Have you gotten your eyes checked recently? I know humans are supposed to go to the eye doctor every year.”

“I’m not the only one who’s seen it. Grudge has too.”

“Grudge?”

God, this was too much information for this early in the morning. I took a sip of my coffee.

“Yeah, Grudge. One of my sex clients that Emma invited to your wedding.”

I spit out my coffee.

Callum raised his eyebrow at me.