Addict (Hunter #2)(10)

I blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath as I let go of the vision.

“She’s out,” the man named Hugo said. He was a thickly muscled man with a broad smile. “Hello, Ms. Owens. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m Hugo Wells. Your trainer is a good friend of mine.”

My hands were shaking. I’d meditated before, but never under duress. It seemed I had some adrenaline pumping through my system.

Hugo Wells drew my hands into his large ones, rubbing them briskly. I felt his warmth. It was a little like when Marcus touched me, but not anywhere near as strong.

“You’re an academic.”

“I am,” he replied surely. He was an attractive man who appeared to be roughly forty years old, but he was a vampire so he could be a thousand for all I knew. He had blue eyes and salt and pepper hair. “You’ll stop shaking in a moment or two. It’s an aftereffect of the intense meditation.” His kind face smiled on me, and I could feel a wave of satisfaction being pushed my way. I might shield against that from another vampire, but I’d come to trust academics. Hugo was trying to give me what I needed. “You did a damn fine job, Ms. Owens. You were able to go passive when you needed to. Marcus would be proud of you. You scared His Highness, though. He sent the prince to fetch me. Lucky for him, we academics are daywalkers or he’d be sitting here with no knowledge of what was happening.”

“Why would the king care?” I asked, still a bit unsettled.

It had been so real. I could still feel the warmth from the fire. Marcus had laid me down on the carpet in front of the hearth and made love to me over and over again that night. He’d been insatiable and I’d basked in his affection. I’d had sex before, and with one man I’d felt that elusive closeness and intimacy everyone looks for, but I could feel how Marcus wanted me, how he needed to touch me. It’s unlike anything else. I didn’t have to hope or have faith. I knew in that moment I was beautiful.

I wouldn’t feel his hands on me again, I realized, and I felt tears well. I would miss him so much in this cell.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Hugo Wells said, and I felt a calming wave rush over my senses. “It’s going to be all right. Like I said, you did well.”

The king knelt beside the chair I sat in. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I had to make sure you had control of yourself. I couldn’t have you walking around here like a ticking time bomb. You did well. Marcus did everything he promised.”

I looked down and the cuffs had been taken off. I was still sitting in the chair I’d occupied before the king interrupted my lunch. I looked around and everything was the same. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I was still in the same room. I’d expected a cell of some kind. “This was some sort of test?”

Trent was at my side with a tissue. He tried to hand one to me, but I wasn’t taking anything from the asswipes who had put me in cuffs. He managed to look a little hurt, but I really wasn’t concerned with his feelings.

“Well, I’m as surprised as you, Kelsey.” Quinn stood beside his partner, his dark head shaking. “Daniel didn’t bother to mention it to me. I would have told Albert to hold off on the soufflé. It’s very delicate and the timing on serving it has to be precise. It’s likely ruined now.”

Donovan rolled his blue eyes, and I might have laughed because sometimes Quinn sounded like a nagging wife. I might have laughed, but I could still see Trent standing in the background. He had a gun visible on his belt. I had no doubt whom he would use it on.

“I planned a perfect meal to get back in her good graces,” Quinn complained. “Do you have any idea how long my goddess will rage at me if I don’t get this girl to like me, Daniel?” Quinn’s green eyes turned to me. “I’ve basically been on parole since you left. Zoey was extremely angry. She actually blamed me and Daniel for you fleeing the country.”

I had to admit, as jealous as I could be of the queen, she was awfully likable sometimes.

“She cut me off for two weeks.” Quinn sounded like a boy who’d had all his toys taken away.

“I got cut off for a month, Dev,” Donovan shot back, looking irritated at how the conversation was going. It was obvious to me he wanted his partner to shut up.

Quinn didn’t get the message. “Well, you’re too stubborn, Dan. You have to grovel when she gets in that state. I’ve found that getting me on my knees puts me in the perfect position to…”

“Dev,” the king barked through clenched teeth. “Guest.”

The faery shrugged. “She’s practically a wolf. You know they aren’t prudes.”

I wasn’t. It didn’t bother me at all that Quinn wanted to talk about screwing his wife. If he was a friend, I’d have a long conversation with him about how good Marcus was at oral sex, but he wasn’t and he wouldn’t care. I didn’t really have anyone to talk to or giggle about my suddenly awesome sex life with. A vision of Liv Carey swept across my mind, but I shoved it ruthlessly down. I wasn’t ready to deal with her or Nate or my mom. I’d talked to Jamie, my oldest brother, on the phone several times. That was about as close as I wanted to get to my family.

“She was raised human. Treat her like it.” Donovan turned from his partner, focusing on me, and there was an apology on his face. “Would you like to finish your lunch with Dev?”