Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(15)

The blade twirling stops, and he balances the tip of the blade on one finger almost absent-mindedly, as he huffs out a breath and hands my blade back to me.

Warily, I take it by the handle—hilt. By the hilt. Then I discard it onto the nightstand beside me so I don’t accidentally stab one of us.

“We need to have a discussion about your mother on a day when you haven’t been rescued from pureblood wolf abductors,” he says before kissing the top of my head. “For now, let’s discuss why you put the knife up instead of using it on Abby before she took you.”

I shrug a shoulder and look away. “I didn’t expect her to grab Arion, so it’s good I went.”

He laughs humorlessly, almost like he wants to throttle me and kiss me at once, as he pulls me tighter to his body.

“Arion can handle himself, Violet,” he bites out.

“At that moment, he was defenseless. Shera said it herself,” I answer quietly, just realizing that he’s actually pissed right now.

Maybe I shouldn’t mention anything about Shera at all—in case of misplaced anger and all.

He scrubs a hand over his face like he wants to choke me.

“I only get one shot with that knife, so I’m saving it for the perfect moment. Abby staring right at me and not looking away as she approached was not the right moment,” I add as a better explanation.

“I’ll give it endless hits for you, Violet. Don’t get taken again, please,” he says curtly, sounding…a little exhausted.

“It was a big deal for you to give me that. I could tell by everyone’s collective reaction. That means it’s a big responsibility to use it at the right time. Abby wasn’t the right time.”

“Abby is the perfect time when she’s informing you she’s by herself and abducting you,” he argues.

“She wasn’t alone. She simply came inside alone,” I explain. “You learn more when you let them take you, and I woke up early from the faint because I wasn’t hurt. It was all learn-as-I-go sort of steps, because I’ve never been kidnapped ‘alive’ and locked up before. Well, not other than that one time by the cult, but I was knocked out pretty hard that time. Anyway, Shera and I were getting close to escaping,” I assure him.

“You wouldn’t let me find you.”

I feel scolded.

“They took a really long loop, so I don’t think it would have mattered if I had let you find me,” I state in deflection.

“Trust me, Violet, I can find you when you let me. Just like I found you at Arion’s. I could smell vampire, more specifically, Shera, because you wanted to be found that time.”

He glares down at me like he’s making a point, and I lean up to my elbows, holding his eyes, as I drop a kiss to his chest. His eyes move with the motion as I plant another chaste kiss and stand, still wearing nothing but my embarrassing underwear and Arion’s shirt.

My legs feel sturdier, and I no longer feel dizzy from the extreme loss of blood. I hope Arion enjoyed that; he’s never getting a drink again.

“I didn’t want you to find me,” I say to him while my back is turned. “There wasn’t any need in risking more people. Shera was already stuck there with me, and I was worried what happened if we got caught.”

“You were trying to protect me?” he asks in a hushed tone, eyes staring ahead as he makes a humorless snort. “Maybe in the future you’ll remember what I’m capable of and not be so hesitant to let me find you.”

“You foresee more wolf kidnappings in my future?” I ask, trying not to process any of that yet, as I glance over some of the new swords he’s mounted in his room since my last visit.

“Not if Abby was the only leader and those were the only wolves under her,” he says very dismissively.

I turn and look over my shoulder again, finding his gaze casually drifting over my legs.

“Why is it that you never lie in bed with me the way you will with Emit?” he asks, his eyes colliding with mine with the same abrupt abandon used for the random conversation shift.

Since I feel uncomfortable under the weight of his gaze, I look away, hearing Damien down the hall.

“If Violet’s awake, share her,” Damien calls out, laughing in a way that suggests he’s definitely been celebrating with more than champagne.

“You look uncomfortable. Am I really so bad, Violet?” Vance asks on a frustrated sigh, when I attempt to use Damien’s cue to get out without answering.

I frown over at him. “Of course not. You’re a monster slayer and I’m a monster,” I say like it explains everything. “It’s going to take a little more time for me to warm up.”

“Lie,” he states with an eyebrow arch, as though he’s figured me out already and knows my tells.

I move back to the unoccupied side of the bed to take a seat on the edge, and roll my eyes.

“The lie sounds much more mature than the real reason,” I assure him, but he just stares expectantly, apparently not letting me out of here with my dignity.

“You’re sort of the high-school-quarterback type, and those types just have secretive, unimportant flings with the death-obsessed, horrible-dancing, young-and-na?ve damsels-in-distress, who get themselves in more trouble than they’re worth. Trouble finds me no matter what, it seems. The cults want me outside the town, and the monsters want me inside the town.”