House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)(33)

I pulled my gaze from the view to stare at the massive bed that dominated the room. It was piled high with a thick blanket and mounds of pillows. I knew immediately this was Lexen’s bed, and it looked so inviting, I almost ran right for it. I didn’t, though, because I wanted to stay alive, and I sensed pissing off Lexen too badly was not a way to stay topside.

I followed him as he strode to a door in the back corner of his room. “This is the spare room,” he said, opening it up. “You’ll stay in here.”

Inside there was a king-size bed and a small desk. That was all. It was an odd sort of space, but maybe he had friends or family that crashed in here on occasion. Or maybe he kidnapped people regularly? I was banking on the latter.

“I don’t sleep much. There’s no point trying to sneak out,” he said as he turned to leave, pretty much shutting the door in my face.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. This was going to be okay. I would stay here tonight, go to school tomorrow, and hopefully after that we would have some answers. How long could it possibly take for their council to follow up the leads? To figure out what was going on with the Finnegans?

It was worrying how casual this council seemed to be in regards to me knowing of their existence. I had expected to be killed on the spot, but with their current attitude I was wondering how big of a secret it could possibly be. I’d certainly never heard anything – except from the Finnegans – about mutants, or supernaturals, or advanced humans. So it definitely wasn’t general knowledge.

As I stepped into the small room, I hesitated. I needed to pee quite badly, and I was hungry. The old Emma would have probably sucked it up, dealt with the discomforts, but I was not that person any longer. This new person broke the rules – crossed the street when they shouldn’t. I was already deep in it, so what was one more thing.

Walking back to the door on my little room, I reached for the handle, surprised when it opened easily. I stepped out into the main bedroom again. Lexen was nowhere to be seen.

Crossing over toward his bed, I moved cautiously, as if he would leap out of the shadows at any moment. When I was standing beside the decadent bed, I noticed his shirt was draped across it, and in that same moment the faint sounds of running water registered with me.

Great. He was in the shower. Now we were going to have one of those cliché moments. He would be half naked and dripping wet. I would blabber and lose all conscious thought…

Not happening. Spinning as fast as I could, I was hightailing it back to my room when a deep voice cut across the area. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Turning back around, I bit back the groan that immediately sprang to my lips. He was wearing shorts. Just a pair of soft black shorts. The rest of his skin was bare, golden, ripped, bare, golden…

My breathing was doing funny things so I forced myself to focus. He was a supernatural. Not a human. We were a different species and I could not lust after him. It was weird, and wrong, and I … was so going to hell.

“I’m hungry. I have to pee. I need clothes to sleep in.” I rattled off my list like they were bullet points, half tempted to close my eyes at the same time. I didn’t, because I wasn’t keen to advertise his effect on me, but it was definitely tempting.

He crossed the room in a second, bringing with him the heat from his shower. Or at least that was what I was telling myself. “Use my bathroom. You’re not permitted to leave this room tonight. I won’t have my family put at risk.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. I hadn’t meant to, but somehow it slipped out.

He growled, getting in close to my face. “Don’t. Push. Me.”

I pushed him. Literally.

Shit. What was wrong with me?

My shove barely moved him, but since he hadn’t been expecting it, it was enough to slide him back a few inches. Absolute astonishment registered on his face, but only for a heartbeat, before a dark kind of fury descended. I wanted to run, to hide from whatever I had unleashed here, but my feet wouldn’t move.

The sprinkles of starlight in his eyes started to brighten, and I would have sworn there was a glow coming from them. As he straightened, he stepped into me and I found my head tilting back so I could take him all in.

“Walk away now, human.”

His voice was nothing more than a rumble, and finally I did as I was told. Slipping and sliding across the floor, I sprinted in the direction I thought his bathroom was. I’d already been almost peeing myself. Add in the fear and I really needed the bathroom. Tumbling through the door, I slammed it shut behind me, relieved to find a heavy lock I could slide across.

My chest was heaving as I leaned against the wood door, my body reacting with spurts of adrenalin as it tried to figure out how much of a threat Lexen was. For the first time, I was becoming very aware of what it meant to be sleeping in a house of beings who were not human. It was like I had been in a half-fog since I saw that weird light ball Star had stepped out of, since the Darkens had taken me hostage. I understood what was happening to me, what I was learning, but nothing was really registering. It had been too fast. Too quick. My mind was slowly catching up now.

I was in big trouble.

When my heart finally stopped trying to pound out of my chest, I peeled myself off the door and wandered into the room. It was huge – of course – with tiled floors and walls. Lots of patterns, colors of navy and cream. It was masculine, sophisticated, and boring as hell.