Page 52 of Midnight Kiss

18

ALEXANDER

Emily’s breaths were soft and sweet, and I took comfort in the rise and fall of her chest. Every movement meant she was still alive. The scent of her skin had changed ever so slightly after our coupling, and I didn’t understand it.

I would have to find out why it had changed or if that was normal. While I hadn’t slept with a mortal woman before, there were others of my kind who had. If the change of a human’s scent was to be expected, it would be knowledge I could easily acquire.

Emily groaned in her sleep and threw her hand above her head, tossing this way and that.

I stroked a thumb over her forehead, and the contact soothed her. She snuggled deeper into the pillows.

My gaze moved toward the window in her bedroom, the curtains drawn but thin enough to allow the light from the lampposts outside to shine through. She had mentioned bats, and I could only think that Cassia had been here.

It would explain Emily’s suspicion about the book the other day. And I wouldn’t have put it past Cassia to come here and try to pressure her. She couldn’t kill Emily or steal the book outright as that would be a direct betrayal of the U.C.’s orders, but she could meddle.

And there was only one thing I trusted about Cassia—her propensity for meddling.

Emily’s room was small, with her desk in front of the window, the closet, bedside table, and a small dressing table pressed against one wall. It smelled of her, a light jasmine and now, this new scent, almost coppery and rich. Like gold or blood or a mixture of the two.

I shifted off the bed, careful not to wake her, and retrieved my phone from the table. I dressed quickly in the silence, watching her as if she would disappear if I looked away.

If anything was a curse, it was love. A burden that I hadn’t anticipated and didn’t want. How was it possible to have grown this attached in such a short time? How was it that Emily had changed my perspective without even trying?

One last kiss brought the tiniest of smiles to her lips, and she turned over in bed, hitching one leg up and exposing her pale, shapely leg. Moving away from her was difficult.

I let myself out into the darkened hallway.

Earlier in the evening, I had heard Morgan return home, make herself dinner, watch some TV, and then head back to her room. Emily’s phone, also on her dressing table, had lit up with a text from her checking that she was okay, and Morgan had knocked lightly but decided to leave Emily to her rest.

I didn’t expect kindness from most creatures, and to witness it so often recently made me feel things I didn’t want to examine.

I sat on the sofa beside the book, staring at it and considering. Taking it now … What would it do to her? How long of a separation could be allowed between the two of them?

Of them? It wasn’t a living entity.

I turned on my phone and waited for the screen to light up.

Three missed calls and two texts from Haldren.

“Time is almost up. I’m expecting results.” Haldren’s texts were always short.

The second message was from Cassia. “I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself so far, Alexander, because tonight things are going to end for the worse.”

“What are you talking about?” I texted back, irritated at my weakness in responding. Cassia was tempting me into a response, and I had buckled. But only because my feelings for Emily had grown insurmountable.

She was precious to me. Precious and breakable, and I had tasted her blood, just the tiniest bit of it when my fangs had grazed her tongue, and it had been like nothing I’d experienced before. Sweet and delicate and flavorful. Full of her.

The text came through.

“I’m going to speak to Haldren in about five minutes. He’s going to take you off this mission, mark my words.”

“He gave me a week.”

“A week too long,” Cassia said. “I know you’ve been fraternizing with her. She’s in love with you. Like a fool. Anyone who falls in love with you is a fool. You’re a broken creature, Alexander. Nothing you say or do has been for anyone but yourself.”

My grip tightened on the phone, and the plastic squeaked. I typed out the response. “You have nothing.”

“I have what I need. And unless you can magic that book out of your ass in the next five minutes and get here, you’re done.”