Crimson Bound (Blood Oath #7)

8. Atlas

8

ATLAS

O ur new housemate haunts my dreams. I rip her to shreds one moment, only to put her back together in the blink of an eye and fuck her senseless the next. It sure as shit didn’t help being unable to escape the sounds of her with Gabriel and Lex coming from her room yesterday. Preternatural hearing isn’t always a gift.

I leave the house before anyone else is up, running until sweat soaks my shirt and hair. My heart pounds violently in my chest, and I push harder, willing the endorphins to chase away the remnants of tension left in the wake of my dreams. Only once they do, I return home to shower and prepare for the day.

Kade is waiting in my office when I walk in with a steaming cup of coffee, arching a brow at where he lounges behind my desk. I motion for him to get up, and after a huffy sigh, he moves to one of the chairs on the other side so he’s facing me when I sit down.

I take a sip of my coffee before setting it next to my computer. “What’s going on?”

He rubs his jaw, glancing out the window behind me. “The Ellis girl is going to be waiting to hear from Calla. Marcel was able to track the credit card used to pay for her room at the Four Seasons.”

I nod, leaning back in my chair. “I gathered that. We’ll discuss it with Calla today.”

“Right,” he says, “just how much are you thinking of discussing with her?”

“I have no reason to believe Brighton Ellis knows a thing about vampires—or how her family is involved with them. Let’s keep it that way, at least as far as Calla is concerned.”

If Brighton doesn’t have a clue that her family is full of vampire hunters, there’s little chance Calla does. What she knows of our world courtesy of the blood oath seems to be more than enough for her; I highly doubt she’s sought out further information. If she knew of the hunters, something tells me she would’ve joined them before we had the chance to collect her. That might’ve been the only true defense against us enacting the oath; we wouldn’t knowingly bring a vampire hunter into our home.

“Understood.” His expression shifts into one more calculating, though I don’t miss the flicker of concern. “You were up early.”

“Yes, well, not all of us enjoy sleeping until lunch.”

Kade laughs. “What can I say? I subscribe to the nocturnal stereotype of our kind. And also, fuck you. It’s nowhere near lunchtime now.”

I level my gaze on him. “One out of seven days. Impressive.”

“Prick,” he mutters, getting up. “Sounds like Gabriel is in the kitchen, so I’m going to hang with someone who doesn’t abuse me.”

“You do that,” I deadpan, turning my attention to my computer with a sigh as I open my inbox. Most of the emails are typical correspondence with companies we work with. Only a few require my attention, and I fire off responses to them, then forward the rest to Lex for him to address.

I have a meeting later this morning that’ll have me locked in my office for a good few hours, so I take this opportunity beforehand to slip away from my desk when I hear Calla moving about.

Downstairs, Lex is working from the couch, typing quickly on his laptop, while Gabriel sits at the dining room table silently eating breakfast while reading his tablet. He’s always kept up with the news; I trust him to keep tabs on things both in his political work and outside of it as well.

Calla inhales slowly as she steps into the room and announces, “I have something to say.” Nervous energy ripples off her, but to her credit, her voice doesn’t waver.

I walk into the kitchen with Lex moving to my side, glancing toward Calla and getting a whiff of rose. Her hair is damp from a shower and she’s dressed in the clothes Kade bought for her arrival. She looks far more rested than yesterday, and I have to tear my gaze away from how beautiful she looks wearing something as simple as a beige cardigan over a tank top and leggings. Fuck me. I need to give my head a shake and focus .

Gabriel speaks first. “What is it?”

She shrinks back with our attention focused on her. Swallowing hard, she says, “My ancestors made a deal with the four of you a long time ago that decided the fate of my future before I was even born.” Her eyes sweep the room, looking at each of us before her gaze settles on me, and she continues, “I want to make a deal of my own.”

Interesting . I tilt my head to the side, surveying her face, though her expression gives little away. She’s quickly getting skilled at schooling her features around us, for the most part at least. Sometimes, the mask slips.

“What kind of deal?” Kade asks, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

She keeps her gaze trained on me. “I won’t try to kill you—again. I’ll stay here—” She swallows again. “—willingly, for however long I’m obligated.”

“In return for what exactly?” Gabriel asks.

“We could easily make you do that regardless,” Lex adds with a quick wink.

“I want to finish school. It’s important to me. From there, I’m not sure, but I would like the option to renegotiate when the time comes.”

“Renegotiate,” Kade echoes, and Calla looks at him. “What makes you think you have any leg to stand on to negotiate in the first place?”

Her eyes narrow. “The fact you haven’t killed me.”

“It’s been two days,” he says, a threatening edge to his tone. “Don’t rush me.”

She folds her arms over her chest. “You won’t scare me into compliance, and I can’t imagine a glamoured human would make for much entertainment, so don’t bother with that threat again.”

Gabriel sighs, as if he foresees a fight about to break out.

“I’m not asking for much,” Calla proceeds to say. “If anything, my continuing to go to school would be good for you guys. You wouldn’t have to figure out how to explain why I’m suddenly nowhere to be found after paying thousands of dollars to attend classes.”

I exchange a glance with Kade, who looks less than impressed, then shrug. “Fine,” I say, nearly smirking at the skip of her heart. “There will be rules. You will remain living here while you complete your degree.”

“What about my apartment?”

“I’ve terminated your lease,” Lex says mildly.

Her attention swivels to him. “What are you talking about? How?”

Kade chimes in with, “Lex owns the building you were living in.”

Her eyes widen. “You what?”

Lex shrugs. “I have many investment properties. It’s good business.”

“I don’t…” She trails off, shaking her head. “This just keeps getting more fucked up.” When she rakes her fingers through her hair, she exposes the mostly healed bite marks on her neck. Quickly realizing what she’s done when Kade’s focus shifts there, she pulls her hair around to cover it.

“You’re lucky we are granting you any freedom.” Kade’s voice is low, and he flashes his fangs when he licks his bottom lip. An intentional move, no doubt. He does enjoy tormenting the girl, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s coming around to enjoying it at times as well.

“I’ll have the rest of your things brought here over the next few days,” Lex tells her.

She nods, though it appears forced. “Any other rules?” Her tone is sharp with irritation.

Kade offers her a dark smirk. “You will be held under glamour to come and go from your classes as we direct.” We hadn’t discussed that, but considering Kade will be the most available to oversee Calla’s daily comings and goings, I take no issue with him calling the shots in that regard.

Panic flickers across her face before she can plaster on a mask of indifference. “Why? You don’t trust me not to run again?”

“Exactly,” Lex says with a look of amusement. “I, for one, wouldn’t mind chasing you, but the other aren’t always in the mood to play.”

There’s a few beats of silence and then: “Fine. If that’s what it takes to get out of this house for a few hours, I’ll do it.”

“You won’t notice the glamour is in place unless you try to disobey it,” Gabriel says, getting up from the table and coming into the kitchen.

“Okay,” she says in a low voice filled with defeat. “I’m assuming the lot of you already have my class schedule?”

I give a short nod, and Kade disappears for a minute before returning with Calla’s new phone. He holds it out to her, and she eyes it warily before taking it from him. She really doesn’t trust us at all. She’s handling the damn thing as if it’s about to explode in her palm. That, or she doesn’t believe we’re giving her a connection to the world outside our house. But Gabriel made a strong point when Calla initially arrived. If we want her to trust us at all, we have to give her a reason to. We have to trust her as well. And she’s smart enough to know there are consequences if she steps out of line or abuses the freedoms we’re granting her. They can just as easily be taken away.

“Our numbers are programmed into it already,” Lex says.

“So are your parents’,” Gabriel adds.

She looks up with a frown. “I haven’t—” She cuts herself off, deciding not to say whatever she was about to. She’s not prepared to open up about her family, and that’s fine. She’s allowed to keep those cards close to her chest if that’s what she wants. It makes no difference to me.

“Thanks for the phone.” She tucks it into the pocket of her cardigan.

“You may want to block Kade’s number,” Lex says with a snicker. “Unless you enjoy unsolicited dick pics.”

Kade’s deep laugh fills the room. “Please. As if they would be unsolicited.”

Calla’s eye roll mirrors mine. “Thanks for the heads up,” she says to Lex, slipping around Kade and walking toward the coffee machine.

All of us watch her attempt to work it before Gabriel says, “Can I make you something?” To be fair, it’s unnecessarily complicated, but the high-end appliance is the one thing Gabriel insisted we have in the kitchen.

She shakes her head. “I should probably figure out how to use it, considering I’m going to be here for the foreseeable future.”

Gabriel offers her a smile while the rest of us stay silent. I have no problem leaving the white knight act to Gabe. He’s more the caretaking type, anyway.

I walk out of the room to return to my office, reserved to spend the rest of the day following my meeting reviewing income reports and budget projections for the upcoming quarter.

Let the others play house with the human; I have no desire to.