The lock turned by itself and the door opened. She shot him a look before quickly walking through it. Opting to sit on one of the single chairs, she wrapped her arms around her raised legs for comfort.
“I saw you in the alley-way.” Cal stood by the mantel watching her.
“I know.”
“You knew I was there?” She looked at him with a tiny frown marring her lips.
“I knew the minute you stepped in, and so did the others.”
“Why didn’t you stop me or…”
“Or kill you?”
She nodded her head vigorously.
“First, we don’t kill people. At least we don’t kill them for sport. The male you saw was with a group that has sworn to take out all the members of my family. They took the fiancé of one of my people, they were days away from getting married. That male and his friends kill for sport, so although this female was still very much human, they intended to kill her by taking her apart one piece at a time.”
Pushing himself away from the mantel he was leaning against, he came to sit on the couch facing her.
“I have personally seen what they do to those they believe to be associated with us, or to those who may be a potential mate for one of our males. They destroy females they deem to be less than human.”
“What does less than human mean? How is it possible to be less than human, you either are or you aren’t?”
“Are you human?”
“Of course I am!”
“Then how did you walk through the shield I put up at the end of the alley. No human should have been able to penetrate it.”
“Look, I don’t know what type of game you’re playing, but I assure you I am fully human. Believe me if I weren’t I’d be in some government lab since I was raised in an orphanage. No one would have missed me.” The words came out a little bitterer than she would’ve liked, but the truth was the truth.
“No game, I secured that alley personally. No one should have been able to walk down it, but you did.”
“Are you saying that because I walked into that alley I’m not human?”
“No. I’m saying you did something you’re not supposed to be able to do as a human, that makes you more.”
“So you followed me here because you think I did the impossible or that I’m more than I should be?”
“Wrong. Your instinct to run to protection was triggered when you walked through my shield. The beacon you carry was dormant until that point. The moment you activated it, the need for protection became dominant. You couldn’t run to me because you were scared so you did the next best thing. You ran to my first.”
“Your first?”
“My brother, you would call him my twin. He was born first.”
Her mouth open wide on a silent ‘O’. “Are you sure you didn’t do anything to make me run in this direction?”
“Your desire to run is all your own. We have been sitting here talking and not once have I pounced on you, threatened you, or anything else nefarious.”
“So I guess all those bad dreams of monsters eating people are just bad dreams?”
His eyes lit up from the inside as he looked at her. “I never said I didn’t want to eat you.”
His eyes started with her face and slowly moved down her body leaving a heated trail. He focused on her lower region making her squirm under his firm gaze. Fire ignited as moisture pooled between her lips fueling her desire.
She cleared her throat, drawing his eyes back up. She would not fall for the hot monster.
“So, now that I’ve been driven from my home and my job and found this place, can I leave?”
He shook his head. “You’re not safe. Vick thinks someone is coming after you and I agree with his assessment.”
“Vick is what, six? He’s just a little boy!”
“A little boy with the talent to sense danger. We listen when he speaks.”
“So you’re saying I have to stay because a six year old thinks I’m in danger.”
“No, I’m saying if you leave here you’re a fool. I am going to get dinner, I’m sure the others have already retired for the night. I won’t force you to stay here; maybe that inner voice you heed will talk sense into you.”
“How do you know about my inner voice?”
“It’s the one thing all the females seem to have in common, an inner voice warns them, not that they always listen to it.”
“What females?”
“I’ll be in the kitchen eating if you decide to stay and get your questions answered.”
Cal walked out the room never looking back.
Of course she wasn’t staying, she’d seen this movie before where the poor defenseless girl gets suckered and then splat—she’s being served for dinner. Ok, maybe that wasn’t actually a movie. She didn’t do horror movies anyway. Making up her mind, she went to the closet for her coat and stopped. Everything in her was telling her not to run. Just a while ago that same inner voice was telling her to hightail it out the front door.