Page 12 of Claiming Starlight
Pulling her back against him, Micah slipped his hand up her side and wrapped it around the front of her neck, circling his thumb on the silky skin at her jaw. Her pulse beat against his palm, and tits strained against his arm with each harried, panting breath.
Tipping her head back, he looked into her eyes. Still purple. His free hand twisted up one of her braids until he had her head caught and controlled in his hands. “Oh, baby, I was going to give you a chance. Left you alone as long as I could. You should have gone home, got help, any of that shit, but you have no one, do you?”
“I have Alexi.” The tendons in her throat moved against his hand when she spoke. Closing his palm over her windpipe, the column felt perfect in his hand. In this position, he could also the generous curve of those damn fine tits. The faint bumps of aroused nipples teased him from behind the layer of cotton fabric.
She would pay for teasing him like that.
“Your younger brother? You don’t know where he is, who he is with or if he’s alive,” Micah pointed out.
“He has to be alive. I know he is.”
“Has to be? You know? You a clairvoyant?” He didn’t see that answer in her eyes. That type of seeing was pricey on a soul. Hers hadn’t paid it.
“I just know.” She gave the typical stubborn female answer.
“You just know. Female intuition. What will that guardian of yours say when they hear where you went today? Will the vampir cry and hug you in relief? Don’t think so, little girl. You’re afraid of what is going to happen when they find out, since baby brother is not like you and worthless to them. And besides, what were you gonna do on that street? Try to make a new troll bargain? Hop a ride with anyone? Walk back to Hyde through the barrows and past the bloody red caps? What would you have done?”
Sophie started to speak, but he stopped her with a thumb over her lips. “You would have done jack shit. Don’t lie. Don’t lie to me.”
Chapter Three
Sophie
On the other side of the gigantic bed was another door. Micah led her to it, his arm above her head pushing it open to reveal a white tile bathroom with a combination shower bathtub on one side, double sinks, and a toilet on the other. He left her alone, closing the door behind him as he backed out.
It looked new enough to be gnome built. The cone-hat little guys were amazing blue-blood builders with an unmatched gift for carpentry and plumbing. They only worked on trade, refusing to accept flat payment for any work they did. When learning about them, Sophie found the lengths gnomes went to avoid accepting any monetary payment humorous. Having a shifter gang boss owe them a debt would be a big deal for those blue-bloods.
This was a better bathroom than the one from home. She didn’t need to use it, but this would give her a moment to get out of Micah’s presence and take a breath. The man stole all her wits. He was too much.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she cursed the idiot in the reflection. She should have tried to find help first. She should have just asked around at the park where Alexi met his friends. Why hadn’t she stayed at home, in her room, in her bed, looking through her box of photos and saved memories?
Alexi left because he wanted to—and that would have happened sooner or later. He’d talked of becoming a sorcerer, of finding a way to turn himself into a blue-blood and even, once, of making a demon bargain. What would she do if she found him? He would just disappear again, looking for a way to escape.
His face was in her reflection. They had the same blue eyes, the same hair color, though his was lighter because he was outdoors more. Their colorless eyebrows arched the same way, and the thick but white eyelashes curled the same way. Alexi had their father’s Greco-Roman nose, still too big for his face, saving him from falling into beautiful. The classic Russian heritage of their mother stamped their bodies and features. But this was the only thing they had in common.
She had always thought him the attractive one, full of life and outrageous boyish confidence. He developed a swagger at six years old and never hesitated to put on a sow for anyone who would watch him. The last thing Sophie ever wanted was to be seen.
Where was he? Who was watching him now?
She would have sold a finger bone and all the blood spilled to find him. But there wasn’t a person within miles of Hyde who didn’t know she belonged to the vampir. If she tried to pay with anything other than money, the archon would hear of it and the unfortunate person who tried to buy her sacrifice unsanctioned wouldn’t live through the next hour.
She’d waited months too long to hear again from Alexi. If she did nothing, she might never know what became of him.
Her only choices had been to do nothing or go by herself to find him. She found the service advertisement for troll ride at the bakery across the park. It wasn’t far to drive and there was no rule that she couldn’t go to South Bloc. Her free time was her own. It was just assumed that Sophie wouldn’t be so reckless or stupid. She’d tried. And what had it gotten her?
Kidnapped by a shifter gang leader and so deep in South Bloc she’d never make it out alone.
What was his game? Why was he doing this? She was no one to him. Why even look at her twice when he was a man who could have any woman he wanted? Katya had been saying for years that it was a good thing Sophie would be a professional virgin because not even a human man would want to fuck such a lumpy, bland girl.
There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Sophie.”
Micah opened it without waiting, catching her staring at the mirror with tears wetting the corners of her eyes and cheeks, turning them a splotchy pink. He regarded her with a frown before holding out something out to her. “Put this on.”
It was one of his t-shirts. More of his clothes.
“No, thank you.”
“Take off everything that’s wet. Everything. You understand me, yeah? Do I need to stand here and watch to make sure you do it?” he demanded as his eyes swept over her. He acted like she hadn’t spoken at all, just ignored her.
