Page 21 of Noctis

“For how long?”

“A long time.”

Which could mean anything from a few decades to several centuries. The adrenaline was still in my system, but curiosity overpowered the instinct to flee. I shifted into a more comfortable position.

“Do you have a name?”

“Caligo.”

“Huh! I’m―”

“Rowan Hayes,” he finished for me.

Right. I’d woken to him calling my name. My first name, anyway. “How do you know my surname?”

“I know a lot about you.”

He said it almost coquettishly, as though we were flirting in a bar rather than sitting in a rehab bedroom in the middle of the night. I should have found that disturbing. Instead, the sound of his voice sent a slow shiver down my spine.

I could imagine closing my eyes and touching myself while he spoke to me in that low, smoke-roughened tone.

As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Caligo moved toward me with one hand outstretched. He was unnaturally fast, crossing the distance between us before I had time to do more than scramble off the other side of the bed.

“I have a boyfriend.”

I immediately cursed myself for my choice of words. Don’t touch me would have been better. Or what the fuck do you think you’re doing?

Anything other than a response that suggested Tyler was the only obstacle standing between us.

“Your boyfriend is cheating on you.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I saw you kissing him. I followed him when he left.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

The single word carried the unmistakable weight of a lie.

I’d just about convinced myself that Caligo wasn’t dangerous, and now he’d given me a reason to doubt my judgment.

“So you followed him to his car, the two of you had a nice chat, and he told you he was cheating on me? I think Tyler would have mentioned a seven-foot-tall shadow creature appearing beside him.”

I ignored the little voice reminding me that, despite calling him three or four times, I hadn’t spoken to Tyler since. He was busy. There was nothing sinister about it. And of course he wouldn’t call me back when all he had was a payphone number anyone could answer.

He’d pick up the next time I called.

“I heard him on the phone,” Caligo said.

“Whatever you heard, you obviously misunderstood. I’d know if he’d been sneaking around behind my back with someone else.”

A door slammed in the corridor, and both of us turned our heads that way.

“I have to go,” Caligo said.

“Wait. Tell me―”