Eli started for Hunter again. “You son of a—”

“Eli!” Xavier shouted, diving in front of him and pressing his hands against this chest. “You need to stop. This isn’t worth risking all that we’ve done.”

“All that you’ve done?” I scoffed. “Hunter, Eli, and I are the only ones who have sacrificed anything.”

Lyric whistled loudly, so loudly it made us cringe.

“All right you hot messes, listen to me. You need to cut the crap. Do you know where we are? We’re in the Goddamn snake pit and you want antagonize the snakes? You’re crazy! The lot of you.” He shook his head.“This needs to stop. Eli, you can’t fight Hunter over any of this. This is the plan that you and Aleksandrov came up with, remember? And Hunter, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go out of the way to piss him off. You’re with his girl. At least try to be respectful, and Ruby, if you could keep the girl drama to a minimum, that would be great.”

He opened the door and strode out. Following suit, (and without a glance in my direction) Eli stormed from the room with Xavier in tow.

When they were gone, Hunter turned to me. “Well, that was interesting.” His face was bloodied and swollen already. “He hits hard, I’ll give him that.”

We were supposed to be getting married in two days. Two days! And now my ‘husband-to-be’ looked awful. I exhaled. I was in no mood for his light-hearted jokes. I stormed to the bathroom to locate the first aid supplies in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. When I returned, Hunter was leaning against the wall, still looking smug. I threw the box of supplies at Hunter and squeezed his nipple between my fingers when I got within reach. He winced and tried to pull back but couldn’t go anywhere.

“Why would you do that?”

“Hey, it wasn’t entirely my fault, you kissed me back.”

I squeezed and he winced. “I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about antagonizing Eli.”

Hunter shrugged. “You know I don’t like to miss an opportunity to piss him off.”

I let go of his nipple and he grabbed me roughly, pressing his body flush against mine.

“I didn’t kiss you today and give you alcohol in hopes of tricking you while you were vulnerable.” He gestured to the bed. “This whole thing wasn’t about trying to get you to sleep with me…”

I nodded, still unsure how I felt. I pointed to the bed. “Go sit down. I’ll get a wet cloth.”

With the wet cloth, I joined Hunter in the living room. He winced and gasped in pain as I ran the cloth over his swollen face and doused his cuts with alcohol. The whole time I tended to him, he stared at my face.

“Will you quit it?”

“Nope.”

I sighed. “You’re so annoying.”

“And it’s all for you, babe.”

When I finished cleaning up his cuts and Hunter climbed into bed, I headed for the couch. I would not be sleeping in the same bed as Hunter tonight. No way in hell.

“I would have rocked your world, you know. It’s not too late.”

I turned to face him. He lay face up on the bed with an ice pack on his face.

“Just rest, Hunter.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hands touched me from every direction, pulling fabric, twisting my hair, and brushing powder onto my face. I wasn’t paying attention… I was just going through the motions. I hadn’t seen Eli since the falling out with Hunter. I visited his room plenty of times, but Lyric always told me he was out. The city wasn’t very big at all and yet, I couldn’t find him no matter where I went. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was avoiding me. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I didn’t even look like me and the thought depressed me. I’d changed since being here and I didn’t know if it was because (for the first time since my transformation) I had absolutely no control of my life. I was undertaking another transformation, but I wasn’t sure if this one was going to make me as happy as the last one did. I had nothing to lose when I transformed last, but everything to gain. Now, I have everything to gain and everything to lose.

A knock at the door pulled me from my stupor and some lady rushed to open it. I felt a scowl automatically fix itself on my face when Cesare stepped in, dressed to the nines in an all-black suit. He smiled devilishly at me, but I wasn’t in the mood to return it.

“You’re marrying the love of your life,” he said, stepping closer. “Smile a little.”

“I’m afraid the amount of makeup I’m wearing doesn’t allow me to smile. It cracks under pressure,” I replied dryly.

“I bet your makeup won’t be the only thing cracking under pressure today.”

The helpers carried on with what they were doing, completely oblivious to our conversation. “No, if I’m lucky, your fake demeanour will cave also,” I said.

He clicked his fingers and the girls rushed from the room. We were alone and I suddenly wished I kept my mouth shut.

“I know you were in my office.”

“I’m sorry I don’t know wha—”

“Do not lie to me!” he boomed, making me jump. I swallowed hard as he corrected a string of hair that fell into his eyes. His calm façade returned and he crossed the room to the refreshment table by the bar. I didn’t like having him here in my room, in my personal space, but he could do whatever he wanted. All of this stuff was his. He plucked a green grape off of its bunch and extended it to me. I shook my head. I wasn’t about to cross the room and eat a grape out of his hand.

“This gown doesn’t allow for much eating. Even a grape as small as that one will make these seams pop.”

His lips curled. “I like your sense of humor. It’s refreshing—irritating—but refreshing.”

“If you don’t mind, I have a wedding to get ready for,” I said impatiently. He had yet to revisit his accusation about the office invasion and I wondered if he’d already forgotten about it. That wouldn’t say much about his mental health.

“Ah, yes, the wedding. Tell me, who’s giving you away?”

I frowned. “No one.” And I didn’t want anyone to.

“Incorrect. Eli is.”

I started to shake my head.

“He’s the one that rescued you and brought you to Sage, is he not?”

“Yes, but—”

“And he is the one that has cared for you and looked after you?”

“Yes.”

Victory was as clear as day when it spread across his face. “Well, then. Mr. De Luca will give you to Mr. Reeves. That should be fun.”

“What is your problem with us?” I snapped, folding my arms. “We’ve done nothing to hurt you. I’ve given you my blood and provided you with your cure. We’re not the bad guys.”

He popped the grape into his mouth. “On the contrary, my love, you are the bad guys. You encourage people to break laws. You spread corruption and violence wherever you go.”

“It’s called freewill. People are allowed to do whatever they want.”

Cesare shook his head. “Not in our world. There are rules that must be followed. It’s all about control, Miss Moore. If you let them think they have control, they’ll abuse it.”

Of course it all boiled down to one control freak of a man.

“It also keeps them safe and ensures the longevity of our species.”

I glared at him. “I think, under the right circumstances, we are powerful enough to take care of ourselves.”

“This society was created long before you were born, Ruby. Without the council, there would be no communities. There would be no schools to educate our children. Vampires would be running free.” He pointed at me. “You have the council to thank for that.”

Maybe I did have the council to thank. They set out to protect us and to keep us safe, but they’ve succeeded with that, so when does it end? Why are they meddling with relationship laws if their sole purpose is to protect us from vampires? At what point does a movement become pointless? Why don’t they back off and be happy when they’ve achieved their goal? Why is it when they’ve achieved their goal they find a new way to exploit it and its own followers? I find movements, much like this one, turn to poison over time. They lose sight of what they want and everybody else suffers.

“Lucian created the relationship law out of jealousy, not protection. He didn’t care about our species.”

Cesare shrugged his narrow shoulders. “Ah, but Lucian had the approval to create that law a very, very, very long time ago and he had a lot of good points, too. The base line is, if you change one law, they think the others can be changed, too.”

“It’s been a long time, maybe they do need to be changed a little.”

Cesare strode toward me, his face looking sunken and cold. “Over my dead body.”

We stared each other down for a few long seconds before he pushed past me and out the door. I exhaled when he was gone. Strangely, that was probably the longest, most normal conversation Cesare and I have had yet. My consensus? He was a total psycho. No doubt about it.

I barely had five seconds alone with myself before another knock rattled the door. It opened and when Eli’s handsome face peered around the frame, my stomach fluttered. It was a cute reaction his presence always provoked in me. His eyes drank me in inch by inch and all of the creases on his usually stern face flattened out, subtracting years from him. In that moment, he seemed so boyish. Like he was six years old and saw something he really liked.

“Wow,” was all he managed to say as he stepped in and closed the door behind him.

I felt heat flood my cheeks and I looked away from him. “Did Cesare tell you?” I asked, swallowing hard again.

“Yes.”

I turned around, moving my legs minutely. The tight gown didn’t give me much room. “You don’t have to. I’d never ask that from you, it’s not fair.”

He smiled slightly. “I want to.”

“You want to?”

“Sure. I’m not going to let you walk down the aisle in front of all those strangers alone.”

My eyebrows drew together. “So you don’t hate me?”

He stepped closer, quickly closing the distance between us. He reached out and grabbed my bare arms before gliding his thumbs back and forth over my skin.

“No, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you, not over a kiss.”

“But it was wrong.”

He shrugged, pulling me in so our bodies touched. “Maybe it was, but you are still mine… right?”

I nodded without pause. “Absolutely.”

“Then I forgive you.” He kissed my forehead and my eyes briefly fluttered shut. “I don’t blame you, hell, I don’t even blame Hunter. I blame this place. It’s changing us and we need to get out of here. Do what you need to do today; get married, kiss and dance, but the second it’s over, we’re out of here and I’m taking you back.”

My lips pulled up at the corners. He still wanted me, which made me the happiest girl in the world. Then I remembered Cesare and my face fell. “I want nothing more than to be finished here… but there’s a good chance we aren’t getting out of here… ever.”

Eli released my arm and tugged at a soft curl of my dark hair. Half of my hair was pinned, the other half curled and draped down my chest. “Either way, in life or in death, we’ll be together.”

How could I not feel content after that? I wrapped my arms around Eli’s neck and drew his face closer to mine. We didn’t kiss, instead, we watched each other. Minutes passed, but neither of us moved. If things turned sour, this could very well be the last time we were alone together. The time was cut short as a quick, desperate knock on the door forced us apart.

Eli cleared his throat. “Come in.”

The door whipped open and startled me. My heart rate increased as a flustered Faith stepped in. I clenched my hands into fists and stepped forward. Eli firmly planted his hand on my stomach and looked over at me, amused.

“You’re in a wedding dress.”

“So?”

He chuckled. “Relax.”

Faith presented her palms to me, panting like she’d run a mile. Strains of her hair stuck to her face and she swiped an arm over her forehead. “I’m not here to start trouble, I swear.”

“Then what do you want?” I snapped.

“Everyone is in danger, it’s Cesare—he’s gone mad!”

Eli dropped his hand from me and stepped toward a shaking Faith. He took her hand and pulled her further into the room. He looked to me to get the door and with a heavy exhale, I stepped over and closed it. I didn’t trust Faith and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Eli trust her, either. He escorted her over to the couch and retrieved a glass of water from the bar. She drank it up before crushing the plastic in her hand.

“What happened?” he asked and I stepped closer to the couch.

“My brother, Tate, he told me…” She shuddered. “He told me what Cesare plans to do.” Her face scrunched and her bottom lip quivered.

“What does he plan to do, Faith?” Eli asked calmly, trying to soothe her into explaining. “We can’t do anything until you tell us.”

“He… He…” She inhaled deeply and let it out at the same speed. “He’s going to have the charm dropped, we’re going to be exposed to the vampires.”

I scoffed. “That doesn’t guarantee a vampire attack. There probably aren’t any vampires around here.”