I still looked at him with a stunned expression on my face.

“He was going to kill you. He’d tasted your blood, Sofia. I doubt he would’ve had enough self-control to keep himself from devouring you completely.” He raised a brow, his mood lightening up a bit. “From the expression on your face as they were both about to sink their teeth into you, I figured you knew that you wouldn’t be able to talk them out of supping on you like you did me.”

Recollections of the previous night flowed through my head. I remembered how conflicted Derek seemed as he raised me up on that pillar ready to sink his teeth into me. There was no conflict of that sort evident in the vampire he just killed.

I found myself intrigued by Derek – even more so than I was before. He was a paradox, a walking contradiction. How he could do such a violent act with no hesitation in one moment and be as gentle as he was with me right afterwards was something that left me completely unnerved.

I could sense his eyes traveling my body from head to foot, then back up.

“You’ve been running for hours, haven’t you?” he concluded.

I almost felt embarrassed to admit it. “It feels like it.”

“Even if you get past the wall, you’re on an island, Sofia. Unless you can swim for miles, past the sharks, and get back to the mainland, there’s no way out of here.” Before I could respond to that, he scooped me up in his arms and in a matter of minutes, we were back at his Penthouse. He carried me to my bedroom and laid me on the ground.

“We’ll have breakfast in a couple of minutes. Get dressed in something other than that,” he looked at my outfit pointedly. It dawned on me that considering the time he’d been asleep, he’d probably never seen a lady wearing a hoodie with shorts before. Considering how my outfit was tattered and worn down after my morning “run”, I saw why it lacked appeal.

Before he turned toward the door, he stopped and asked, “Is there anything you need, Sofia?”

I need to get out of here was I wanted to say. Instead, I shook my head. “No.”

He nodded and headed for the door. He stopped just as he was about to open it. He gave one final warning.

“You will only risk your life trying to escape, Sofia. So let’s make this simple. Don’t ever try again.”

CHAPTER 12: DEREK

Despite my efforts not to, I kept staring. I was seated over the edge of what Sofia called a counter, watching her as she made her way around the kitchen in a light yellow dress clinging to her curves at just the right places. She was making her breakfast – two pieces of bread that she stuck in a contraption she called a toaster. She retrieved a bottle of strawberry jam and a slab of butter from the “two-door refrigerator,” which was apparently a cooling closet for food.

As she began dabbing butter over one piece of toast, her emerald green eyes rose to meet mine. She stopped what she was doing and stared for a couple of seconds.

I found it rather unsettling to have her look at me that way. I couldn’t even understand why. She’s just a girl, Novak. When have you ever been so riled up over one girl?

“What?” I asked her.

“Thank you… for rescuing me this morning. I was pretty sure nothing would stop the guards from turning me into their breakfast.”

I didn’t answer. She was my responsibility. It was my duty to see to her safety.

“I’m sorry you were taken away from life outside. I understand how all this could be… traumatic,” I said.

She focused on preparing her breakfast, though her long lashes fluttered at my apology.

After a pause, she spoke up. “I can’t make this clear enough. No matter what you think, I’m not yours, Derek. You told the guard that I was yours. I’m not.”

I admired her boldness. She was talking to me like she would an equal, never holding back from speaking her mind and yet she managed to pull it off with a feminine grace I found charming and rather off-putting. I debated with myself whether I should address her statements. As far as everyone in the Blood Shade was concerned, she was mine. It was just the simple truth and no matter how she would like to believe otherwise, it remained true. I heaved a sigh and let it go. Let her believe what she will.

“It’s never morning here. Why is that?” She perhaps realized that she wasn’t about to get a response from me regarding her statements about how I didn’t own her, when I actually did.

“A witch’s spell keeps the sunlight away.” I looked out of the window. “Here at the Blood Shade, it’s forever night. I haven’t seen the sun in five hundred years.”

When I gazed at her, I was taken aback by the way she was looking at me. It felt like she was seeing through me, studying me.

“You’re five hundred years old?” She asked after a pause, seemingly satisfied by whatever it was that she saw in me.

I shook my head. “I’m eighteen. I will forever be eighteen.”

“That’s how old you were when you… turned?”

I nodded.

“Who turned you?”

Unnerved by the barrage of questions, digging up unwanted memories, I lifted myself off the counter and looked her straight in the eye.

“Let’s have breakfast now, shall we.” I said, bluntly.

I was relieved that she didn’t pry further. She picked up her plate and headed off with me to the dining area. A smile formed on my lips when I found a glass of blood already waiting at the table for me.

She stared at it even as she took her seat.

I found myself amused by the expression on her face even as I sat across the table from her, taking a sip from the glass.

Sofia watched, her eyes wide with a mix of fascination and horror.

“I’ll never get used to this,” she muttered.

“Get used to what?” a deep baritone voice asked from one corner of the room.

Her eyes shot toward the direction of the voice, but I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“Lucas.” I said, flatly.

“You killed a vampire – a guard at that.” Lucas eyed Sofia curiously. “For her.”

“You’ve heard.”

“Pitchy and his squeaky voice have been chirping about it all morning.” Lucas took a seat beside Sofia.

It didn’t take a lot of perception to see that she was uncomfortable around him. I wondered why. Knowing my brother, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that he tried to pull something with her.

Lucas set his eyes on her as he laid an arm over the back of her seat.

“So what makes Sofia – stunning as she is – worth the life of one of our own, Derek?”

“She’s mine,” I repeated, giving Sofia a pointed look. “The guard assaulted her, tasted her blood. He had it coming.”

My brother’s left brow quirked at the mention of the guard having tasted Sofia’s blood. I was certain from the expression on his face that he wasn’t thrilled by the news. The reaction drew my curiosity. Does he want Sofia?

“I see how that could’ve been a problem. This one has something about her that just makes us vamps crave her.” Lucas’ gaze traveled from her face to her body. “The pathetic loser wouldn’t have been able to resist.”

The lust was unmistakable. He was practically undressing her with those eyes and I could tell that Sofia felt it based on how she sat there tense and unmoving.

I wanted to tackle my brother to the ground, but was certain that it would only serve to earn Sofia his ire.

“Why are you here, Lucas?”

That effectively snapped his attention back to me.

“As much as I would like to say that I missed having you around, little brother, I really didn’t.” He sighed. “Vivienne asked that we meet. No better time than today to let you know what you’re up against now that you’re awake.”

“What exactly am I up against?” I raised a brow, leaning back on my seat as I took another sip from my glass of blood. “And where is Vivienne?”

“Busy doing heaven knows what.” Lucas fished for something from his pocket and threw it my way.

I caught it and stared at it. It looked like a metal slate of sorts. What it was for, I had no idea.

“What is this?”

“It’s a cellphone. You use it to call people, text them. A communication device.” He once again laid his eyes on Sofia. “I’m sure your teenage lovely here is perfectly capable of teaching you how to use it.”

He brushed the back of his hand against Sofia’s jawline and she instinctively moved away from his touch. Of course, that only amused Lucas. The moment I saw this, an unmistakable fury boiled up within me. I tried to control my temper.

“I’d appreciate that you not touch her. As I’ve already made clear this morning, I do not like it when others mess with what is mine.” There was an edge to my voice – one that I knew my brother was very familiar with.

The amused expression on Lucas’ face disappeared and the atmosphere immediately tensed.

“And if I continue to take liberties with her, what exactly will you do, Derek? Would you really go against your own brother for her sake?”