Consume (The Devoured Series) (11 page)

He opened his arms gratefully and held me for a long time against his chest. It didn't matter that I wasn't wearing any make-up, it didn't matter that I was only wearing a towel, it didn't matter that I had been crying and knew I had atrocious bags under my red eyes.

It. Just. Didn't. Matter.

He shhed me as he squeezed me. I realized I was crying again, and that made me cry harder. I was pathetic.

"Ah, love, you're breaking my heart," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm…something is happening to me," I confessed. "You're right. Something is going on and I want it to stop."

"We will figure this out," he said firmly. "Clara, I won't rest until you're well again. And I don't mean you're not well, I mean…I just mean that-"

"I know what you mean," I said and tried to smile. I may have just looked insane, but he seemed a little relieved. "It's ok. There
is
something wrong with me."

He smoothed my hair. "You miss your mom," he commented calmly. "I'm sorry."

"How do you know that?"

"Because you're in a strange place, mentally and physically, and you weren't just sad in here, I felt your sorrow. I haven't felt that sorrow since I met you at the park, and I knew only one thing could cause that; a daughter really, really needing her mum."

I smiled through my tears. "Mum," I murmured. "My mom would have really liked you."

"I would have liked her." He leaned letting his lips touch my ear. "She made a beautiful, loving, breathtaking daughter."

I sobbed. I sobbed so hard into his shoulder as he let me let loose. He didn't ply me with empty words, he just held me, which I needed more than I ever thought possible. His arms, strong and loving, caressed and pressed me until I calmed. Again, I felt that I could barely look at him. I was a basket case the past couple of days and he probably was more than ready to run for the hills.

"Nope. I'm staying right here."

I balked. "How do you know what I'm thinking this time?"

"Now you're feeling guilt and pain. I can only imagine the wild things that female brain is conjuring." He smiled. "I…" He gulped. "I, uh…"

There it was again. That thing that we both wanted so desperately to say to each other and it was right there…but so far away.

"Thank you," I said softly. "I'll get ready so we can go."

"Wear something pretty and…sexy," he said and wrinkled his nose. "We're going to have to put on a production tonight."

"I didn't bring anything pretty or sexy."

"Sure you did," Finn said cockily and grinned from the door. "Good old Finn's here to save the day."

Ten

"Give me your skirt," he ordered.

I handed him my school uniform skirt from the bathroom sink, confused. He took it and rifled through the hotel drawers until he found a pair of scissors. Oh, no.

"You can't cut my skirt! That's my uniform," I argued.

He poised the fabric on the edge of the scissors and paused. "Do you have another?"

"Yes, but-"

He snipped. I bolted into the room and groaned as he finished, taking the hem shorter all the way across, but leaving one side slightly higher than the other on the thighs. Eli stood in front of me to block my toweled body from their eyes. Finn held it up, letting the excess fabric fall away. I wanted to be mad, but…it was so darn cute with the off kilter cut and ruffles, though it was pretty short.

"Why did you do that?" I asked anyway.

"Because you can't go in there all
school girl,
though it is pretty hot. You need to look like a mate does. And a mate looks like someone who wants to please their Devourer. If Eli was your mate, he'd want to dress a certain way."

"I still don't understand."

"Sluts," Enoch provided. "The mates dress like sluts."

"Well put, Mister Tact. Thank you," Finn laughed. "Yes. Sluts."

"Why do they dress that way? Why would my Devourer want me to show all of my goodies to everyone else?"

The bird squawked from the corner, "Goodies. Show 'em your goodies."

They all burst out laughing. Eli tried to stop it with a fist to his mouth, but it was no use. I looked at him and chuckled a little, too. They got the gist though, right?

Finn answered through a laugh, "To show off your mate's
goodies
is to brag to others about what they can't have."

"That's kinda dumb. And not very logical."

"Either way, go put this on."

He held it out to me. Eli took the skirt and held it up before looking back at me with a frown. "You don't have to wear this."

"I want to blend in as much as possible…wait! What about the string? How are we going to hide it there?"

"Well," Eli drawled and turned to me. "For one, I'm not letting you out of my sight and you're not leaving my side. For two, we'll both wear long sleeves and hold hands. It's so dark and smoky, no one will notice."

"Are you sure?"

"It won't be something they'll be looking for."

"Ok," I agreed. "I'll get changed."

"So will we," Finn said as he began to unbutton his shirt. "You aren't the only one who needs to look good. Eli, I'm snagging a shirt."

I grabbed my bag and closed the bathroom door without saying anything. I put on my make-up and clothes. There was only a sink mirror, not a full length, so I had no idea what I looked like head to toe, but above the shoulders was acceptable. After slipping in my silver wing earrings, I put back on Ariel's boots. I could only assume it worked for the look I was going for.

My skirt was short, but it seemed to look cute as I looked down at myself. I picked a red long sleeve, tight sweater that I usually wore under my uniform vest. It worked, so I opened the door, but Eli and Enoch were gone.

"Where's Eli?" I asked.

Finn jerked his gaze to me in an uninterested motion, but then did a not-so-subtle double take. He straightened from where he was doing the laces on his boots.

"Can I just say…Wow."

"Stop," I complained and tried to pull my skirt down further. "Where's Eli?"
"He went to get you a soda," he advised, never removing his eyes from me.

"Where's Enoch?"

"Enoch is Enoch. He goes where he wants to."

He moved towards me, every inch the predator he was. I tried not to gulp as he stalked me across the room. My back hit the wall and I waited with my hands out as he slammed into me with his chest, his hands moving mine to my sides with inhuman speed. His face was not even an inch from mine as he watched me with blazing purple eyes. He licked his bottom lip and I couldn't remember ever being so scared in my life as he made a low noise in his throat.

He didn't care about me at all. He thought I ruined Eli, tricked him somehow. And now, Eli was nowhere to be seen and Finn apparently had something up his sleeve.

"Eli told me to test you," he told me.

"Test me? Test me how?"

Enoch came through the door with a loud bang. We both jerked our attention to him and he stopped. He smiled and chuckled under his breath. "So, he really asked you to do it?" he asked Finn.

"Yes. Now please leave so I can get on with it."

He left and I felt my heart jump at the implication. "Get on with what?" I asked breathlessly.

And then he pushed his lips to mine.

I was overwhelmed with a sense of need to kiss him. It was like it was planted there, but I could sense it and recognize it for what it was. Finn was forcing lust on me, or out of me, whatever, but it wasn't working the way he planned. I felt it, harnessed it, and pushed it back to him.

Well, that was a huge mistake.

He was definitely fueled by my actions and instead of trying to feed himself off of my fear and need, he was…feeding me his. I felt it as he pulled me to him and used his lips in caresses instead of harsh, biting moves. He groaned and let one of his hands move from my hand to the back of my neck.

I wasn't kissing him back, but he didn't seem to notice or care. I tried to push him off when I realized what he was doing, but I was too late and too weak. He opened my mouth, tilting my head to the side and letting himself in. I pushed harder against his chest and heard my noise of complaint, but he kept at it.

The idea seemed to plant itself in my mind, like it was its own entity, its own force: Make him fear me. So I thought of the scariest thing I could think of at the moment. I remembered what it felt like to think that car was going to hit me. I remembered the fear and anguish on the woman's face - even though it had all be fabricated by Finn - it was real enough to me. I let it loose on him, and when he whimpered, I knew I had him.

He jerked back and looked at me with wide, fearful eyes. He went backwards until he sank onto the bed. "How the hell did you do that?" he said, his voice hateful and loathsome as he looked at me.

"Do what?" I said innocently.

"You know what? How did you do that? Answer me!" he yelled and began to come at me again, with a whole new set of intentions.

Of course, that would be the moment my Eli came back.

I heard the growl from the door and watched as Eli slammed Finn into the back wall. His body left an imprint in the plaster and a tacky picture next to them fell, shattering the glass to the floor.

Finn wasn't even fighting back as he watched me from over Eli's shoulder. "What are you doing, Finn?"

"Not a thing," Finn drawled, shoving Eli away from him. "I'll meet you at the club."

He left, keeping his eyes on me at all times. He slammed the door and I jumped as I fought to steady my breath after what just happened. Eli came to me quickly and pulled me to him with a sigh of relief. "Baby, I'm so sorry." He leaned back and looked horribly guilty. Too bad it didn’t help anything. "Love, say something. Did he hurt you? What happened?"

"Where's my soda?" I sneered, my hands shaking with anger as I pushed his hands off of me.

"Oh," he said and looked around in confusion, "I must have dropped it in the hall when I saw Finn coming for you. I had to walk all the way over to the… What's the matter?" He sucked in a breath and grit his teeth. "You're pretty livid. Please calm down."

"Why? I can still feed you this way can't I?" I asked and grit my teeth, too. "Anger is still a food group for you."

He made a noise between pleasure and pain and then commanded in a stern voice, "Stop, Clara. I don't want to feed off of your anger. What's the matter with you? You're acting like you're angry with me instead of Finn."

"Should I be?"

"Why would you be?" he asked incredulously, his pierced brow jumping.

"Whatever." I took a deep breath. "Let's go."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

I pushed his chest once more, harder this time to get him to move. "I want to go. Now."

He looked torn. Was he really going to pretend that he hadn't asked Finn to test me? Kiss me? Even Enoch knew about it. It boiled my blood all over again and I stalked towards the door. "I'll be waiting outside."

"Fine," he fired back and held his hands up in surrender as he went to his bag.

I made my way down the hall and waited near the front door for him. Enoch was nowhere to be seen, Finn was gone, thank heavens. The clerk eyed me - well, he eyed my skirt - with intrigue. I glared back at him. He was new. Their shifts must have changed. He smiled at my glare, seeming to be amused by it.