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to pull away from his touch. “Let’s just go.”
    “You need blood. Blood that is not from an animal. Take from me.” He lifted his wrist, but I grabbed it before he could open a vein.
    “No.” Taking blood was too weird, too intimate. And he was already too… everything. Just the idea made heat lift to my cheeks. I shook my head. “No.”
    “I have been patient these last two weeks. I have let you try to survive on animals. I have never forced you—”
    “So don’t start now.”
    We were standing close enough that I had to tip my head back to meet his eyes, but I didn’t dare look away as he studied me. The silence built between us, growing sharp.
    Then he shook his head, a low chuckle rumbling from his chest.
    “If attitude alone determined power…” He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and smiled. “Or denial.”
    “I’m not in denial,” I huffed under my breath, which only made the edge of Nathanial’s lips twitch higher.
    “Of course.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me closer to him, engulfing me in his scent. “Tatius will want you to recount the events of the night. Please, mind your tongue,” he whispered the last into my hair, the amusement fading from his voice.
    Then we were in the air, the little cabin disappearing below us as we hurtled toward the council.

Chapter Five
    I dragged my feet through the underground rooms of Death’s Angel. I most certainly wasn’t anxious to reach the council’s chambers. Of course, I could only walk so slowly, especially with Nathanial steering me ever onward as Anaya sauntered down the dark hallway in front of us. She and Clive had been waiting for us when we arrived at the club, gleefully anticipating delivering us to Tatius.
    Anaya stopped at a pair of double doors. I expected her to knock. She didn’t. Instead she threw the doors open, the knobs slamming into the inside walls with a resounding boom.
    Every undead eye turned toward the doorway. I cringed, inching behind Nathanial.
    “The favored child and his companion have arrived,” Anaya announced into the stunned silence enveloping the room.
    Then she turned and sauntered back into the hall.
    Her name was so going on my shit list.
    Tatius shook his head from the center of the room where he sat atop the council table. His gaze raked across me, bearing down as he hesitated. Then his eyes moved on and the weight lifted from my skin, but not the feeling that I’d been worn down just by the brush of his attention.
    “Everyone out.” Tatius’s voice was smooth, not even lifted, but the non-council vampires in the room jumped. Then as one, they turned and headed for the door.
    “Hermit, thank you for gracing the rest of the council with your presence. You’ll understand that we moved on without you, so show yourself and your companion to the sitting room. I’ll be there when I have time to deal with you,” Tatius said, his attention returning to the vampires around the table.
    Nathanial nodded and led me past the large council table before lifting a cloth panel and revealing the doorway to a small, dark room. Plush carpet muffled the sound of my steps as I followed him to a dark leather couch in the center of the room. Paintings instead of fabric lined the finished walls. The only thing missing was electric light. Instead, unlit candelabras were scattered around the room. Anywhere else, the room would have been unremarkable, but its very normalcy made it remarkable compared to what I’d seen of the underground parts of Death’s Angel thus far.
    Nathanial sank onto the couch. He crossed an ankle over his knee, and I frowned as he pulled a small book from the inner pocket of his tux jacket. How can he read at a time like this?
    “You should take a seat,” he said, glancing up from the book. “We made Tatius wait. He will return the favor.”
    I didn’t take his advice. I was too jittery to sit. Instead I paced a circle around the room and fidgeted with a marble from my