“Cass,” Troy said, from the other side of the door.
Embracing that anger, she yanked it open, not about to succumb to tears or weakness. He stood in front of her, closer than she’d expected, his hands on either side of the doorframe, his hair a wild, wicked, sexy mess around his face. He was still naked and he looked really good naked. Damn it, she didn’t want him to be sexy right now. “Cassie,” she corrected. “Don’t call me Cass. Don’t pretend I’m anything but the wolf you just fucked and still hate.”
He stared at her with crystal blue eyes – no silver, no yellow, no black. “You know I -”
“Don’t. Don’t say something neither of us can call anything but a lie.”
“Anything I say right now is going to be wrong, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Did whatever is happening to you start with your attack in Reno?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what caused it?”
“No.”
“Have your people tested you? Is your blood work different than it was before?”
“Yes.”
“Then test mine,” she said. “Test mine so that I can prove I didn’t attack you.” Realization hit her like a brick smacking her right in the face. “We shared blood. That means I could be changed. I could be changed and now I can’t prove I didn’t do it. In fact, my blood work might even convince you I did do it.” A sound of frustration slid from her lips. “I can’t win with you. I just can’t win. Let me by. I need space.” He didn’t move. “Troy. Let me by.”
“I couldn’t let you die,” he said softly. “I had to give you my blood.”
“Yeah, well, no good deed between us seems to go unpunished, because I couldn’t let you die in Reno either and look where that got me.”
He inhaled and then backed away and Cassie put distance between them, her mind racing even as she walked to the closet and looked for something to put on. It was empty. She turned around. “Why are you living like this? Don’t you have any clothes in this place?”
“I’ll get you a shirt,” he said pulling a duffle bag from under the bed.
Cassie shoved her hands in her hair. “Test me. Run the damn blood test. If I’m not changed then it clears me. If I am, then I can deal with whatever that means for you, for me. In fact, take me to Vampire Nation and let your people question me or torture me or whatever you want to do.”
“I’m not taking you to Vampire Nation.”
“Why? I want you to.”
He studied her a long moment. “Let’s sit down and talk.” He tossed her a shirt and she caught it. “Put that on before you drive me crazy. This new me doesn’t have the willpower the old one did.” He grabbed a pair of boxers and started to put them on.
Her gaze slid to the floor, to the cell phone on his pants. She wasn’t going to let this go on. She wanted it over and she wanted peace restored between their races. Cassie darted forward and grabbed his cell phone, hitting the call log and dialing one of several programmed numbers.
“What are you doing?” Troy asked, and he was there in front of her in a flash, but it was too late.
“Marcus,” Cassie said. “We need you here now.” And just like that, Marcus was standing in the middle of the room.
Chapter Seven
Troy cringed as Marcus lifted an eyebrow at the sight of him in his boxers and Cassie bare-naked.
“Put the shirt on,” he ordered her grumpily, pushing her behind him. He returned his ‘Warden-in-Charge’s’ once over. “We don’t all sleep in leather like you do.”
Marcus’s lips twitched. “And here I thought the leather was why you keep inviting me to orgies.”
“What?” Cassie gasped, stepping around Troy as she pulled the shirt down, and studying Troy. “What orgies?”
Great, now he was a monster and some sort of pervert who only wanted her to feed some new sex addiction. He was batting about a million with Cassie. “Damn it, Marcus,” Troy ground out before explaining, “Marcus has a demented sense of humor that doesn’t even qualify as an inside joke. I haven’t invited him to any damn orgies.” She kept staring at him. “I do not have orgies.” He glared at Marcus. “Not cool, Marcus.”
“Perhaps I forgot how delicate your sensibilities were,” Marcus said with an edge to his voice. “Since I haven’t seen or talked to you in months.”