Instinctively, I started to pull away but he forcefully held me in place. “Ouch!”
His eyes immediately snapped open. He looked down, saw that he was holding me hostage, and instantly released his grip. “I’m sorry, my love.”
I scooted away from him. “What the hell just happened?”
“Do you still feel it now?” he countered without acknowledging my question.
I thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I do. It’s different though. Like the power has been leashed somehow. What just happened, Leo? You were starting to scare me.” I looked down at my aching leg. “I’m already starting to bruise.”
His eyes flashed with regret. “Again, my love, I apologize. I’ve never experienced something like that before. I needed a minute to rein it in.”
“Rein what in, exactly?” Okay, now he officially had me freaked out. Leo’s never had trouble controlling anything before.
“The power,” he whispered. “Your blood…it’s different.”
“Different, how?” He looked a million miles away; I’d never seen him so distracted before. I started pulling up a pair of yoga pants under my towel and threw a hoodie over it. I wasn’t really concerned about underwear at the moment in case I needed to bolt.
Just like that, his eyes cleared and he snapped out of whatever haze had been pulling him under. “I’m guessing your powers are getting stronger since your immortality is getting closer.” He paused. “Maybe you should see if you can find something in the book.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” I bit my lip. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Leo quickly stood and started walking towards the door. “Of course, my dear. I’ll order some coffee and meet you out front.”
Wait…what? As he walked away, I was left to wonder what the hell had just happened…and whether or not I was truly safe in his presence.
Room service was just leaving as I stepped into the living area. “That was fast.”
Leo grabbed a piece of fruit from the table. “I offered an incentive if they expedited it.” He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. As I was pouring myself a cup of coffee, I noticed that his knuckles were white from clenching his fists so tightly. Before I had a chance to ask him about it, he said, “I need to attend to some urgent business. If you need me, I’ll be in my bedroom.” He used his superhuman speed to climb the stairs before I could even blink. What the hell? He never did that unless it was absolutely necessary.
“What? Wait!” He acted as if he didn’t hear me and closed his bedroom door. I followed him upstairs and knocked. “Leo, what’s going on? Please open the door.”
A moment later, he cracked the door but made no move to let me in. He was texting someone, deliberately avoiding eye contact. “Karli, maybe you should take some more time to explore the city during the day. Takk will be here any moment to escort you.”
I was thrown back by his suggestion. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
&nbs
p; “Of course not, my sweet. I simply have a large workload and thought you’d enjoy yourself more if you got out of this stuffy suite.”
I wasn’t convinced in the slightest, but I knew when to pick my battles. “Fine. Are you going to meet me somewhere later?”
He looked at his watch. “We’ll see how everything goes. Have a good time.”
I spent the better part of the day walking around the National Museum, looking at priceless artifacts. Afterwards, I ducked into a small pub to grab a late lunch. I looked over my shoulder to find Takk hot on my heels. “You wanna grab a table?”
“Nope.” He nodded towards the large cherry colored bar on the left. “I’ll just have a seat over there.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know, it’s awfully stupid that we’ve been going to the same places all day acting like we don’t know each other.”
He shrugged. “I can do my job better this way.”
“Whatever,” I huffed.
The pub was sectioned off into two areas: a raised platform with a large rectangular-shaped bar just ahead, and on the sunken floor to the right, booths lined the wall with stained glass windows centered over each table. I chose one of those since the atmosphere was a bit cozier down there. Erica called a few moments later as I was waiting for my fish and chips to arrive.
I swiped my finger across the screen to answer. “Hey, how are you doing?”
She sighed. “I’m okay…I’m just packing right now.”