Chapter 13 Guilty - Adele's POV
A warm hand landed on my shoulder, jerking my attention to the left. Craven’s gaze landed on the hand at the same time my eyes dragged up to see who was touching me. Darren stood there, a grin as devilish as Craven’s spread across his face.
“If you’re done fainting and questioning us, you should let us show you around the town. You’ll see how lucky you are that it was us that found you,” he said, his voice almost a purr. “Some are a bit more possessive or demanding.”
“Are you saying you’re not?” I asked, one brow arching.
His smile faded and was replaced with something darker, something that told me I was asking the wrong question. “We may be those things, but we haven’t demanded that you serve us nor have we asked to breed you yet.”
My jaw dropped. “Breed?”
I suddenly felt very exposed and…vulnerable. My hands flew to my chest, covering myself.
Darren’s gaze darted to my arms, then slowly trailed up to my mouth. “You are quite beautiful and will give us children…eventually.”
“All of you?” I asked, thinking of how I’d have to birth seven children just to give them each one. “That isn’t part of my plans.”
“And what, pray tell, were those plans?” Darren asked, his voice dipping lower.
My mouth opened and shut several times as I tried to think of what to say. What plans did I even have? I was never allowed to dream while I was with the coven. There was no point, because I was just a servant to them. They would have never let me truly be free and if I was fortunate enough, the best option I had was to be…someone’s breeder. And that wasn’t that great of an option. Popping out babies until I couldn’t do it anymore or die during childbirth wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to go.
“You had none,” Darren said sharply.
He took a step forward, and I moved, almost tripping over my own feet. Craven once again caught me and pulled me to his chest.
“Stop scaring her. Can’t you see she’s panicking?” Craven snapped. “Leave her alone.”
I glanced up at Craven, then back at Darren, who was studying us both.
“You know she has a choice, right? In the end, it may not be you alone she chooses.”
“That is for her to decide when or if she is ever ready,” he whispered, holding me closer. “All women get a choice if they want one or more.”
I blinked a few times, trying to fight down the panic while also trying to figure out what they were talking about. No, surely he’s not talking about mates again.
“And if she chooses us all, will you step aside?” Darren questioned.
Craven growled low in his throat. “Shut up.”
“I’m not ready to choose a mate,” I whispered. “We really shouldn’t be discussing this. I don’t…know that I’ll ever be ready.”
“And that is perfectly fine,” Craven said softly. “It’s your right. Now, would you like to see the town?”
“As much as I’d like to go, this thin excuse of a dress isn’t something I want to wear out there. It’s barely appropriate.”
I looked down at it, noticing how it barely touched mid-thigh. It wasn’t showing anything, but it was just…thin and flimsy. One good gust of wind and it would fly up. That wasn’t something I wanted.
“You’re in luck,” Tyler said, standing from one of the couches. “Because your dresses should be here.”
A knock on the door jarred me. I whirled on my heel, turning toward the door. “What? Dresses?”
Dom opened the door and someone stepped in with several garments laid across their arms.
“I’m here with the dresses you ordered. Now where is the lady?” The man asked, his gaze darting around the room until he found me. “Ah, there she is.”
“Who is he?” I whispered.
Craven leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “That is Fray, our resident clothes maker.”
“You have a clothes maker? That’s his title?” Honestly, it sounded ridiculous. I figured they’d call him something…fancier.
But the man, if he was bothered by it, said nothing. He came into the room, approaching me and ignoring the stares of the men.
“What a lovely woman to wear my designs,” he said, his voice pleased. “Craven, I hope you measured her correctly, because if not, I’ll have to do some…adjusting.” He paused, his blue eyes dragging over me. “You poor thing. They really threw you out in nothing but a rag.”
Once again, I crossed my arms, hoping it covered me. My feet were still cold, though I hadn’t complained. “They sure did. So, those are for me?”
He jumped as if he had been startled. “Oh, right. Here is the first one. Go put it on and let me know how it fits. Craven was pretty direct in his order, but I want to be sure.”
“Wait, did you say Craven ordered this for me? And he gave you measurements?” I turned slowly, eyeing Craven, who looked far too guilty for my liking. Then images flashed in my mind of my unconscious body lying on a bed with him hovering over me. Things took a turn, and I started imagining what it would feel like to have his hands on my bare skin. “What did you do?”
His cheeks heated to a nice shade of crimson, which I would have never thought a vampire could do.
“I did,” he said, his voice barely audible.
“How?”
The better question was how did he touch me to measure me without my knowing? But I didn’t dare ask that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer fully or know how long it had taken him.
“With a tape measure,” he whispered, his voice weak.
Darren stepped closer, clapping him on the shoulder. “What he means to say is that he was respectful of you in your…unconscious state and measured you as best he could without touching you.”
“Yes,” Craven croaked.
My gaze locked with his. For someone who had appeared so confident a minute ago, and even before that, he was acting shy. “Is he okay?”
Darren glanced at Craven, then laughed. “Of course he is. I think it has…caught him off guard.”
Craven looked up, his eyes meeting mine and that was when it hit me. He had read my mind earlier.
“No, you didn’t.”
He chuckled faintly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Guilty.”