Granted, she understood the initial attraction. The Born were possessed of preternatural beauty. When Sophia had first laid eyes on Olivier Rodolfo from a distance, she’d been gobsmacked by how handsome he was. However, it had only taken moving into his proximity for her instincts to kick in and find the male repellant. It was akin to someone scrubbing under her flesh with steel wool. Her dragon had writhed within her with the need to kill it, burn it with fire. She had the same overriding urge with Morgan, no matter how nice the woman was to her. How her brother had overcome that need and even gone so far as to want to court the woman for his mate, she had no idea.
Sophia would give the Born vampire credit, however. Morgan was brave, no one could argue that. Sophia had snapped her teeth at her, spit fire at her feet, snarled at her, and could have accidentally crushed her when Sophia had been startled into a full shift had the woman not been preternaturally fast, and still, Morgan wouldn’t give up. Morgan’s Hunter teammate, Jamie, and current mate to the pack alpha hadn’t given up on Sophia either. Jamie was Turned rather than Born, so she didn’t set off Sophia’s instincts as badly as Morgan, but the blonde had made the mistake of coming up behind Sophia without announcing her presence and Sophia had turned on her with a fireball. Another close call that would have ended in disaster had Jamie not had such fast reflexes.
“This isn’t healthy, Soph. You’ve been free of the shell for a month. You don’t leave pack lands, you barely leave the house. You’re not sleeping –”
He held his hand up when she opened her mouth to protest. “Don’t bother to deny it. I hear you tossing and turning in bed and then pacing the floors at night.”
Hm. Perhaps moving into her own place might actually be a good idea after all. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was keeping you up.”
Travis shook his head. “Don’t apologize. I’m just worried about you.” He made a sweeping gesture, moving his hand up and down. “You’ve lost so much weight.”
She couldn’t deny that. After she’d emerged from stasis, she’d seen herself in a mirror and barely recognized the person staring back at her. Her hair had grown past her shoulders, almost to her waist, the once shiny golden-brown locks, dull and matted, the color, a silver-blonde. Well, she was calling it a silver-blonde since she refused to acknowledge that her hair had turned gray. Dragons didn’t age like that. Once they hit their majority, the aging process slowed to a crawl until they looked roughly the human equivalent of about thirty-five, and there they stayed for the rest of their very long lives.
Before encasing herself, she’d still only looked about the human equivalent of her early twenties. After emerging, well… in addition to the hair color anomaly, her skin had been pasty, almost waxy looking, her eyes hollow, her cheeks sunken, the bones in her shoulders knobby protrusions against skin that looked too fragile. Not to mention that while she’d never had much in the bosom area, her breasts had now shrunk to non-existent, and she could have easily counted her ribs, while her arms and legs looked like twigs.
Lifting the bag of mixed nuts in her hand, she gave it a shake for her brother’s benefit before tossing a handful in her mouth. She was constantly hungry, constantly eating and yet, she’d still only managed to gain a little weight in the weeks since she woke from stasis. Her jumpiness and inadvertent shifts weren’t helping. That shit burned a ton of calories.
Her skin color and texture had improved, so that was a plus, and she’d been ecstatic to notice that the roots of new growth of hair on her head were darker. Brown rather than gray, so whatever had happened to her hair in stasis wasn’t permanent. As soon as she felt more stable, she had every intention of finding a salon and returning the locks to some semblance of normalcy.
“Come out with us, please. We can get beignets and chicory coffee at Café du Monde. I remember you telling me how much you liked that place.”
Sophia remembered texting her brother that. Remembered sending him pictures of the coffee and powdered sugar-covered treat. She also remembered that she’d barely hit send on that text when she first laid eyes on the man, the vampire, that would lead her to disaster.
He’d been dark-haired, lean, lithely-muscled, and handsome in a subtle way, but that hadn’t been what had attracted her. It had been his bashful smile and awkward approach that had had her inviting him to join her at her table.
A rumbling growl, accompanied by a whiff of sulfur had her quickly squelching those thoughts before her dragon had her destroying the few remaining trees that had survived her and her brother’s crash landing.
Clearing her throat, she gave a sad negative shake of her head. “I’m too dangerous to be out in public.”
“You’ve gotten better. It’s been at least a week –”
Sophia snorted at her brother’s attempt to make her feel better. “It’s been three days and only because I’ve been avoiding everyone.” Another shake of her head, this one with a sigh. “You and Morgan go and have fun. I need more time.”
Throwing him a weak smile, she tacked on, “Besides, Jamie has all the episodes ofSupernaturalI’ve missed. I think maybe I should start with that. If she survives a marathon with me, I promise I’ll attempt dinner out the next time.”
Travis grimaced, the expression only highlighting those new lines around his mouth, but he accepted her excuse with a nod. “All right, then. But make sure you eat.”
Another handful of nuts went into her mouth as she gave him a closed-lip smile and a thumbs up.
Chapter Three
Jamie arrived at the house bearing calorie-dense comfort food in the form of a big pan of macaroni and cheese. "Just like Mom used to make," she quipped. "I admit, I used more cheese than the recipe called for. You can never have too much cheese."
Sophia drew the scent in with a groan of pleasure. “That smells amazing.”
“I had to make two pans, or I would have had to fight Archer and Cady to smuggle it out of the house,” Jamie said with a grin.
“I could probably eat that whole pan by myself I’m so hungry.” No lie. She’d already demolished the bag of nuts, half a loaf of bread with peanut butter, and a box of cereal, yet her stomach was still growling at the thought of mac and cheese.
“And I will let you,” was said with another grin as Jamie set the pan on the counter.
The blonde vampire was dressed similarly to Sophia in comfy sweatpants and a t-shirt, though the other woman had also thrown on a zip-front hoody in light of the chillyweather. Perfect clothes for a food-fest and TV marathon.
Sophia had been surprised and touched that all her clothes from before her abduction had been brought here. The room she was sleeping in, her brother had confessed, had been built for her on the slim chance he found her alive. But even when he'd given up, convinced himself she had to be dead, he couldn't bring himself to dispose of her things. Being surrounded by familiar items and scents had helped her reconnect. Soothed her in an alien environment. Reminded her of who she had been before the trauma and who she still was.
Handing over a plate heaped with steaming, cheesy goodness, Jamie held up the remote. “Shall we?”
“Yes, please. I’ve missed my boys.”
