Bloodline

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"It'll just be for a while," Akin was saying on the phone later that day, "Just until we can get Seven back to himself. Until then, it's probably safer to have Thirteen stay with you... Yeah, thank you, Lea. I completely trust you. Of course. Yes, I love you too."

I narrowed my eyes, watching him hang up his phone and tuck it into his pocket before he turned to face me, picking up what appeared to be clothes from the foot of the bed.

"Here, sweetheart, put these on and we can go home," he said. I growled low in my throat, glanced at the window to see if there was a way out, but the damn thing didn't open and was only there for aesthetics. Akin cleared his throat and I snapped to attention, seeing him tap his foot on the floor impatiently. I slid off the bed slowly, inched toward the clothes, then snatched them away and backed up to a safe distance. I looked at the clothes, briefly confused on how to wear them, and decided to wing it. I managed to get both my legs into the pants and pulled them up to my hips, then moved onto the long sleeved loose shirt with a stripe on the front.

"Good job," Akin praised, making me perk up, "Ah, but no food, not yet." I glared, but he ignored it as he grabbed a nearby bag and made sure everything was properly packed in it before he held his hand out to me.

"Come," he ordered. I hesitated for only a second before I came forward. He shook his hand out to me, insisting I take it, and I did. He led me out of the room and to the front desk where we checked out, then headed back home. Once we were outside the hospital, Akin teleported us from there back to the mansion on the hill. The teleportation was disorienting and I let go of Akin's hand to rub at the sides of my head.

"Sorry, sweetheart, I forget you're not good with teleporting," he apologized gently, "Let's go inside. I'm sure Hannibal's making something for you to eat." At the mention of food, I straightened and followed Akin into the house. It didn't feel familiar. It felt new and confusing for some reason. Was it because of my Beast? That Beast that was controlling my body while I watched from the inside?

Because that's how it felt.

It felt like I was a passenger in my own body and I hated it. I wanted to leave the house, wanted to run back and find Keros or Thirteen to see if they were okay, but my Beast didn't give a shit. My Beast wanted food. It wasn't just mental either; it was physical. My stomach growled as if I hadn't just lived off the flesh of other people for what? A month? Two months? I had no idea how long I'd been locked up.

Nothing else mattered the moment I smelled Hannibal's food, though.

The second that frying meat hit my nose, I veered off and headed for the kitchen with Akin following close behind at a brisk walk so he could keep up with me. I made it to the kitchen where the King was standing over the stove. I immediately went to the stove to reach over and grab the meat, but the King caught my wrist in his iron grip and I hissed, then bared my fangs at him. He silently tightened his grip on my wrist and I whined in pain.

"Don't hurt him," Akin warned.

"I'm not," the King answered, and this time, his tone was sharp, which caught me off guard. The King didn't speak to Akin that way. He never had. Even my Beast seemed shocked by the tone. Akin, on the other hand, didn't and just dropped his eyes for a moment before looking up.

"I know," he said after a second, "I just..." His voice trailed. He looked sad. The King loosened his grip on me, but pulled me away from the stove. I growled, but he ignored me as he led me over to the table and forced me to sit in one of the seats. He went back over to the stove to finish cooking.

"I'm sorry," Akin blurted at last, coming over to the King and I watched them curiously from the table, "I didn't mean to... I know you won't hurt him, baby, I just. I don't know where my head is at. I'm just so afraid of him getting hurt." The King was silent for a while, just stirring food around in the pan and I whined again because I was hungry and wanted food, but they both ignored me.