The Alpha Mafioso's Prey

Chapter 4: The Morning After

 Aurora woke up on a cloud.

This was it, then. Heaven. Light bled through her closed eyelids. It was warm, but there was a cool breeze that tasted of rain and sky. Aurora reached for her shoulder.

A clink stopped her arm. Squinting, Aurora turned her head, opening her eyes to reality. The "cloud" looked suspiciously like a king-size bed. The clink had come from a pair of handcuffs that secured her wrist to the headrest.

Aurora stared, dazed, and jerked her wrist against the cuff to no avail. Even that small movement made her head spin a little, which didn't stop her from trying the same with her other hand. Another clink stopped it.

"What..." she croaked, throat dry. An IV drip hung to her left, hooked up to her arm. What happened? She remembered... she barely remembered. Meeting Valentino. Packing in a hurry. A run through the city. A beast.

And at the end of it all, Valentino. Her heart quickened at the memory of his hand over hers, the same way it had quickened last night, pumping her blood ever quicker out of her. She should be dead.

"You're awake," came Valentino's low voice.

Aurora's head snapped to the sound, sending her vision spinning once more. Valentino approached her, dragging a chair behind him, and sat at her bedside.

"Valentino? What..." She trailed off. There was no pity, no mercy in his eyes. They were fathomless voids, just as likely to damn her as they were to grace her. Aurora lowered her eyes. She was wearing a white robe, her shredded, muddy clothes nowhere to be found. White bandages spotted with red wrapped her shoulder.

She'd been undressed. By whom? Him?

"You should be dead." Valentino's eyes flicked to her bandages, then back up.

"Well, I... I'm not," Aurora offered lamely.

Valentino snorted. "How shocking." Leaning forward, he continued. "I want an answer this time. What are you?"

With a futile tug on the handcuffs, Aurora huffed and glanced at the door. So close, yet so far.

Valentino followed her gaze. "No running this time, Aurora. You will give me answers."

"And what if I don't?" Aurora snapped.

Valentino simply met her eyes and held the stare, raising an eyebrow slowly. Blushing, Aurora looked away first.

"How long was I out?" she asked, subdued.

Valentino exhaled. "A day and a half. What are you?"

Aurora didn't look at him. "Can I have some water?"

"Talk first."

She turned back to him. "Why does it matter? I'm just a girl, okay? Just a normal, ordinary girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't want anything to do with--with you, or whatever the hell happened last night."

Valentino smirked. "Still I've learned nothing. I already knew you're a liar."

"I'm not--" Aurora pressed her lips together. "I'm not lying. I'm just some girl."

"There's another one," Valentino said, holding up a finger. "Be careful that they don't stack up too quickly."

Aurora gritted her teeth.

"Fine," Valentino sighed. "If you won't tell me, I'll have to guess. And if you don't correct me, I'll have to act on my assumptions. Fair?"

Aurora watched, digging her fingers into the bed, as Valentino slowly poured a glass of water from an iced pitcher, condensation dragging lines down the side.