Page 3 of Dark Awakening: New World
It felt right to share everything with the male she was falling in love with, but he was still so weak, and it wasn't fair to burden him with too much too soon.
On the other hand, she didn't want to hide things from him, and the way he looked at her expectantly, her only choices were to tell him what she suspected or lie.
"There was this one incident during our trek through the mountains when we were looking for you."
A growl emanated from deep in Ell-rom's throat. "Who did that?" he hissed.
His sudden vehemence was in such stark contrast to his otherwise affable demeanor that it was quite jarring.
Jasmine raised a hand. "Hold on. Don't get mad yet. I twisted my ankle and was in a lot of pain. I fell asleep while taking a short rest, and my ankle felt much better when I woke up. I suspect that one of the gods thralled me to go to sleep, gave me a dose of his venom to heal me, and then thralled me again to make me forget it."
Ell-rom's brow furrowed. "What do you mean that he gave you a dose of venom? Where did he get it from, and why did he hide it from you?"
"Oh boy." She let out a breath. "There is so much you still need to learn about yourself. You know that you have fangs, right?"
Jasmine had felt them elongate when they kissed, but she hadn't been surprised or alarmed. Being with Edgar had taught her how to navigate around them to avoid getting nicked.
Ell-rom lifted a finger and touched his canines, which were back to normal by now. "Isn't that part of my Kra-ell heritage? They need fangs to drink blood. I don't, but I still have them."
Jasmine scrunched her nose. "Not exactly. They are also?—"
Her words were cut off as the door to the room swung open, and Bridget walked in.
The medic paused in the doorway, taking in the scene of Jasmine perched on the edge of Ell-rom's bed, their hands intertwined. "Am I interrupting?" she asked, a knowing smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Jasmine let go of his hand. "I was just about to explain to Ell-rom about his fangs and what they are for, but you can probably do a better job of it than me."
Bridget regarded her with a twinkle in her eyes. "I can explain while I do my checkup. Why don't you get some fresh air while I'm at it? Maybe grab a cup of coffee?"
"Good idea." Jasmine shifted her gaze to Ell-rom. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Do you want me to get you something from the café?" She turned to Bridget. "Can I get Ell-rom coffee? He's probably never had it."
Bridget shook her head. "You can give him a tiny sip of yours to taste. But you can get him some more vegetable soup."
Jasmine arched a brow. "I didn't know they had soup there."
"They do now." Bridget turned to her and smiled. "Since the clan owns this building and the café belongs to us, we can ask them to get whatever we want."
That made sense.
The clan owned half of the high-rises on this downtown Los Angeles Street, and the humans renting apartments and offices in the buildings above had no clue that their landlord was a clan of immortals.
They also didn't know that there was a vast underground complex sprawling beneath them.
2
ELL-ROM
As Ell-rom watched Jasmine leave his room, his body and mind were still ablaze from their kiss.
Perhaps he was lucky that he did not remember his celibate life and the sacrifice of intimacy he had been forced to make. He did not know how old he was, but he knew he was not a boy. He was an adult male who should have enjoyed the pleasure of a female partner for many years. Instead, he had been forced to play the role of a priest and forgo touching and being touched.
What a terrible loss that had been.
Whatever he ended up remembering about himself and his convictions, religious and otherwise, he was never going back to being celibate. If the Mother of All Life had a problem with that, she would have to appear to him in person and argue her case to convince him to return to that miserable existence.
The chief medic approached his bed with an amused expression on her face. "How are you feeling, Ell-rom?"
How should he answer that?