When I leaned back and raised my eyes to Cade’s, I didn’t have to ask if he saw it, too. I knew he did.
“Ridley, does that mean what I think it means?”
“That Savannah’s next?” I offered quickly, giving Cade a stern and meaningful look. He frowned in disapproval, but said nothing to give me away. “I can only assume so.”
“What did you see?” Bo asked, appearing at my side to extricate me from Cade’s grasp.
I shot Cade one more warning look before I schooled my features and turned to Bo.
“I saw Savannah and she was terrified. I don’t know exactly what happens, but somehow I know she’s next,” I said. “It’s not as clear as it was with Devon, but maybe we should act as though it was. Maybe this is a warning that we need to get to Savannah. Now.”
“Wel , Devon should be with her right now,” Bo observed, always rational.
“Yeah, but what about later?”
“So you have no idea when this happens? Or where?”
I shook my head.
Bo watched me thoughtful y for several tense seconds.
“Are you sure that’s it? That’s al you saw?”
I nodded.
“Honestly, I didn’t see anything else, like where she was, who she was afraid of, where they took her, anything.”
And that was absolutely true. About Savannah, that is.
His eyes narrowed on me suspiciously, so I quickly took control of the conversation, afraid he might somehow pin me down.
“So I’m thinking that since I’m al juiced up on human blood, I can be around Savannah without having to worry, right?”
“Eh,” Bo said as he did a kind of back and forth thing with his head that wasn’t real y agreement or disagreement.
“Wel , at any rate, you’l be here. And Devon. I say that, tomorrow morning, I go get her and bring her here. She can tel her dad she’s housesitting with me.”
“Babe, it is tomorrow morning,” Bo said, cocking his head toward the wal of windows that was flooded with the pastel-hued sunrise.
“Oh, right,” I said, smiling sheepishly. “Time sure does fly when you’re battling hel hounds, doesn’t it?”
Bo grinned.
“Why don’t we wait for Devon to get back, see what he says and then we’l go from there?”
I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. That sounded far too reasonable to dispute.
“Maybe I should at least cal her, make sure she’s alright and tel her what I want to do.”
Bo chuckled.
“Alright then. Cal her if you must,” he granted in an exasperated voice.
I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed Savannah. It was answered on the first ring, but not by the voice I expected to hear.
“Hey, Ridley,” Devon whispered into the phone.
“How—”I paused for a moment, wondering, but then answered the question I hadn’t asked—cal er ID. “Where’s Savannah? Why are you answering her phone? And why are you whispering?” I whispered in return.
“She’s asleep. Why are you whispering?”
I thought about that for a second and then we both laughed.
“Good question,” I replied at a more normal level. “Devon, I’ve got a favor.”
I explained to him what I’d seen and what I wanted to do with regard to Savannah. Of course, Devon wanted to spend as much time with Savannah as possible, as wel as ensure her safety, so he was completely in favor of the plan.
“So then you’l stay with her until she wakes up, tel her about the plan and then cal me so I can come get her, right?”
“Right.”
“Don’t tel her it has anything to do with her mother. Just tel her it’s Sebastian.”
“I won’t. I don’t want to upset her.”
“Good. Neither do I.”
“Wel , I guess I’l be waiting to hear from you then.”
“And you don’t think her dad wil have a problem with her skipping time with the tutor today? Or that he’l wonder why you’re out of school on a Friday, too?” Devon asked.
“Savannah’s creative. She’l think of something,” I responded, never in doubt of Savannah’s ingenuity.
“Good point,” Devon said. “Okay, I’l cal you when it’s time to come and get her.”
We hung up and I turned to Bo.
“Done deal.”
I was inordinately pleased, feeling for just a moment as if we’d somehow thwarted Sebastian. I knew that there was so much more involved than just managing to hide Savannah, but I felt it was best to celebrate the smal victories. I might not be around to celebrate the big one.
Pushing that thought away, I smiled my smile of great accomplishment, at which Bo grinned.
“Now you can rest easy,” he stated. “Shal we go see what new developments your skin has to show?”
Bo taking off my clothes to rub his hands al over my skin?
Yes, please!
I simply smiled and Bo took my hand, leading me back to the one smal sanctuary we had in al this mess. Once inside my room, Bo removed my shirt to look for new writing. There was none on my chest this time, but he found some on my bel y and my side. After he scrutinized them, Bo turned me around.
He ran his fingers gently over the skin of my back, but it wasn’t until he’d reached my waist that I could tel that he’d found something. Once again, he leaned in so closely I could feel his breath fanning my skin.
I heard a soft shuffling and looked over my shoulder to see that Bo had gotten down on his knees behind me. He looked up at me and my stomach fluttered.
“Turn around,” he said quietly.
Without question, I did as he asked. His eyes dropped to my navel and he reached forward, pushing the button of my jeans through the hole to release it. After he slid the zipper down, Bo ran his thumb under my waist band and began to shimmy my jeans over my hips and down my legs. I watched his face as he uncovered my body, inch by inch. I could tel by the increasing blackness of his eyes that his desire was on the rise as my jeans fel to the floor and pooled around my ankles.
Without being told, I kicked off my shoes and stepped out of my pants. Bo pushed them aside and, with one hand to my hip, urged me back in front of him.
Excruciatingly slowly, Bo ran his hands up and down my legs and then placed one kiss just below my navel. Chil s spread across my stomach and I sucked in my breath.
When he looked up at me, it felt as though his eyes—eyes so ful of love and desire and something dark and ravenous