Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“And that completes our tour,” Ashley mumbled on a sigh as she closed the empty linen closet door.

That had taken all of five minutes, and during that time, she’d found an empty bedroom, another unfinished bathroom, and a locked door on the first floor, which she was assuming was the basement door that led to the holding cells that she was trying not to think about. That had led her to investigate the second floor where she found three more bedrooms, one of them empty, and the other two with the bare minimum, two bathrooms, several empty closets, and none of them painted, decorated, or held anything more than a bed, a nightstand, a metal folding chair, and a pile of dirty clothes.

Rubbing her temples with her fingertips as she tried to ignore the dull headache that didn’t seem to want to go away, Ashley took in the second-floor hallway again only to sigh because she hadn’t learned anything new except for the fact that neither man called this house home. That led her to head back downstairs and decide to get another look at the kitchen, which unfortunately, only depressed her more, mostly because it was filled with every kind of junk food known to man that she’d never been able to afford and couldn’t eat now.

For a moment, Ashley simply stood there, staring longingly at all the chocolate, chips, pre-packaged baked goods, and cases of Coke that she would give anything to be able to enjoy again, but sadly, it was not meant to be. After one last look at the party-sized bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, she forced herself to close the pantry door and shift her attention to the refrigerator and the stack of bagged blood that she was determined to keep down.

It was either that or allow herself to depend on Kale for blood and she really didn’t think that was a good idea, mostly because he hated her and she…

Still wasn’t sure why she’d responded to him like that.

Every nerve in her body felt like it came alive as pleasure tore through her, leaving her wanting more, and-

“God, I love pizza,” Ashley mumbled sadly when she opened the fridge and saw the large pizza box stacked on top of several cases of Coke that would go perfectly with cold pizza.

Before she realized what she was doing, Ashley found herself reaching for the cardboard box only to shake her head and focus on the cold bags of blood on the bottom shelf along with the reminder that it just wasn’t meant to be. She was confined to a life of blood, Ashley reminded herself even as her gaze strayed back to that box and-

“Definitely a bad idea,” Ashley told herself with a firm shake of her head, remembering what Jacob said, but…

What if he was wrong?

What if she could still digest food? He’d been wrong about her ability to drink bagged blood, so maybe he was wrong about this? Ashley thought, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she once again found herself looking at the pizza box. She owed it to herself to find out, Ashley told herself, licking her lips hungrily as she imagined just how good cold pizza would taste right now, her stomach growling viciously now that Kale’s blood had taken the edge off her stomachache.

One bite, Ashley told herself as she moved to close the refrigerator door only to grab a Coke and rush to the small kitchen table. In seconds, she had the cover thrown open and a cold slice of cheese pizza in her hand and-

She couldn’t take it anymore.

Sending her stomach a silent apology, Ashley took a bite of cold pizza and found herself groaning as the perfect mixture of cold cheese, tomato sauce, and crust hit her tongue. It had been so long since she had pizza. It was so good, better than she remembered, Ashley thought, quickly taking another bite as she watched Jacob walk into the kitchen. When he saw her, he released a long-suffering sigh that had her eyes narrowing dangerously on him.

“Yeah, that’s not going to end well,” Jacob said with a pitying look as he reached over and-

Nodded slowly while he quickly pulled his hand away when she released a vicious growl as she took another bite. When everything turned red, he cleared his throat, shifted, and murmured, “He’s going to kill me.”

When she finished off the slice of pizza without getting sick, his frown turned curious as he watched her reach for another slice. “How’s your stomach?”

“It’s fine,” Ashley said around another bite of pizza, realizing just how hungry she was as she quickly finished off the second slice and reached for another one.

“Want me to order another pizza?” Jacob asked only to chuckle when she began nodding before he had a chance to finish asking the question.

“More pizza it is,” he murmured to himself as he pulled out his cellphone and made a call while Ashley studied him.

He was handsome, laidback from what she’d seen so far, and was a hell of a lot nicer than Kale, but something told her that she wouldn’t have reacted the same way to him if he’d been the one holding her earlier, and she had no idea why. If anyone should make her nervous, it was the man reaching over to swipe the pizza crust out of her hand, but-

“Son of a bitch!”

-there was nothing, Ashley thought, sighing heavily as she watched Jacob shake off his hand as he grumbled pathetically about “little bullies,” but thankfully, for his sake, he finished ordering more pizza.

Once he was done, he grabbed a Coke from the fridge and dropped down in the chair across from her. “How was your tour?” Jacob asked, popping the top off his Coke and took a sip.

“Fascinating,” Ashley said dryly as she reached for another slice.

Chuckling, Jacob finished off his Coke and tossed the empty can in the sink before reaching for hers only to rethink that decision with a murmured, “Right,” when her eyes narrowed on him. Clearing his throat, he got up and grabbed another Coke while she sat there, savoring every last bite of pizza.

God, this was so good, Ashley thought, moving to take another bite when he asked, “Are your fangs getting in the way?” making her frown.

Running her tongue over her teeth, Ashley realized that her fangs weren’t down, but her eyes were still red, a first for her. Over the past week, she’d been dealing with her fangs sliding down every time her eyes turned red, which unfortunately for her sanity, happened a lot, nicking her tongue, making her gums sore, and making it difficult to do anything more than glare at the wall while she waited for them to recede.

“No,” Ashley said, wondering why that was.

“But they come down every time you scent blood?” Jacob asked, throwing her a questioning look as he leaned back in his chair.

After a slight hesitation, Ashley nodded even as she decided that she probably shouldn’t mention that sometimes they also came down when she caught his scent since that would probably make things awkward. “Why?” she asked, reaching for another slice only to grumble when she realized that the box was empty.

“Just curious,” Jacob murmured, grabbing the empty pizza box and tossed it in the sink to join the empty soda can before continuing with his interrogation. “You know what I couldn’t help but notice?”

“No,” Ashley said as her attention shifted to the pantry door behind her and all those delicious goodies the sugar addict inside her was desperate to get her hands on now that she’d managed to eat pizza.

“You haven’t asked about your mate yet,” Jacob said as he got up and headed to the pantry while she sat there, licking her lips, imagining how good a peanut butter cup would taste right now.

“He doesn’t want me,” Ashley mumbled absently only to whimper when he grabbed the bag of peanut butter cups and a box of Twinkies.

“And that doesn’t bother you?” Jacob asked, sounding curious as he dropped back down on his chair and tossed the bag of peanut butter cups on the table in front of her.

“No,” Ashley said, shrugging it off as she added, “why should it?”

Jacob shrugged as he tore open the box of Twinkies. “Most people would be curious about the person that they found themselves mated to,” he said, watching her curiously.

“I have more than enough to worry about than a mate that doesn’t want me, don’t you think?” Ashley pointed out, not bothering to tell him that she was more than fine with never meeting her mate.

She’d seen firsthand what could happen to an unwanted mate and had no plans of repeating history. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have a mate, just an incredibly generous benefactor that was giving her somewhere safe to stay until she figured out what she should do next.

“True,” Jacob murmured, looking thoughtful. “You won’t be able to have children without him,” he pointed out as he tossed her a Twinkie.

“I don’t think having children is a good idea for me,” Ashley found herself admitting.

“Why is that?” Jacob asked as he folded his arms over his chest as he waited for an answer that he wasn’t going to get.

“What is this place?” Ashley asked, deciding that a change in subject was in order.

“This house?” Jacob asked. At her nod, he shrugged it off as he said, “It was supposed to be a Sentinel home, but the Sentinel doctor decided that he’d rather stay closer to his patient. So, the Council gave it to Kale, hoping that it would be enough to entice him to continue working with them.”

“And did it?” Ashley asked, trying to sound casual as the realization that she couldn’t stay here any longer slammed into her and when it did, she found herself searching for the nearest exit and-

“Don’t worry. They don’t know that you’re here,” Jacob said, chuckling as he ripped open a package of Twinkies and dug in.

“I wasn’t worried,” she lied, licking her lips nervously as she slowly released a shaky breath, telling herself that everything was fine.

“So, we’re just going to pretend that spike of fear that you gave off at the mention of Sentinels didn’t happen?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Yes,” Ashley said with a nod, really hoping that he’d let that one go for her sake.

Chuckling, Jacob asked, “And the fact that you haven’t tried to escape…”

Clearing her throat, she said, “I’m biding my time.”

Nodding slowly, he said, “You have no plans of escaping, do you?”

Shaking her head, Ashley admitted, “Not at the moment,” deciding that there really was no point in lying, not if it meant that they’d leave her alone if they thought that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Why is that?” Jacob murmured, sounding curious.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said, shrugging it off.

“Most people would try to escape,” he pointed out.

“Most people didn’t accidentally break a shifter’s arm,” Ashley reminded him, deciding that it would be better if they thought that she was staying because she was afraid of hurting someone, which she was, but the reason that she wasn’t eager to leave yet was quite simple.

She was sick and tired of constantly having to look over her shoulder all the time.

“Point taken,” Jacob said, “but you could learn how to control that, you know.”

“How am I supposed to do that if I can’t even drink bagged blood?” Ashley asked, genuinely curious about how she was supposed to control whatever it was that she was supposed to be now when they kept telling her just how bad things could get if she didn’t drink blood.

“Well,” Jacob said, sighing heavily as he stood up, “apparently, you can’t handle human blood, which is a bit of an issue, but Kale already took care of it. He’s having shifter blood sent instead. It’s more expensive and harder to find since shifters don’t like to part with their blood, but he managed to get it. It should be here tonight. I’ll get rid of the blood in the fridge after I get back from picking up the pizza.”

“Why can’t I drink regular blood?” Ashley found herself asking even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she would ever be normal.

“No clue, but I’m guessing that it has something to do with the fact that you can eat food,” Jacob said only to pause, and after a slight hesitation, moved in closer and-

“What are you doing?” she found herself asking when he slowly inhaled.

“Just checking something,” Jacob murmured only to frown in confusion as he stepped back and before she could ask about that look, he was shaking his head with a heavy sigh. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

“And if you can’t?” Ashley forced herself to ask, really hoping that the answer wouldn’t include a stay in one of the cells downstairs.

“We will,” Jacob promised her with a wink as he headed for the door only to stop and turn around as he pulled a white envelope folded in half out of his pocket. “I almost forgot. This is for you,” he said as he handed her the envelope.

“What is it?” Ashley asked, throwing him a questioning look as she opened the envelope only to frown when she found a small piece of paper and what looked like a credit card inside.

“Your mate set up a line of credit for you so that you could get whatever you need,” Jacob said as he grabbed his iPad off the kitchen counter and placed it on the table in front of her. “You can use this. Just use the email already set up and the address is saved to the map app.”

“Okay,” Ashley said absently as she shifted her focus to the small piece of paper. It was short and to the point.

Get what you need. Don’t leave.

Not really sure where to start, Ashley looked down at the oversized tee-shirt and boxers that Jacob loaned her only to look up and slowly exhale as she took in the kitchen and realized that she could use a few things…