Birthright

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The mansion was packed with people, which was why Alex took Kray through the servants' entrance to get him back in the house. He followed her through a less furnished corridor and up a personal elevator to the third floor, feeling more alert than he had ten minutes ago in the garden. Still nowhere near his old self though, which might be for the best. He still felt loose and limber, his body tingling in a pleasant way that made the world a little more bearable.

It also made Alex a little more bearable. So when she nearly tripped in her high heels and twisted her ankle, he thought her unexpected growl of goddammit, I hate these stupid things! was the most hilarious thing he'd heard in ages.

He chuckled as she pushed a door open and walked inside. Pulling off the high heels, she shot back a look at him before crossing over to a brown leather sofa against a wall. "First time I've heard you laugh in years, and it's at my expense."

"Anyone ever tell you you're way more interesting when you break character?"

Her eyebrows furrowed, and he could tell she was thinking his question over, trying to figure out exactly how he was insulting her this time. She decided to let it go. "Please have a seat. I'm going to get you something to help with the alcohol in your system."

Kray looked around the guest room as he walked in. Queen size bed with a checkered blue-and-gray bedspread. A pristinely white carpet that made him kick off his dress shoes before walking inside. Silky drapes drawn over the window facing the backyard of the mansion. And a giant video screen occupying the wall opposite the bed, as well as a shelf filled with entertainment gadgets.

Not bad. Even a guest in the Drasse home was treated to a better life than most people could afford.

Alex waited while he surveyed the room and then sank onto the sofa. "You're still in good shape, so the vitalizer should take effect in less than ten minutes."

He knew what that was, even though he'd never used it. Vitalizer tablets, intended to regulate and stabilize the brain's neural activity, worked well to counteract alcohol's effects on the brain. In exactly ten minutes, he would feel as sober as he had when he walked into the mansion, which was a real shame. He kind of liked being this way.

He didn't even care that much about Leah using him. She'd always been the center of melodrama. It was just like her to pull a high school stunt like that. What she'd done wasn't betrayal so much as it was an annoyance he should have expected.

The only part that really bothered him was that Alex had seen it. How gullible did she think he was for letting two human girls get the best of him?

"Wait here," she said as she headed to the bathroom, her dress billowing gently with every step. The material cascaded like silk down her legs, but it hugged her chest and hips and emphasized a body that, despite being honed for years by relentless training, was still curvy enough to make any guy envy Robert Nourse.

The downward spiral of his thoughts made Kray flush with heat. He shook his head vigorously and then groaned when everything spun out of control. "So how about that vitalizer?"

A crash in the bathroom answered his question. He leaped off the sofa and bounded for the bathroom in three long strides. Small white pills were scattered across the linoleum floor next to Alex, who sat with her arms around one knee, rocking back and forth.

Tears streamed down her face, which was twisted with pain. Kray stared disbelievingly at her before searching the bathroom for whatever had hurt her. Except for an oil painting that had been knocked askew, everything was fine. Everything except her.

"What happened?" he demanded, his head in a haze for reasons other than the alcohol. He'd never seen Alex cry before. Not when she broke her ribs after her driffer malfunctioned and tossed her against a tree or when her dog died after they'd been together ever since she was an infant, or even whenever her dad cut her down with his cold, unfeeling words. But here she was, her golden eyes shimmering with the wetness that dripped from her chin, betraying pain unlike anything she'd been able to endure before.