I toss and turn on my bed, desperately trying to get comfortable. It’s too warm under the covers. It’s too cold without them. My skin continues to crawl. My thoughts don’t stop churning in my mind.

My lips keep pursing on their own.

Ari.

Every time I close my eyes, there he is. His cool confidence. His deep eyes and wicked smile.

His perfect lips. The way they moved with mine.

“Tannis…”

I hear his whisper in my ear.

“Open your eyes.”

I stare at an unfamiliar ceiling. It’s dark and old, nearly gray in color. This bed isn’t mine. It’s nearly twice as large and my sheets are white and purple. These are black as coal and smooth as silk. The only light in the room comes from a large fireplace in the far corner with flames taller than I am.

They outline his shape. A man standing at the foot of the bed. Tall and naked.

Ari?

I don’t move. The pillow hugs my head and neck perfectly. The sheets curl around my bare skin like a warm embrace.

“Where am I?” I ask, though my voice doesn’t come out.

Ari silently smiles and crawls onto the bed. I gasp at his flesh, tight and toned and... hard.

He balances over me, his legs mingling between mine. “Where you belong,” I hear him say, though his lips aren’t moving.

He hovers over me, his lips a mere inch from mine, and my entire body surges with that same shot of warmth as before.

“Where you’ve always belonged.”

I turn my head and his lips shift to my neck. I feel the wet slice of his tongue and the sharp edge of his teeth as he kisses a trail along my collarbone. He grips the sheet around my body and moves to pull it down but my reflex kicks in and I grab it before he can expose me.

“Wait,” I say, finding my voice. “Where am I?”

“Shh,” he whispers.

“No—” I jolt back. “Why did you bring me here?”

He smiles in the dark. “Oh, young Tannis,” he says. “I didn’t bring you here.”

I lurch awake and bolt upward, nearly knocking my lamp over as I spin around to flick it on. The soft light fills my bedroom, blending with early morning sunlight, and I lean forward to catch my breath.

It was just a dream.

I brush a hand along my throat, still feeling the cut of his bite on my blushing skin. My nipples are hard and my body throbs, urging me to keep touching myself but I force my hands down to my sides.

A really vivid dream.

I shake my head, trying to banish the memory of his eyes. They were so full of desire for me... and not an ounce of surprise.

Where you belong.

Where you’ve always belonged.

I shudder again.

It was just a dream.

Right?

I plop back down on the pillows, my chest still heaving as blood pounds in my ears. After a few moments, my skin cools and my sweat dries and I finally start to notice the voices from elsewhere in the house.

I slide off the bed and rush to plant my ear against my door. One voice stands out — distinctly my mother’s excitable laugh. The other, my father’s. There’s a third voice, deep, almost raspy and...

Ari.

What the hell is he doing here?

I reach for the knob but quickly stop when I realize I’m wearing next to nothing in my tank and shorts. And I don’t even want to imagine the state of my hair right now.

“Shit,” I mutter before turning back to my closet.

I rush to the bathroom to clean myself up before slipping into a cardigan and jeans. Laughter carries from downstairs and I grow even more annoyed. What are they so happy about? Doesn’t this whole thing bother them at all?

I ease out into the hallway and slowly make my way down the stairs. Even without making any noise at all, I feel the moment Ari notices me. His eyes track me through the walls like an x-ray but still, I twitch when I round the corner and his eyes are on me.

“Tannis!” My mother smiles wide with a spatula in her hand. “Good morning! Want some eggs?”

I squint at Ari sitting at the kitchen table across from my father with his own plate of scrambled eggs and toast. He stares right back at me over the rim of a coffee mug as he takes a long sip.

“Tannis?” my father asks, clearing his throat. “Earth to Tannis?”

Ari says nothing. He sits back, rarely even blinking his soft eyes.

My mother sets the spatula down by the sizzling skillet. “Honey?”

I shake my head. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I blurt out.

“Tannis,” she scolds me, forcing a pleasant smile. “We have company.”

“No, we don’t have company,” I say, losing my cool. “We have the man you literally sold me to without my consent drinking coffee and eating breakfast! Am I the only one who sees how messed up this is?!”

“Tannis, don’t be rude.”

“No,” Ari says. “It’s all right. Let her speak her mind.”

“Oh, how gracious of you, sir,” I say with a scoff. “For allowing your property to speak.”

“I don’t own you, Tannis,” he says.

“Yet.”

His head tilts.

Dad clears his throat and rises from his chair. “Tannis, could we sidebar here for a second?” he asks as he gestures to the laundry room door across the room.

I exhale hard, casting one last harsh glare at Ari before following my father inside.

He closes the door behind us and waits a moment until my mother’s voice starts back up again before speaking.

“So,” he says, “how ya doing, honey?”

I cross my arms. “Not so good, Dad. You?”

He nods. “Would it comfort you if I told you it could be a lot worse?”

“Worse?” I repeat. “You think I shouldn’t be upset right now just because it could be a lot worse?”

“I didn’t say that,” he says. “No, what you’re feeling right now — you have every right to be upset.”

“Thank you.”

“But...” He pauses to take a breath. “Honey, the night you were born was the worst night of my life. It shouldn’t be that way. The birth of your first child isn’t supposed to be like that. For nine months, I watched you grow. I spent every night with my hand on your mother’s stomach feeling you kick and when you came out, and the doctor had that look on his face, and I just...” He swallows hard.

My chest twinges. “Dad...”

“I want you to understand why we chose what we chose,” he says, just above a whisper. “And it’s not fair, I agree with you, but when Ari told me that he’d save you and that he’d always take care of you and give you a future full of anything you ever wanted… I had to say yes, because it gave me you. I got to hold you and feed you and clothe you. I taught you how to crawl and walk and talk. You taught me how to be patient and how to be patient some more and how to love… unconditionally. If I had to go back and make the same decision, I’d do it all over again and so would your mother. Be honest with me, baby. What would you have done?”

I pinch my eyes closed and swallow the tears away. “I understand, Dad. I do, but…”

“I’m not telling you to get over it or toughen up or anything like that,” he says. “I wouldn’t be much of a father if I did. But… what I am saying is that this man gave us twenty precious years together and for that, maybe, he deserves a chance.”

“I’m giving him a chance, Dad, but...” I go quiet, trembling at the dream still fresh in my head.

“But what?”

I quickly shake my head. “Nothing. You’re right,” I say. “I just feel under pressure, that’s all. Like I owe him something.”

“Hey...” He squeezes my shoulder. “I don’t care if he is an immortal god. He lays a hand on you, I’ll knock him out.”

I laugh. “Thanks, Dad.”