Free The Change (Unbounded) by Teyla Branton

and his eyes followed the movement. Pressure built until it screamed in my head.
    I clamped down on my emotions. He was physically appealing—I wasn’t fooling myself on that score—but this blatant desire coming out of nowhere wasn’t me. I preferred to actually know a man before starting something more. Another lesson learned during my bitter stint in law school. Another reason I hadn’t said yes to Tom.
    Yet I wasn’t ready to back down, either. To move away would be another kind of defeat. A show of fear. I met his gaze head on, my eyes narrowed, my lips pressed together.
    In the end, it was Ritter who stepped away, his black eyes dark and unreadable. The moment he did, all the emotions fell away, as though they hadn’t been mine to keep. Blood still rushed through my veins and my breath came shallowly, but I could think clearly again.
    I knew only one thing—I had to get out of this insane place and back where I belonged. I didn’t like what I was becoming.
     

 
     
     
     
     

     
    A VA MET US AT THE top of the stairs. Her eyes looked me over, faltering on the red rashes and streaks on my arms. “I thought you said you’d go easy on her,” she said to Ritter.
    “I did.”
    She gave him a half smile. “You joining us for dinner?”
    Now that she mentioned food, I could smell something delicious in the air. My stomach didn’t growl in anticipation, but my mouth watered. I wondered if the others still had that ability—to have their mouths water at the thought of food. Certainly some of their bodily functions were still very much in place, if my attraction to Ritter was any indication. I didn’t dare look at him as he spoke.
    “I’m going to do rounds,” he said.
    “George and Charles are doing them here. And Marco and Gaven are still outside the warehouse. They all know what we’re up against.”
    “Never hurts to double up. I’ll also check in with Dimitri. Be back in an hour. Two, tops.”
    Ava nodded. No false hostessing here. No reason to make a plea that he needed to sustain himself when he could get anything he needed from the air around him.
    His leaving meant that Ava was the only obstacle to my sneaking away, but I couldn’t leave until she retired and that meant there was time for dinner.
    “I’m hungry,” I said. “I mean, I could eat.” Because I wasn’t really hungry.
    Ava smiled. “Why don’t we both shower and meet in the dining room? I’ll show you where it is on the way to your room.”
    She wasn’t going to watch me? Then I remembered the men she’d talked about. No doubt they were monitoring inside as well as outside the house. That might complicate my plan.
    I looked for cameras on the way back, noticing several. Not favorable to an escape, but in the dark, wearing black, I shouldn’t be too noticeable if I kept to the shadows along the walls.
    I hoped.
    I dressed in dark jeans and a thin, zippered jacket to hide the bright white of my skin. The jeans were stiff and new and a little loose, but the stretchy material of the black jacket fit my body like a glove. Dimitri had bought hats, too, and still very much aware of my ultra short hair, I pulled on a black French beret, feeling gratitude toward the man. He’d been so kind to me in each of our few encounters, and his detailed purchases for me, from shoes and hair elastics to face cream and sanitary supplies, were uncanny.
    I entered the dining room five minutes before Ava arrived. It seemed rather ostentatious to use the enormous room for two, but neither Ava nor the cook, a kindly rounded woman with graying hair and sagging cheeks, seemed to think it strange. The cook, whose name turned out to be Janice, was practically invisible as she served the steak and potatoes, gliding along and anticipating our every need. I wondered if she knew what Ava really was.
    What I really was.
    I soon forgot her as I dug into my second steak, so tender it almost melted in my mouth. One could grow used to this.
    By the time