Consume (The Devoured Series) Read Free Page B

closer to him. "And no one gets your reveries anymore, but me."
     
    The old me, the snarky and spoiled and better-than-everybody me, would have tossed my hair at him and sent him a sympathy giggle before vacating the premises. The new me? The one where Eli was attached to me, literally, and could make my body respond in ways that Tate never dreamed about? She was practically a pool at Eli's feet.
     
    I basically just held on when he leaned in to kiss me, but he pecked my lips sweetly and hugged me to him. "Finn was my only friend in this whole world. And if he's here, then things are about to get bad for us."
     
    "But why? He wouldn't just visit you?"
     
    "No," he answered and leaned back to inspect me, his eyes roaming. "Now, what happened? You almost passed out. That's probably what the bright light was for. Have you been feeling bad?"
     
    "No," I said truthfully, but then realized, things had been a little weird. "Well, my ears were hurting earlier, and I kind of have a headache now."
     
    He nodded. "Let's get you to your house and get your some aspirin. You've probably got an ear infection or something."
     
    "But I haven't been swimming or anything."
     
    "Well, it's got to be something, Clara," he insisted, his accent extra potent. "Come on."
     
    As he put an arm around my waist to guide me, he looked both ways, always the ever-careful boy, and then crossed the street. He didn't knock, just went straight in and right to the kitchen. He sat me down at the kitchen table and asked Mrs. Ruth where the aspirin was. She told him and eyed me curiously as Eli got the pills and a glass of water.
     
    He squatted down in front of me, handed me the pills and raised his eyebrow in waiting for me to take them. I rolled my eyes and took the pills. He smiled at me and then told Mrs. Ruth that I had a headache and he was taking me to my room.
     
    She nodded to say her acceptance, but still watched me strangely. I was sure she was wondering why I was letting Eli guide me around and shove medicine at me. I frowned as we shuffled down the hall.
     
    Had I lost my spunk?
     
    "What on earth are you thinking so hard about?" he said as he held my door open for me.
     
    "Nothing," I muttered and turned to him. I bumped my nose into his chest as he was so close, or he bumped into me I should say. I looked up at him and any weirdness I felt seemed trivial. He looked tortured and I didn't understand why.
     
    "Clara," he sighed and grasped my jaw, almost as if to choke me, but his fingers were gentle and careful. And my breaths came faster. He moved us just like that to the closet door, my back barely bumping it. "How's the head now?"
     
    "Forgotten," I breathed.
     
    "And the ears? Still painful?" he asked, his middle finger snaking up to circle my ear.
     
    I shivered. "What ears?"
     
    He laughed softly. "I'm serious. Tell me what happened out there. All of it."
     
    I dug through my muddled brain for the answers and eventually could tell him what happened. I told him about my ears hurting, the slamming locker being so incredibly loud, then the bright light and the reverie, and Finn.
     
    He shook his head and he stared at the wall behind me head. "Something spooked Finn. He'd never come looking for me otherwise."
     
    "Where do you know him from?"
     
    He sighed, his breath washing my face in warmth. "He was the only other Devourer I'd ever met who understood…well, understood isn't a good word. Sympathized, I guess. He dislikes what he is, but he hasn't had some revelation like me to push him into being good. Or trying to be. I met him at the Consumed Club in Arequipa."
     
    "Consumed Club?"
     
    "A club where Devourers go to…mingle." He rolled his eyes angrily. "It's a place where Devourers and their mates can hang without worrying about any humans seeing anything they shouldn't."
     
    "And you used to hang out at these clubs?" I asked softly.
     
    His thumb swept across my lips before settling once more on my jaw line. "Yes,"