Theo considered her a moment, deciding how best to answer. “The warlocks have been abducting and converting vulnerable witches to their cause since as far back as we know. Lately, though, they’ve been taking more. Almost like they’re building an army.”

She shook her head. “I’m not military material.”

“Stefan seems to have taken a special interest in you. Or at least, normally he doesn’t meet personally with witches they’ve abducted, let alone go on the initial kidnapping. He doesn’t take risks, you know? He’s got underlings for that. Hell, ever since Isabelle almost nabbed him, he never even goes anywhere without bodyguards. He took a risk for you and he’s given you all kinds of personal attention, but we don’t know why you’re so special.”

“I feel like Alice and I just slipped down the rabbit hole.”

“So who does that make me?”

A smile flickered across her mouth. “Not the Cheshire cat, that’s for sure. You don’t smile enough for that.” She frowned. “You don’t smile at all.”

“Yeah, well, not much to smile about these days.”

“God,” she breathed, looking down at her lap and toying with a small hole in the knee of the sweatpants. “My mom. I always just assumed she was schizophrenic. The human torch thing, well, no one had an explanation for that.”

“Now you do.”

“I’ll say.”

“Micah told me that it made all the supernatural unsolved mystery shows.”

Suddenly, she looked about ten years older. “Yes.” She sighed. She looked down at the book in her lap again. “So, does this mean I can go home now?”

“Isabelle is downstairs in the library. I’ll take you to her. She’ll give you some clothes to wear that fit, something decent to eat, and take you home.”

She looked up at him. “Isabelle sounds really nice, but if it’s okay, I’d rather you just took me home now.” She glanced down at her clothes. “I mean, as long as you don’t mind that I’d be taking your clothes with me. I’ll wash them and return them—”

“I don’t mind that you’re wearing my clothes.”

Actually, she looked damn good in them. He let his gaze wander down her torso. His clothes engulfed her slim body, making him wonder what lay beneath all the bulk. Making him want to undress her and find out. It was intimate to think that the material that had lain against his skin now lay against hers.

Theo ripped his gaze back to her face. Clearly, he needed to get laid sometime soon. It had been too long. He hadn’t taken a lover since Ingrid had died last year.