Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
TILDA
Everything hurts.
Even my eyelids ache as I try to crack them open. A light source blinds me. “What?” I try to move my head, but the room spins.
“Easy, love. Go slow.” Max’s deep voice eases my panic. He cups my shoulders in his hands.
“Where?” I swallow. “What’s happened?”
“I’m going to turn off the lamp.” His hand moves away from my left shoulder, and with a snick of a switch, the room darkens. “Try opening your eyes.”
A moan escapes me as I try to comply. His handsome face is blurry at first, but then his dark gaze meets mine. In a red-and-white plaid button-down and jeans, he looks ready to trek through the forest. Hair pokes out around his cuffs and at the V in the collar.
“I see you.”
His smile looks weary. “You can’t imagine how good it is to hear your voice and see you move.” He presses a kiss to my forehead.
“Livi?” Another wave of panic hits me as I search for my last memory of the cave and the boogeyman. I try to get up, but everything spins.
Holding me tighter but carefully, Max presses his cheek to mine. His voice is soft in my ear. “Easy. You saved Livi. She’s home with her mom and sister. You’ve been unconscious in my house for a week.”
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know why that’s the first thing I say.
After a short laugh, he kisses my ear. “What could you possibly have to be sorry for?” Easing back, he looks into my eyes.
“I don’t like to be a burden. Why didn’t you send me home?” Scents begin to penetrate my slow senses. Mari, Sam, and others have been here.
With a long breath, he backs up and sits in a chair next to the overly large bed. His shoulders are slumped, and there are dark rings under his eyes. “I needed to take care of you.”
“Have you been awake for a week, Max?” I push myself up against the headboard. Pain, bone deep, sears through me.
“Mari and Ion came every day. I rested when they were here.” He doesn’t look away, but he leans an elbow on the arm of the chair and his head on his hand. “I’m glad you’re awake.”
“How did you get stuck with me?” My instinct is to get up and leave him in peace.
Moving faster than I expect, he gets up and leans over me. “I didn’t get stuck with you, Tilda. I demanded you recover here.”
“Why? I’m not your responsibility just because we were…intimate.” It’s an inadequate word for the time we spent together, but it’s all I have.
Sitting next to me, he drags me against his side and leans back. “You’re not a burden. There are a lot of things we should talk about, but maybe we can wait until you’re stronger.” He kisses my hair.
“Okay.” Tears pop into my eyes, but I push them back. “What happened to the boogeyman? Did you kill it?”
“I wanted to, more than I’d care to admit. Ion put it to sleep, and the monster authorities came and took it away.” A soft growl rumbles in his chest, then stops abruptly. “The chief came by and said they had it in a secure area, and it had healed from its wounds remarkably quickly.”
My mind is starting to clear. “You said Ion has been here?” I vaguely remember him outside the cave.
“Every day. He gave you a bit of his blood so your wounds would heal.” After several long breaths, he adds, “When the boogeyman’s poison kept you from healing, we feared you might not make it.”
“Ion’s blood?” The notion of an original vampire sharing his blood with me is both daunting and heartwarming. “In that cave, a swan would not have survived.”
“Maybe not, but a vampire did, and I’m grateful for that. I know you struggle with that side of yourself, but I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” He holds me close, and the hair on his exposed wrist tickles me. “Do you remember anything after I arrived in the cave?”
Closing my eyes, I search my memory while relishing the feel of my bigfoot holding me.
“You took the monster from me. I don’t know if I was winning, but keeping Livi safe was my only purpose.
I made her close her eyes and promise not to open them.
I didn’t want her to see the blood, and I knew there would be blood. ”
“That was smart. There was a lot of blood, both yours and the monster’s.”
The vision of black and red blood splattered on the cave’s walls is sharp in my mind.
“You held it by the throat and told me to take Livi and leave. My legs felt as if they weighed hundreds of pounds. I reached the mouth of the cave, and Mari was there with Sam. I caught the scent of Ion, but I don’t remember seeing him.
There was crying, and Livi was taken from my arms. Everything hurt.
” I adjust my seat. “I still hurt,” I admit.
“Anything else?”
With a shake of my head, I search my mind, but find nothing. “Then I woke up here a few minutes ago.”
“I’m glad you don’t remember, and that vampires go into a trance when they must heal from such a trauma. I don’t think I could have borne watching you in agony this last week.” He combs several strands of hair out of my face.
“It was good of you to care for me, Max. I can go to my own house now.” More tears try to get out at the thought of leaving, and I have no idea why. “You’ve done enough.”
The air grows thick with his silence. “You should stay here until you’re well, and then, if you want to leave, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“Why do you feel responsible for me?” It was only sex. He can’t be made to feel like he owes me something. “Did Ion or Mari guilt you into this?”
“Oh, Tilda.” He lets out a long sigh. “No one forced you on me. As I said, I want to take care of you. The thought of you being anywhere else…” His growl rumbles against my side.
“Sex does not bind you to me.” This isn’t some Gothic romance novel. “I’m an independent woman with her own means.” My bones ache, and I realize hunger is the cause.
“I’m aware. Duty is not my motivation.”
I shift to try to alleviate some of the discomfort and to look at his face. Still weary, he also looks more relaxed than when I first woke up. His blood running through arteries and veins becomes the loudest thing in the room. I fight my vampire needs. “What is then?”
His gaze shifts to mine. “I’m in love with you, Tilda.”
A knot forms in my throat. I try to speak, but no words will come.
“It’s too soon.” He runs a callused finger along my jaw. “I know, but you asked, and I don’t want to lie to you. There’s no need to respond.”
My pain intensifies. I have so much I’d like to say to him, but my feelings are pushed aside by my hunger. “I think you should leave the room, Max. I don’t want to hurt you and…” I run my tongue over my distended incisors.
With wide eyes, he focuses on my mouth. “I’m not going anywhere. If you need blood, you can have mine.”
The thought of sinking my teeth into his flesh sends pleasure pulsing between my legs. My nipples tighten, even with the agony in my starving body. “I’m ravenous, and I could go too far. You should leave and maybe catch me a rabbit.”
“Those will keep you alive, but they will not satisfy your hunger or heal your body, love.” He turns his head and exposes more of his throat.
The rushing of blood and the pounding of his heart sing through me. “When I was in that cave, the boogeyman taunted me, saying I was a monster and that Livi’s blood would be the sweetest.” I pull myself out of his embrace, and despite the ache deep in my bones and muscles, I straddle his lap.
He looks into my eyes, no fear, not a bit of concern. All I see is complete and total trust and desire.
I run my tongue along the side of his neck.
I’m too starved to wait and make love. I nick his skin and lick the bead of lovely blood.
We moan together as my elixir enters him and his sweetness sustains me.
“I never wanted that child. The monster thought he was taunting me, but he was teaching me more about myself than all the years living as a vampire ever had. I spent seven years fearing what I am and thinking I was an abomination. I believed the lies Pierre told me. Harming anyone turns my stomach. You are the only person I want to bite. Yours is the only blood I need.” I swallow, making sure he understands.
“I don’t know if I can ever resist you, Max. ”
“Seeing you take mere drops of Ion’s blood was torture for me. I wanted to be the one to provide for you. Even the bags of blood from the hospital made me seethe with jealousy.” He cups the back of my head and pulls me to his neck. “I need you as much as you need me.”
I suck the spot where his blood runs fast and loud. “You’re sure this is what you want?” Asking is part of what makes me different from the vampire who made me. Asking and giving pleasure to this amazing Sasquatch who says he loves me.
“I’m absolutely sure, love.” His cock thickens between my legs.
I roll my hips and sink my teeth into his artery. A flood of sweet, warm blood flows into my mouth, taking my pain away instantly. The cells of my body feed off his richness, and pleasure swamps me as Max roars and slides his hand along my back.
He grips my ass and pulls me closer. Every nourishing drop of his blood warms places inside me that I thought might never be warm again. The pall of death washes away, and my muscles strengthen; my heart beats once, then again. Even my hair feels as if it’s coming back to life.
One more sip, and I seal the small punctures in his neck with a soft lick. Dressed in just a white shirt that must be one of his, my slit is exposed to the rough material beneath me. I roll my hips and ride the ridge behind his jeans, and I moan.
Pupils taking up all the brown of his eyes, he takes the bottom of the shirt in both hands and pulls it up.
I lift my arms, ready to be naked against him.
The hair of his beard tickles my flesh as he leans forward and takes my nipple into his warm mouth.
He sucks and licks, then worries the tight bud between his teeth.
With the renewal of his blood, pleasure flushes my skin with warmth, and every inch of me tingles with awareness.
My clitoris pulses. Unable to resist, I reach between my legs and slide my fingers through my wetness, then arch my back to press my breasts hard against his mouth and the tingle of his fur.
His growl rumbles from deep in his chest and vibrates against me. As he nudges my hand away, he takes over between my thighs with his thick finger and callused skin, driving me to the brink.
“Max.” I ride his finger. “That’s so good.”
Releasing my nipple, he smiles. “I see you’re feeling better.”
It takes all my strength to stay still and look him in the eyes. “You say Ion gave me blood to keep me alive, and there was blood from the hospital as well?”
He nods, his stare locked with mine.
“Those may have preserved me, but it is your blood that gives me life. It is only you who makes me want to live, and it is definitely only you I want to feel come inside my body.” I tear open the fly of his jeans and am more than pleased to have the vampire strength to do it.
His cock pops free and stands thick, hard, and long. He roars, then cups my head to pull me down for a long, deep kiss. His tongue slides along mine, making love to my mouth.
My pussy gushes with more wetness. I need him to fill me, but I want to savor this for as long as possible. He presses the thick finger inside me while his thumb teases a circle around my clitoris.
Between his tongue and digits, my body tightens and explodes with pleasure. Breaking the kiss, I scream and ride out the crest of my orgasm. “Fuck.” I press my forehead against his. Another shiver runs through me. “I’m feeling much better.”
His laugh sends a tingle along my flesh as he ever so slowly slips his finger out and then sucks my juices off. “You seem better, and you taste perfect.”