Chapter 10
ten
BLAIR
My sisters all stopped at the moving truck to make sure I was okay, but Damian barked orders at them before we could have a real conversation. On the way out, I’d noticed that our things were strewn around the room, some of them torn, broken, and ruined. I wanted to ask them about it, but he didn’t give me time.
“They would’ve had to track your van to find this place,” he said. “You won’t be able to drive it again. It stays here. Get in the back of the moving truck. I’ll drive carefully.”
My sisters exchanged unhappy—and uncertain—expressions.
“We don’t have any other choice,” I told them quietly, still pressing the damp rag to my forehead as hard as I could. My body was trembling, and I wasn’t sure if that was from shock, fear, or blood loss.
The girls nodded, and got in the back of the truck. Damian sped back inside for pillows and blankets, and I noticed multiple tears and bite marks in his clothes. Many of them were bloody.
Worry clenched in my abdomen.
Was he okay?
I hadn’t even asked.
Though a magical being could survive losing their mate, the bond would remain permanently. It would make me miss him desperately, too.
I didn’t want to experience that. Not even a little.
He closed and locked the back of the truck behind my sisters, and was in the driver’s seat a moment later. Leaning over the gap between us, he lifted my hand and my rag, checking my wound.
A growl escaped him, and he pressed it harder to my cut.
“You’re bleeding too,” I said.
“I’m fine.” He grabbed his phone just long enough to send a message, then dropped it and pulled away from my home.
My gaze lingered on the building that had represented safety for so long. It hurt like hell to know we would never be able to go back.
I wasn’t going to argue with Damian about his health. We were only mates because he’d given me no other choice.
“Did the wolves go through our things?”
He made a noise of confirmation. “The equipment for your online stores was destroyed. Most of your clothing was covered in wolf urine, or just plain torn to pieces. I’ll pay for it all to be replaced.”
“We have plenty of money,” I whispered, as we turned away from my home. “We can replace it ourselves. Clem and Zora love online shopping. They’ll have fun with it.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
I knew my sisters well enough to know it was someone sending a text to Clementine in our group chat, letting her know that our stuff was destroyed.
It vibrated again, and again, and again.
He jerked his head in a nod. “I can ask Louise to stop at a clothing store in town so you have things to wear until yours arrive.”
“My phone keeps going off, so I’m sure she’s already ordering things. We had to buy everything online in the first place, so it’s not hard to reorder. In a day or two, I’m sure we’ll have plenty to wear, so we can save Lou a trip.”
He made a noise of frustration, but didn’t argue further.
I leaned the side of my head against the window, closing my eyes.
The rest of the drive passed quickly, and soon enough, we were in the vampires’ underground parking garage again.
I felt intensely dizzy when Damian opened the passenger door, unbuckling my seat belt and lifting me out like I weighed nothing.
If my world hadn’t been spinning, I might’ve insisted that I could walk.
But it was.
So I didn’t.
I realized there was a swarm of vampires around us when Damian gave a few commands without setting me down on my feet.
Open the back of the truck.
Help my sisters out.
Get them anything they need.
It occurred to me just how loud the garage had been when a set of elevator doors closed around us, silencing the noise.
I lifted my arms to wrap around Damian’s neck, and the lightest brush of his emotions rolled through me. I couldn’t tell what they were exactly, but they felt nice anyway. Nice, but maybe a little too intimate.
I wasn’t drinking them in—but I could feel them.
That was the reason I’d agreed to seal the bond in the first place, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by it. But, I was.
“You need to feed,” he said. “It’ll help you heal.”
It was tempting.
Very tempting.
Just feeling his emotions the way I was made me hungry.
“You’re hurt, though,” I murmured.
“Your magic gives me energy. If anything, it’ll help me.”
That seemed like valid reasoning. So, I let myself take in some of the emotions I could feel.
I was so dizzy that I couldn’t tell one from another, but they felt incredible.
Some part of me felt the elevator stop moving and heard it ding, but I didn’t move.
Damian didn’t either.
His back was against the elevator’s wall, his hold on me not tight, but very much possessive.
The elevator dinged again, and I felt more than heard Damian’s growl at the owners of the voices I could hear outside it.
The doors closed again, and he hit two buttons.
The elevator stopped.
I finally released his emotions a few minutes later, so insanely sated that I nearly fell asleep. If not for the pain in my forehead, I would’ve.
My dizziness faded quickly as Damian pressed another button, and the elevator rose again. Though nothing was spinning anymore, I still felt really out of it.
A few minutes later, we were inside a room that smelled like cleaning supplies.
My eyes closed as Damian set me carefully on a bed. His voice was low as he spoke with someone else, and a polite woman’s voice filled my ears soon enough.
“Hi, Blair. I’ve got a shot here to help with the pain. You’ll feel a small pinch on your arm. Your body is trying to heal itself, so you’ll probably fall asleep as soon as the pain eases. I’ll be handling your stitches while you’re unconscious, okay? It’ll be numb, so you won’t feel anything.”
I think I nodded.
I felt a large, strong hand on my arm, and assumed it was Damian’s. When I reached for it, he laced his fingers through mine.
The feeling was comforting.
The prick she’d promised arrived, and shortly after, I was lost to sleep.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I finally opened my eyes. I could hear my sisters talking quietly nearby, but the first thing I saw was Damian.
He was still holding my hand, but the gigantic man was sitting in a chair beside my bed, bent awkwardly and using the hospital mattress as a pillow while he slept beside me.
Though he was wearing a clean shirt that didn’t have any holes in it, I could see darker spots on the black fabric where he’d clearly bled through it. There was enough blood crusted in his hair to tell me that he hadn’t showered, either, though his hands were clean.
Mine were too.
I realized I was wearing a fresh, long-sleeved shirt of Damian’s, with my hair tied up out of my face. When I reached up, I felt a messy bun on top of my head that I knew I hadn’t made.
My sisters noticed the movement, and came over to greet me. They explained that they’d changed me at the doctor’s request, and tied my hair up because there was so much blood in it.
I thanked them, asking the typical questions one would in a hospital and focusing on the information they gave me.
I’d been out for about a day, but my forehead was already mostly healed.
The doctor would be back to remove my stitches soon.
All in all, the situation could’ve been much worse.
I shooed them out when Izzy’s stomach growled, agreeing to text them when I was ready to meet up.
When they were gone, I settled back against my pillow, my gaze moving to Damian once more.
Was he still bleeding?
Had someone given him a blood bag?
He needed to drink blood to recover, didn’t he?
I didn’t know enough about vampires to say for sure. I’d need to ask around so I could learn how everything worked for them, especially how often they needed to feed. Despite everything, I hadn’t forgotten his promise in the throne room to bite me whenever he was hungry.
I was so focused on my thoughts, I didn’t notice the woman who walked into the room until she cleared her throat.
I jumped a little, sucking in a breath as she caught me off guard. Damian stirred, but thankfully, stayed asleep.
“Sorry to scare you,” she apologized, her voice gentle so as not to wake up Damian. The woman was stunning, with dark skin and curly black hair cut short. Her massive blue eyes were lined with a cat-eye that made them pop, especially given the white coat she had on.
“I’m Kara. I’m technically a medical doctor, but just call me by my name,” she said, sitting down in a chair across from Damian’s. She grabbed a remote and hit a button to raise the angle of the back half of the bed so I was sitting up. “How are you feeling?”
“Totally normal,” I admitted.
“Good. Are you ready to get these stitches out?”
When I confirmed, she grabbed her tools and started working on my forehead carefully.
“Hale said you fed on him after the attack?” she asked, as she worked.
I murmured my confirmation.
“I’m sure that’s the reason these healed so quickly. An unmated parasitic being would usually need about three days to handle a wound like this one, even fully-fed. Mate bonds enhance healing, but the amount of the enhancement typically depends on how powerful the bonded beings are. Considering Hale’s strength, I shouldn’t be surprised by how quickly it worked.”
“But you are?”
“I am,” she admitted.
“In what ways is he stronger than most vampires?” I asked. No one had ever explained that to me.
“He’s faster. Much faster, when he wants to be. Physically stronger, too, hence his ability to take down as many wolves as he did at your home. The real problem with power for vampires comes with its requirement, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“The more he relies on his strength, the more blood he burns through. The more blood he burns, the more he needs to drink. And the more he drinks, the more bloodlust he has to fight. He’s trained himself not to use his enhanced abilities unless he has no other choice, to preserve his sanity.”
“But now that we’re mated, he doesn’t have to deal with the bloodlust. Right?”
“As long as he drinks your blood.”
“That should make it easier, shouldn’t it?”
“Assuming he feeds as often as he should.”
“You say that like you don’t think he does, or will,” I countered.
She didn’t answer right away, continuing to tug my stitches free. The sensations weren’t pleasant, but they didn’t hurt.
Finally, she removed the last one and set her tools down on the bed beside me, meeting my gaze.
“Hale is very stubborn,” she finally said. “I’ve known him a long time. Longer than most people in the Manor. His bloodlust was always so strong that he refused to drink from the vein since he was a teenager. He doesn’t think he can fight it well enough not to kill his blood sources. Considering his tremendous amount of control, I’m inclined to believe him. Has he bitten you?”
I nodded. “He drinks from me.”
“That’s good. I would have to imagine he’s not taking more than what he deems necessary, though.”
I frowned. “So he’s too hungry to use his power?”
“Not too hungry to use it, but too hungry to sustain it.” She gestured toward him. “He’s still bleeding.”
My stomach clenched.
I’d been afraid of that.
“It’s been an entire day,” I said.
She nodded. “He refused to let me look at his injuries until you were healed. I didn’t argue. There’s usually no point in fighting with him.”
“You could’ve bandaged them when he passed out,” I protested.
She gave me a wry smile. “He doesn’t have the power to heal them enough to stop bleeding right now, so bandages are useless. I brought in a dozen blood bags, but he didn’t bat an eye at them. The only blood he’s willing to drink is yours.”
The knot in my stomach tightened further. “I need to feed him. I get it. What else are you trying to say, though? I’d appreciate it if you just came out and said it.”
Her smile widened a little. “I like you, Blair. I think you’re good for him. But the thing you have to understand is that Hale will take care of everyone around him, no matter what it costs him. He’ll go to war with the wolves if he has to, even if he doesn’t have the blood or energy reserves to manage it. He’ll burn himself to the ground protecting you and your sisters if you let him.”
I bit my lip.
“You don’t have any real reason to want to take care of him right now, but the bond between you is permanent. You need to think long and hard about whether you’re willing to spend your immortal life alone if he burns out because you choose not to help him.”
I let out a slow breath. “I’ll consider it.”
She picked up a small syringe with a tiny needle. “This is a medication created to boost blood regeneration. It was designed to help humans and magical beings recover after a vampire lost control of their bloodlust and fed for too long. We realized a few years ago that it has another benefit—boosting blood supply over time. If someone with magic goes through a series of regular injections, it impacts their body long-term, training their magic to regenerate their blood quickly. After the series of injections, it only takes one or two a year to maintain the benefits.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Wouldn’t that help everyone ?”
Her smile widened. “Yes, if it was cheap to make. Unfortunately, it’s extremely expensive. The other four leaders all went through with the injections and keep up with them.”
“Why doesn’t Damian?”
“Vampire magic prevents us from regenerating blood at all.”
“So it’s useless for him. For all of you.”
She nodded confirmation. “I highly recommend you go through with the series if you decide you’re willing to try to keep up with Damian’s appetite. Even if you don’t, it’s better to be safe than sorry when you’re living in a Manor full of vampires. Louise offered to foot the bill already.”
I bit my lip.
Lou strode into the room, and I looked at the doorway as she entered. Her gaze went right to her brother, her face settling in a grimace. “He turned down the blood bags again?”
“As expected,” Kara agreed.
Lou ran a hand through her hair.
“We’re having the talk,” Kara said, and Lou’s grimace deepened.
“How often does he actually need to feed on me?” I asked.
“Most vampires only need blood once or twice a week, but I analyzed his to look at the rate of cellular turnover,” Kara said. “He needs blood every day.”
My eyebrows lifted.
“I asked her to,” Lou said, sitting down on the arm of Kara’s chair. “The first time Hale used his power and nearly burned himself out.”
“It’s happened before?” My voice raised. “How often?”
“A few times a year,” Lou said.
I shoved a hand through my hair.
“He refuses to believe he needs to feed more than twice a week, and he always drinks from blood bags,” she added.
“Why do the blood bags matter?”
“They contain a set amount of blood. When you drink from the vein, your fangs retract when you’ve had enough. You keep drinking when you’re lost to bloodlust, but your fangs aren’t in the picture,” Lou explained.
I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d ever felt his teeth naturally retract while in my skin. I couldn’t remember that happening, but I was usually relaxed and horny when he drank from me. So, I didn’t think I’d remember even if it had happened.
“He wouldn’t be in this bad of shape if he drank enough from you before the fight,” Kara clarified.
“So he was hungry even before the wolves?”
“He’s hungry constantly ,” Lou said.
I leaned back against my bed. “The injections just make my body create more blood? Do they change it in any way? Will it taste different, or force him to drink more, or become more addictive or anything?”
Both women shook their heads.
“The man is bent over your hospital bed, slowly bleeding out, Blair. He doesn’t need any help becoming addicted to you,” Kara said.
She wasn’t wrong.
“They’re not addictive for me , right? And they wouldn’t hurt me if I stopped them?”
“No. There are no side effects.”
“I’m not going to commit to trying to convince him to feed from me every day,” I said, “But I’ll think about it, and try to pay more attention to his hunger. For now, I’ll try the first injection so I can get him to drink more from me today. I’d like to see copies of whatever medical studies have been done with it before I think about getting the rest.”
“See, I knew I liked you,” Kara said easily. “So much common sense.”
Lou looked relieved. “Thank you.”
I nodded.
The injection was mostly painless, and over quickly. I didn’t feel any different at all afterward, which seemed like a good sign.
They asked me a few questions about the attack before Kara told me I was set to leave whenever I was ready. She promised to lock the door on the way out so I had privacy with Hale.
Then, the two of them left.
I’d been itching to get my hands in Damian’s hair again since I’d woken up, so I let myself bury my fingers in. It was a little crusty with blood, and there was still glitter in it, but he had saved me and my sisters so I didn’t care about that.
He didn’t stir as I touched his hair, or rubbed his scalp lightly.
I debated putting my arm beneath his mouth and just trying to wedge his teeth against it to feed him, but that didn’t seem like a great idea. As soon as he recovered enough to realize what was going on, he would release my arm.
If I was going to get him to lose control long enough to feed heavily from me, I needed to be more strategic.
The last few times he’d bitten me, he’d put himself in the power position. He had been on top of me, pinning me, or holding me firmly. He’d been in control.
But in the nightclub, he’d bitten me by accident.
The man didn’t drink from anyone , yet I’d made him forget himself enough to bite me.
Honestly, I was kind of proud of that.
So, I knew what I needed to do.
I pushed his shoulders, trying to get him off the bed. At first, he didn’t move, so I pushed harder.
“Damian,” I said loudly, trying to wake him up a little.
He stirred a little.
I repeated his name two more times, pushing more.
He slowly peeled himself off the mattress.
His expression told me he was barely conscious, but thankfully, he leaned back in his chair.
“Stitches out?” he mumbled.
“Yeah, I’m totally fine,” I said, slipping off the mattress and sitting down on his lap. His hands didn’t even go to my waist, which told me exactly how out of it he was.
Rather than trying to prod him or seduce him, I kissed him, tugging lightly at his emotions. My magic would wake him up a little more, energizing him. I wouldn’t take much from him while he was so weak, but a little push of my power would do wonders.
When his fingers landed on my hips, I released him and met his heavy gaze. “Bite me, Damian.”
His chest rumbled violently, and his teeth were in my throat before my heart had time to beat again.
His magic felt weak against my skin, barely brushing over me at all. He drank from me hungrily, greedily, with sounds of pleasure and satisfaction.
Over a few minutes, his power grew stronger, relaxing me and making me want him.
I felt it when he realized how long he’d been drinking from me and started to slow down. His fangs were still firmly lodged in my throat, so he definitely wasn’t full.
I needed to distract him before he started to worry he was taking too much.
Biting my lip, I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him against me harder as I yanked on his emotions.
Burning desire.
Fiery lust.
Suppressed hunger.
He growled against my throat, sucking hard, and a heavier wave of his magic hit me.
Something about the intensity of his emotions running through me while his teeth were buried in my throat was absolutely intoxicating.
I rocked my hips, grinding against him as he drank. His cock was hard as stone, his magic making the feel of him even better.
He slowed again, and I took more from him, refusing to let him go.
Intense fear.
Desperate need.
Endless starvation.
I stole the negative emotions, pumping him with the power racing through my veins.
And like a dam breaking, I felt his control snap.
He snarled against my throat, digging his fangs in fully.
I moaned at the wave of need that accompanied it, feeling his demanding grip moving across my bare thighs, over my ass, sliding between my legs. His fingers moved through my slickness, and my desperation reached new heights.
“I need you,” I breathed.
My sister and I all had implants that prevented us from getting pregnant, just to be safe, so that wasn’t a concern. And magical beings couldn’t get diseases, so condoms were unnecessary.
Unlike the last time, Damian didn’t have the control to refuse me.
He released me long enough to free his cock, and I felt the head of him against my opening for the briefest moment before he yanked me down over him.
I let out a choked gasp as every massive inch of him filled me, stretching me and hitting every nerve ending I possessed.
I’d had sex before, but this was something else.
Something bigger.
Something so much better .
I lost hold of my magic as he moved my hips, helping me ride him harder and faster than I could’ve on my own.
He was still drinking from me, his magic hot and heavy even as it made me feel like I’d finally found the place I belonged.
My first climax built up quickly, and I cried out as I lost control around him.
He made a noise of animalistic satisfaction against me, not releasing my hips or slowing my motions. The man wanted more—demanded more—and I wouldn’t have turned him down if I could.
I was the one who started this.
I was the one who set him off.
And I would enjoy every minute of the ride.
Damian dragged me to the edge of another orgasm quickly, and my gasps of pleasure earned me another sound of satisfaction from the man.
His fangs began retracting from my skin slowly as I approached my third climax, and he fucked me harder and faster.
When I lost control with a scream, he roared against my throat, flooding my channel with his release.
His fangs finally disappeared as we caught our breath together, the electric magic between us fading slowly as we came down from the high.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” Damian said, his voice low as he spoke against my ear. His forehead was pressed to my shoulder, so I couldn’t see his face.
“That’s exactly what a girl wants to hear after the best sex of her life,” I panted, my eyes closed. He was still buried inside me, but I could feel our combined release starting to slide slowly down the insides of my thighs.
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling—but damn, it was an erotic one.
His grip on my bare ass tightened. “That’s not…” He let out a harsh breath. “Not the sex. That was great. But I drank way too much from you. How are you still conscious? How are you feeling?”
“Your doctor injected me with some kind of blood thing,” I said. “I’m a little lightheaded, now that we’re not screwing anymore, but I’m fine otherwise.”
“If you had an injection, there’s no fucking reason for you to be lightheaded,” he bit out. “I took too much.”
“You weren’t healing. You needed the blood. I’m fine,” I insisted.
“Kara shouldn’t have left you alone with me when she knew I was this hungry.” He stood up, and I bit back a moan at the way his cock drove deeper inside me with the motion.
Then, he set me on the edge of the bed and pulled out.
I wanted to hook my ankles around his ass and tell him not to leave, but something told me I’d already pushed him too much.
And now that I wasn’t on his lap, the world was kind of spinning.
Despite the spinning, I could see his face enough to realize that I’d done the right thing.
His skin had a lot more color than I’d ever seen. His face looked stronger. His entire body looked thicker. Hell, even those gorgeous, piercing blue eyes looked brighter.
The man had been starving himself, and I hadn’t even realized.
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“Lay down. It’s going to take a few hours for your blood to regenerate,” he growled. “I have a doctor to kill.”
With that, he sped out of the room so fast, I couldn’t even tell him not to hurt her.
Sighing, I stared up at the ceiling.
Though Damian was a violent bastard, and insanely strong, I knew he wouldn’t kill his old friend. So, I didn’t bother going after him.
As soon as I was steady enough, I would sink to the bottom of the pool and let the water make all of my problems disappear for a while.