Chapter 29 #2
Their presence sent my heart racing. Their crimson eyes stared back at me, and the menace of the man in the middle had me shrinking into myself.
Before I could ask who they were, James’s hand squeezed my shoulder. He leaned in and whispered, “It’s time to go.”
“What? Why?”
“Trust me, Ryder. They’ll clean up this mess, and you don’t want to observe their methods.”
I shuddered. Poor Dani. After what she’d done, though, I didn’t object. “What about Luke?”
His eyes flitted back to the burning building. “You are my priority right now. One way or another, Luke is gone. I suspect he bailed before Dani set the fire.” His fingers tickled the hair at my nape. “Let me take you home. Can you stand?”
My legs felt weak, but I wasn’t going to let him carry me. “I think so.”
He stood, then helped me to my feet. He held me while I steadied myself.
Reaching up, I thumbed the cut on his cheek.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I trailed my hand across his jaw, smoothing my palm down his chest. I could feel the indentation where Dani had held the crucifix against him.
He sucked in a breath as my fingers found the outline.
“I’m fine, love,” he said, capturing my hand. “Let’s go.”
I gave in, letting him take my hand and lead me around to the passenger’s seat of my car. I didn’t look back.
God—how had it only been a day? One minute Dani and I had been having a friendly conversation, and the next it had become an all-out brawl for my life, ending in the death of a friend.
It was going to take me months to wrap my head around everything.
For now, I guess, I could start by leaning into the side of the man who’d done more than his fair share of proving himself over the last few weeks.
As James opened the door for me, I ignored it, instead leaning against the rear door and grabbing James by the hips, pulling him into me.
“You’ll stay with me, right?” I asked, dusting my lips across his jaw.
I wasn’t used to relying on people. I wasn’t used to needing someone else, but I needed him. After everything, I couldn’t imagine walking through that front door without him.
His hands hardly tightened on my jaw, but with his superstrength, it was enough: I was forced to look at him.
Well, I looked at the rapidly healing scratch on his cheek where he’d caught the edge of Dani’s silver crucifix.
The healing was miraculous, the skin reknitting right before my eyes.
I breathed him in instead of answering him, prompting him to say, “Do you want me to stay with you?”
I couldn’t shake my head, caught as it was in his vicelike grip. I cursed as my eyes filled with tears. I tried to fight them, but I was raw, and so straight down my cheeks they fell, mixing with the dirt, soot, and blood.
“No,” I said, my voice cracking beneath the weight of the confession. “I don’t just want you to stay with me—I need you to. I need you, James. That’s a new feeling for me, and I don’t like it.”
James’s lips against my cheek cut me off. The kiss was short, just enough to make sure that I wouldn’t start spouting off again as he pulled away.
“I suppose I could be convinced to like it,” I added, a laugh hiccupping out of me. “I do have one more question, though.”
“What’s that, love?”
“Luke,” I began, then cleared my throat. “Luke said I was your mate. What does that mean?”
Surprise flickered in his eyes. He brushed my hair away from my face where it kept falling into the blood on my forehead. “I’ll tell you soon, I promise. For today, can you just hand things over to me?”
I didn’t have it in me for further emotion. “Okay.” I let him help me into the passenger seat.
James drove me home. While I was in the shower, I heard him banging around in the kitchen.
Once I was clean and the water ran clear again, I went in search of James.
I found him plating up a pasta dish that he’d pieced together from my meager supplies.
I laughed at the guilt on his face when I caught him eating straight out of the pot.
“Sorry,” he garbled through his full mouth. “I haven’t fed in days; I’m starving. It’s not really doing anything, but I thought I’d try it anyway.”
I checked to make sure he’d replaced his chain—he had. With a smile, I brushed my wet hair to one side, exposing the right side of my neck as I moved to stand in front of him. “Here.”
James stopped me with a hand on my chest. “Ryder, you lost too much blood. You’re tired and need to rest.”
“I need you,” I whispered. “You took care of me, now I get to take care of you.” I turned my head to expose my neck again. “Please.”
James hesitated briefly, but then spun me around so my back was against the counter. “Fine, but sit.” I let him lift me until I sat on the countertop, James positioned between my legs. He nuzzled into my neck, my heart rate spiking. “Stop me if you—”
“James, just do it.”
As before, James didn’t go straight for the kill like he had with Dani. He brushed his lips across my jaw, ghosting them over my neck.
I gasped as his fangs broke the skin, sinking into my veins. His arms tightened around me, holding me to him as he drank. He didn’t take too much, still hesitant to feed from me. After a few swallows he pulled back, wiping his lip, then sucking his finger clean.
I closed my eyes, relishing in the high that followed a feeding.
I was starting to adjust to the buzz. This time, I felt the symptoms of the concussion fade.
My nausea subsided. Nothing hurt anymore.
When I opened my eyes again, James was staring at his favorite spot on my neck.
I doubted there were any marks, since he healed them almost instantly.
“You can have more,” I told him.
“It’s not that,” he gasped. “I…” Like magnets, our mouths were drawn together.
Fangs bared, he scraped them along my skin.
I moaned, silently begging him to pierce me again.
His arm came possessively around my waist, his fingers digging into my hip bone.
“Ryder.” His voice was tinged with desperation.
He wasn’t hungry anymore; at least, not in the normal sense.
I looked between us: his chain had vanished.
He’d removed it so fast I hadn’t even noticed.
Something carnal, primal was coming out in him.
If I let him bite me again, I would turn.
“No,” I whispered. Just like that, his arm loosened and he took a step back. His eyes closed as he tried to regain his composure. “I’m sorry, I’m just not ready for that.”
“You don’t have to be sorry for setting your boundaries, Ryder.” A pause, then, “May I kiss you? I promise not to bite.”
The bashful look on his face made me smile. I nodded, and he stepped into my space again. I melted when his lips pressed against mine. The kiss was way too short, and I whined when he pulled away.
“Remember that first day you came into the bar?” he asked. “When you made me that first Vampire’s Kiss?”
I nodded, unable to speak for the vibrations humming through my body.
“Did you ever think it could be more than a drink?”
“No, I didn’t. You know what I realized though?” I said, meeting the crimson eyes staring back at me.
“What’s that?”
Even though he’d only taken a small amount of blood from me, he was already starting to recover. The cut on his cheek had become nothing but a faint pink scar, and his strength looked to be returning.
I leaned in until our lips brushed together. He moved to kiss me again, but I pulled back, teasing him with my lips.
With a hand on his chest to hold him back, I whispered, “I like the real thing much better.”