CHAPTER 5 #3
“You’ve never fed anyone before. It’s only natural that you’d be nervous.” He kept his voice very soft. “I swear to you, I shall touch you nowhere but your wrist, and only then if you give your consent.”
Her eyes shot to his. Her pulse picked up speed. He swallowed, fangs suddenly aching.
“Would that be acceptable?” he continued.
“Um, yes,” she rasped, pressing a hand flat to her throat.
Alex closed his eyes, involuntarily picturing her draped over him on the bed in the red dress she’d had on earlier, her long honey-blonde hair spilling over her shoulders as she offered him her throat, wanting, willing. For one endless moment, the room seemed to spin—
Dani cleared her throat. “So where should we—?”
“Right.” Forcing the image from his mind, he glanced around the room. “Maybe you could sit on the divan? That way if you feel faint while I’m drinking, you can lie down and you won’t hit your head.”
Dani crossed the room, taking a seat on the divan by the window. Snow fell in swirling flakes behind her as he knelt at her feet, extending one hand in permission to take her wrist.
When she blinked down at him in surprise, he smiled. “The wrist has smaller veins. It will help with the flow of blood if you’re positioned above me.”
She flushed, and he couldn’t help but notice, not for the first time, how lovely she was. “No, of course. I’ve never thought of it, about the mechanics of how it works when vampires do this.”
“Of course you haven’t.”
Gently, he took her wrist. Her skin was warm, and very soft. In addition to the enticing scent of her blood, she smelled faintly of vanilla. He wondered if it was a body cream they had here at the auction house or something of hers.
“It’s only one time. I know you’re afraid, because of what happened to your stepmother. But blood addiction only happens after dozens of feedings.”
He traced the vein in her pale wrist. Dani swallowed, her free hand coming up to cover her throat. The fingers of the hand he was holding had begun to shake.
“I know I’m being silly, that it’s perfectly safe. And I trust you, Zander. I’m glad it’s you.”
Zander.
He closed his eyes, tracing her vein again. It was a small thing, but he was unable to deny the silent thrill of hearing that name so few used with him on her lips, of it no longer being a lie between them but a shared secret.
But it was dangerous to be thinking this way. What he was feeling was the temporary connection, the brief intimacy that always came and faded just before and after a blood connection was formed.
Her blood called to him. There was no point in denying it, that his craving to taste her stirred something deep and primal in him he’d never felt during previous feedings. Something that made him want more.
And that was why this had to end.
Daniela Girard wasn’t part of his future, could never be more than a fantasy the vampiric part of his mind indulged in while he fed from her vein. No matter how pleasurable the act of taking from her was, he couldn’t lose sight of that.
His future had been set in stone from the moment he was born. In many ways, he had as little agency as Dani did. Cages could just as easily be made of silver and gold as steel.
Her pulse began to quicken and he felt his fangs elongating, the animalistic drive to feed growing more desperate as her heartbeat called to him.
“I won’t take from you,” he said in a low voice. “Not until you give your permission.”
“We both know it is not truly mine to give,” she countered. “Not in this place.”
He bent to her wrist, and caught her quick inhalation, knew she was anticipating the moment his fangs would break her skin. Instead, he pressed his lips very softly to the base of her hand, right where the pulsing blue vein disappeared beneath creamy skin.
“No, it isn’t. And still, I would have this be… not unpleasant for you. I have never fed from someone who was unwilling. And I do not intend to start with you.”
“I warn you, Your Highness, I may faint.”
“Alex,” he corrected gently.
“Alex.” She whispered his name, her fingers curling ever so slightly in his, and curse his traitorous heart, but he wanted to hold onto that singular second for as long as possible, the warmth of her fingertips against his palm, her breaths coming in time with his.
“I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me.”
It took everything within him to move slowly, to apply only the faintest pressure.
It had been three years since he’d last fed directly from a donor, and the shock to his system was immediate.
He shuddered when Dani’s blood hit his tongue, feeling his muscles contract, his heart slamming in his chest like he’d just run for miles.
For several seconds, Dani stared down at him with wide gray eyes, seeming almost mesmerized as she watched him feed. Then her eyelids fluttered, and she slumped back against the divan.
He inhaled her scent, let her taste slide over his tongue. Arousal thrummed in his veins, hot and aching to be relieved. He could have fed from her all night, was loath to relinquish the connection between them. But that was the monster within him talking, not the man.
Forcing his mouth away from her wrist, he sealed the puncture wounds with his venom.
She’d fallen at what looked to be an uncomfortable angle.
She was breathing, but her neck was twisted awkwardly on the divan.
Though he’d promised not to touch her, surely ensuring her safety was a higher priority?
He didn’t want to compromise her airway while she was unconscious.
Fetching a pillow from the bed, he carefully rearranged her so that she was lying more comfortably, her glossy blonde hair fanned out around her face. He pressed the backs of his knuckles to his lips, feeling his still-engorged fangs throb in time with his heartbeat.
He shouldn’t have fed from her.
And yet, somehow, he couldn’t regret it.
It had felt good.
Amazing even, if he were being honest.
But that was all in the past now. He would get Dani home, and they wouldn’t see each other again. It was how it had to be.
Pulling out his phone, he texted Henri.
Alexander: It’s done. Get the madam up here. And after that, I have a list of things I need you to take care of.