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I frowned. “People have tried to kill you?”
Lucian nodded. “Many times. I don’t recommend it.”
I thought about seeing my own blood dripping from Leah’s fingers. I put my hand to my side, remembering the cold that I’d felt there. I had mostly succeeded in suppressing the memory, but it still bubbled up from time to time, unbidden. “No. I don’t blame you.”
Lucian put his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him.
It was that easy.
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to blame the bond for how natural it felt to be close to him, or if that was just him. But I did know it felt good. It felt right.
I would’ve thought my brush with near-death would’ve made the danger of his world feel real enough. But knowing others had tried to kill Lucian helped it click into place. People had tried to kill him. And three hundred years was a long time to make enemies. It also made me think about what was out there. If Lucian had lived that long, how old and powerful were the vampires who wanted him dead? The ones who wanted me dead because I was bonded to him?
“How long does the bond take to fade, anyway?” I asked as we took our seats at the back of advanced biochem.
“A few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” I asked. “You didn’t think that was important enough information to lead with the other day?”
“It will take as long as it takes. We just need to make sure we don’t sleep with each other while my blood is still inside you.”
The girl in front of us turned her head slowly to look at us with a horrified but curious glance.
I smiled. “He’s a foreign exchange student. English is tricky.”
Lucian smiled from behind his sunglasses and silly hood. “I’m from Transylvania.”
“Right,” The girl said, turning back around. She shoved her things in her backpack and moved several rows forward.
I didn’t really have a successful social life before Lucian Undergrove entered my world, but I had a feeling he was going to set fire to any slim hope I ever had of being normal.
13
Lucian
Cara began walking back toward her apartment after her final task of giving tours finished. The night air was crisp and refreshing, even more so after an entire day of subjecting myself to the sunlight. But I was growing hungry.
Intolerably hungry.
Cara gave me a few silent looks before she finally stopped, putting her hand on my arm. “Are you okay, Lucian? I thought you’d be feeling better with all the moonlight. Or something,” she added, sounding less sure of herself.
“I need to feed.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You mean like in a vampirey kind of way?”
“Yes. I need blood.”
Her gaze darted across my face, and I realized she wasn’t sure if I was implying I wanted her blood.
“No,” I said. “Remember? It needs to be someone else.”
“Who?”
“Anyone.”
“And you promise they’ll be okay?”
“Would it matter if they wouldn’t?” I asked, irritated by her question and admiring of her courage to care at the same time. “Would you stop me if I said they’d die?”
She looked down. “I just want to know whether I need to hate myself for not trying to stake you through the heart or something.”
“They will be fine. I swear it.”
Cara followed me as I searched. It wasn’t long before I saw a pair of young women traveling together.
“Stay here,” I said, motioning for Cara to wait back slightly.
She looked unsure, but obeyed, even as I felt the bond urging us to stay close.
“Excuse me,” I said, getting the attention of the two women. “I’m not from here. Could you help me with something?”
The women shared a look, then smiled conspiratorially to each other and nodded, coming closer to me. I had no true preference for feeding on men versus women, but over the years I’d learned the way I looked made it much easier to lure women close enough to feed. Men were more likely to simply run.
I waited until I had both of their gazes. I cleared my mind, then reached into theirs and calmed them. The sight of pulsing veins in their necks was enough to enlarge my canines, and moments later, I was feeding.
I knew it was ridiculous to care that Cara was watching me with a horrified expression. It shouldn’t have mattered, especially since I wanted to remove myself from her life as soon as the bond allowed. I was also still hoping she’d agree to let me wipe her memory of this entire adventure when it was all through.
But as I drank my fill from the first woman and moved to the next, I knew I was only trying to fool myself.
I didn’t want anything that involved losing Cara. I already wanted to keep her for as long as I could. Selfishly, I wanted her to be with me for my cold eternity because I knew it wouldn’t feel as cold if she was there, too.
