"What is he talking about?" I whispered, fighting to keep my eyes open. Lizzy just squeezed my arm again.
But I really didn't need to ask.
I knew.
Chapter 11
Jamal
Icouldn't stop myself from staring at Leeloo.
I knew that wasn't her name. But it suited her. Because this goddamn witch was no angel. If anything, she was a demon straight from hell sent here to torment me. I had to remember that.
Maybe that's all that this was. Some kind of spell she'd cast on me when she offered me her blood. Because there was no fucking way my instincts were right. No way this voice in my head that was screaming one word over and over again wasn't some trick of her making. No way every damn cell in my body sang for one other person's blood and one other only till death do us part.
Nofuckingway she was my...mate. I could barely think the word, let alone say it. That shit wasn't even real. And I didn't care that Killian and Kenya would say otherwise. They're both in love, notfatedto be with those people. Nah. I shook my head as I stared at her, this woman I barely even knew. This was bullshit.
Yet, even as I tried to deny it, my body hardened from the sight of her standing there. It prepared to hunt. To feed. And to fuck. She was disheveled, dirty, blood soaking her clothes--both mine and her own. Nothing like the picture-perfect image she usually made whenever she walked into a room. And even from this distance, I could smell her. Her blood mostly, sweet and spicy and the best fucking thing I'd ever tasted. But other things, too. Her skin. Her hair. Even the musk between her legs.
I bit off the groan that nearly escaped when I thought of burying my face between her pale thighs. Tasting her there, too. My mouth began to water.
"Jamal?"
As the hunger for her blood refocused into a completely different kind of hunger, I forced myself to look at Killian. It was the most difficult thing I'd ever done. "What?" I bit out.
"Are you all right, then?"
My maker's Irish accent was both familiar and hated. "Yeah," I lied. "I'm good."
"How is your stomach?"
"It's fine."
"May I see?"
"No," I told him. "You may not." With one last look at the redhead on the ground in Lizzy's arms, I spun on my heel and walked away. I'd found the bitch for them, now they could deal with her.
"Jamal! Wait!"
I heard Lizzy calling me, and then I heard Killian telling her to let me go.
Enough. I was done. I should've taken off the other night instead of hanging around and sticking my nose into witch business. Nothing came from that shit but getting on the wrong side of a djinn. I was damn lucky one of those spikes hadn't gone through my heart.
But as I ran back to the house in The Quarter, my blood sang through my veins, reminding me of the mouth-watering outcome of the injuries I'd sustained. Gritting my teeth, I refused to acknowledge the differences in Angel's blood and how it affected me. It was just because she was a witch and therefore had magic inside of her. That was all. That was why every single cell in my body was buzzing with electricity. Why I could hear every nuance of the wind, the swish of each blade of grass, every tiny footstep of a rodent at a house blocks away, see colors in the night sky I'd never noticed before, and pick out nuances in the air I'd never smelled before. And why the scent of the humans in the homes I passed made me want to vomit.
It was why I could stillfeelher, no matter how far I ran.
The extremity of the physical lust? Yeah, that I couldn't explain, except for the fact that I've always been attracted to her and maybe it was just all of that pent up tension suddenly being released.
When I got home, I saw lights on in the main house. I stopped in the middle of the courtyard, staring through the windows like a creeper as the vampires who had become my family joked and laughed and went about their nightly routine, unaware they were being watched.
One side of my mouth twitched as Brogan planted a big kiss on Dae, laughing as Dae swatted him away and cussed him out in Korean.
I would miss this.
I watched them for hours, retreating into the shadows when Killian and Lizzy got home. Until everyone started wandering off to their rooms for the day and the lights started to go out one by one. The sun would be up soon, and the automatic blinds would come down. I'd take the day to get my things together, and then I was out of here. Away from this witch and her clingy magic.
It briefly occurred to me that I might just be in denial. What if my stubborn ass took off out of here only to find myself starving for my mate's blood? If this shit was true, I'd be dead within a matter of months. Maybe weeks.
