He continued to tenderly massage her as he tried to work the kinks out of her muscles. “I know exactly how you feel,” he said. “It will get better, I promise. And I’m here for you. I always will be.”
“I know,” she whispered, and then to take her mind off her hunger, she asked, “Are you taking a lavender bath right now?”
His chuckle stirred the hair on her nape and sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine.
“I’ve heard lavender is very relaxing,” he said.
“I enjoy it,” she admitted.
He kissed her shoulder and neck before tugging at her earlobe with his teeth. He released her thigh and lifted one of his hands from the water. Holding his wrist in front of her, he turned it so she could see the small, blue veins there.
The hunger in her stomach turned into a ravenous monster demanding to be sated when she caught the scent of his blood. The rhythm of his heart beat in her ears as those veins pulsed. She felt each of those beats like they were hers; she realized her heart had matched with his.
“You’ll feel better once you feed,” he coaxed and kissed her shoulder.
She shuddered in revulsion at the idea of drinking blood, but she also licked her lips in anticipation. How could she be both sickened at the thought of drinking blood yet so ravenous for it?
“It’s okay,” Logan assured her. “It was tough for me at first too, but you get used to it, and you’ll only ever have to feed on me if you want.”
She trusted him with everything she was and had no doubt he was right about this, but trepidation still slithered through her when she gripped his arm. What if she hurt him?
“You won’t hurt me,” he said as if reading her mind. “Your instincts will take over and guide you in what to do.”
Deciding to trust him on this, she brought his wrist to her mouth and held it there. His pulse, beating against her lips, was a rhythmic temptation that was impossible to deny. Slowly, she pressed her fangs against his flesh.
Logan braced himself against her as he waited for her bite. This was something he’d craved ever since realizing she was his mate, but while watching her go through the transition, he’d started to regret what he’d done.
He knew it was necessary to maintain his sanity and to keep her as safe as possible, but her agony had torn at his heart and hammered him until self-loathing swamped him. As he watched her cry and thrash and suffer, he pleaded for her to make it through this without hating him.
And somehow, she had.
Throughout it all, members of the Alliance and their mates stopped by to check on them, but they mostly left them alone. They were all aware of how grueling this was and knew it was best to leave them be. Nathan had arrived this morning with bags of blood and a purple bottle of bubble bath.
“Drink, you’re going to need it,” Nathan said as he handed the bags over. “I know it’s different for everyone, but she should be coming out of this soon.”
“I hope so,” Logan muttered as he tugged at his hair.
“Vicky told me to tell you to make a bath and sit with her in it. She said it would help relax her muscles and ease her soreness as well as calm her.”
Logan popped the top on the bubble bath and gave it a sniff. His nose wrinkled at the flowery aroma it emitted. “Lavender?”
“I’ve been told it’s soothing,” Nathan said and rolled his eyes. “I don’t argue with my mate.”
“That’s because you’d never win.”
“Exactly.”
After Nathan left, Logan made the bubble bath and carefully lifted Elena from the bed. She’d stopped muttering and thrashing in her sleep and was resting almost peacefully. He hated to disturb her, but he recalled how much he ached everywhere after waking and thought if she did come out of it soon, it would be nice for her to do so in a bubble bath.
He didn’t have to worry about taking off her clothes; he’d transitioned her while they were making love and hadn’t bothered to redress her. He recalled how sweaty he was and how confining clothes felt during his transition and couldn’t do that to her.
Soon after he settled her in the tub, she woke. And now, she was about to feed for the first time.
When her fangs pierced his flesh, Logan couldn’t stop the visceral reaction he had to the wonder of it. She was tired and just coming back to life, but he couldn’t prevent his cock from hardening against her back as she pulled greedily at his blood.
Elena whimpered and wiggled against his erection as she gulped down his potent blood. As she fed, her hunger lessened and the lingering discomfort in her body eased. Once she felt better, a new appetite awakened in her.
She was a vampire now, and though she’d felt drawn to him in a way she never had to any other before, it was nothing compared to what she felt for him now. She craved him with an intensity that bordered on madness. She drank more greedily as she wiggled against him.
