He releases my nipple with a loud pop and brings his face level with mine. “Bite me, Cheryl. I want you to drink from me again.”
“But I almost killed you before.”
“You won’t now.” He kisses me long and hard, scrambling all my thoughts. “I want you taking from my vein when I come inside you.”
He turns his face, offering me his neck. I’m salivating already, and my fangs are longer and sharper than they used to be. I don’t have as much faith in my self-control as Ronan does, but the temptation is too much. I lick his throbbing vein, and then I bite.
Ronan shudders against my body and starts to move again, thrusting even harder than before as I drink his blood. He roars when he finally climaxes, his pleasure resonating deep in my bones. It mixes with my own. I can’t feel my body anymore, but I know I’m not dead. On the contrary, I’ve never felt more alive.
Thirteen
KARL
ITALY, 1521
Lucca’s brows shoot to the heavens. “What do you mean, she’s dying?”
I push my hair back and begin to pace. “I don’t know. I’ve been in a drunken stupor for weeks. I only noticed she was sick tonight, burning with a fever and coughing nonstop. I’m not sure what ails her, but I know she won’t survive much longer if she doesn’t get help.”
“And you thought your best chance was to come to my uncle’s castle?”
“That wasn’t the plan,” I grit out. “I went to find Solomon first, but he wasn’t home.”
Lucca rubs his chin. “No, my uncle sent him away on a mission. He won’t be back for days.”
I ball my hands into fists. “Cheryl doesn’t have days! I could sense her vital force fading. She has hours, if that.”
Lucca winces. “Where is she now?”
Guilt crushes my chest. “I left her at Solomon’s place. I was too slow in my human form, and I couldn’t carry her if I shifted.”
“You left her alone in the cold when she’s sick?” Lucca’s tone rubs me raw.
“Don’t you dare judge me. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. Her life wouldn’t be in jeopardy if you had changed her when she asked!”
His eyes grow larger. “How do you know she asked?”
“I’m not stupid, and I know Cheryl. Her loyalty to me has no bounds, unlikeyoursister, who betrayed me at the first chance.” I don’t try to hide the bitterness.
Lucca clenches his jaw but doesn’t offer a retort. There’s nothing he can say to defend her. He knows what she did was despicable.
The mating bond flares at my mention of Manu, but it’s somehow diluted. I wonder if the Nightingale female who healed me did something to it. The urge to seek out Manu isn’t as potent as before. I can think clearly without the bond messing up my priorities.
“Are you coming to help or not?” I ask Lucca.
His spine goes taut. I turn around, sensing more vampires approaching. It takes another deep breath to recognize who’s coming. James and Dean Davenport.
“You can’t be here, Karl. You need to go.”
“What about Cheryl?”
He doesn’t have a chance to answer before I hear a shout. I turn and see James and Dean running toward me with their swords drawn. Fucking hell. I don’t have time for this. I shift midair, landing not far enough from the father and son duo.
“James, stop!” Lucca gets between me and the soldiers.
James halts but maintains his aggressive stance. “Lucca, that wolf was banished by the king.”
“I know, but?—”
