I wanted to bathe in it.
Live in it.
Drown in it.
I had never experienced hunger like this before. Definitely wouldn’t recommend it.
“You should drink it,” Harper said, guilt written all over her face.
Her fangs were already descended to the point of muffling her voice, and she wasn’t going to have access to other blood soon like I was. I would be at the gathering in an hour, so my bloodlust would be sated soon.
Plus, I was pretty sure a sip of Maverick’s blood would ruin me for anyone else’s. Which would obviously be bad.
So no, I couldn’t drink it.
I stuck a straw in the bag and passed it over. “I’m not letting that asshole tell me what to do.”
She managed a small smile. “Thanks.” She knew I was just saving the blood for her.
“Thank me by staying alive. You know I wouldn’t survive without you. Who would force me to wash my endless laundry?”
She grimaced as she looked down at the blood bag.
I caught her hand and squeezed it. “I have to get ready for the gathering. Bottoms’ up.”
Harper nodded, and I forced myself to walk away.
I was pretty sure I’d end up tackling her to try to take the bag out of her hand if I was standing there while she ingested Maverick’s blood. It just smelled like… well, like it was meant to bemine.
Which was ridiculous, but maybe kind of true if the fated mate thing was accurate.
CHAPTER EIGHT
bloom
I checkedmy rearview mirror a dozen times on my way to the restaurant where this week’s gathering was being held.
My bright red gaze caught me off guard every time, but I tried not to worry about it. Everyone in the city probably knew I was a vampire at that point, so I wasn’t bothering with those obnoxious contacts unless I had to.
The location of the gathering changed every week, bouncing between nightclubs, bars, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, fast food places, and wedding venues.
Anything that could be booked out, would be.
The Vampire Aid Guild went to any necessary extreme to keep Vast City’s vampires healthy and fed. They took themselves so seriously that they insisted on includingGuildin their title, rather than a more modern term likeAssociation, and refused to change their name even when someone pointed out the truly awful acronym that title created.
VAG, pronounced as a rhyme withbag. Not to be confused with VAG pronounced with ajsound, which was definitely the shortened version of vagina.
Hence everyone simply calling themthe Guild.
Unless we were particularly pissed off at them, in which case we typically referred to them asthe fucking vag(with a j sound).
My thirteenth glance in the rearview mirror proved that I should really listen to my best friend more, because I was definitely being followed, and a certain Alpha was definitely responsible. The blonde werewolf woman who had driven me to my apartment was doing the following, and there was now a guy in the seat next to her.
I pulled into a gas station and parked in front of one of the pumps before pulling my phone out of my cupholder and opening mycontactsapp with a sigh.
Maverick had somehow pinned his name to the top of the list.
Shaking my head, I hit the button to call him.
