Page 44 of Bonded Through Bite

“You’ll let me drink from you but won’t drink from me. Is that what you are saying, San?”

“Yes. I’ll feed her any way I can, but I’m not taking a drop from you. We’ll need to make other arrangements for me.”

“What about her?”

“What about her?” I ask, confused.

“Will you drink from her?” Rafael asks and my cock springs to life. I frown at my lap and shake my head. She’s too young, too tied to Rafael. It would be almost as bad as drinking from him, too risky.

“No. I won’t drink from either of you,” I say and lift my eyes when I hear him laugh.

“Good luck with that.” He chuckles. “I… I just.” He clears his throat. “It’s all right with me if you do. If she offers. I just want you to know that.”

“I won’t,” I try to embed my words with conviction, but the sight of Samantha’s fangs peeking over her lower lip makes my voice waver.

“Uh-huh,” Rafael hums and lifts Samantha up so he can turn her head toward his neck.

She sighs so sweetly before sinking her fangs into him that I have to stifle a moan. She doesn’t fully wake and as soon as she’s done drinking, Rafael settles her back down to the bed. The goofy grin on his face suddenly gets on my nerves and I finally manage to get out of the bed.

I need to get some air and preferably some high-quality blood.

“I’m going to raid the fridge,” I say and blur out of the room.

Chapter Sixteen

Rafael

Fan-fucking-tastic. I drank from my ex.

The door clicks shut behind Santiago and I bury my nose in Samantha’s hair. I’m sure she’ll be just delighted to know I gave Santiago permission to drink from her. Or… maybe I’d better keep that little tidbit to myself for the time being.

Fuck.

Samantha’s reaction toward Santiago I can understand. She’s a newly turned vampire and being drawn to the old, powerful male aligns with her instincts. On top of that, she’s royally pissed off at me. Not that I can blame her, but I would make the same choice again in a heartbeat.

I was almost too late to save her. That moment in the hospital haunts me every time I close my eyes. Hearing the doctor pronounce her dead. Not knowing if I did enough.

Her family thinks she died that day. They grieved and arranged a beautiful ceremony to scatter her ashes—or what they thought were her ashes—over the river.

I hope Samantha doesn’t ask about them quite yet. I’d like her to be a little less pissed off at me before I tell her she can’t see her family ever again.

Despite Santiago’s blood humming in my veins, her bite mark on my chest aches. It might scar. I fed fast and hard in the short moment we had Samantha distracted and my cock is still hard from the taste. Being inside Samantha while having my fangs in San was perfect hell.

And he offered to do it again.

My fangs drop so fast I cut my lower lip, a mistake I haven’t made in centuries. That male always managed to drive me out of my mind. I’d be worried that Samantha’s going to pick up tricks from him, but she seems fully capable of wrecking my world all on her own.

The way she looked in my shirt and nothing else will delight my dreams forever.

She’s lucky it was Santiago in that room with us because anyone else would have ended up drained to the last drop. I still want to spank her ass red, though. Setting sharing as a precedent… fuck that.

A twinge of unease churns in my stomach. What if she really meant it? I might tolerate putting her between San and me, but anyone else? No. She’s fucking mine, and she’ll see that in no time. Why would she need anyone else?

Picturing yourself as a part of a happy throuple, aren’t you? Didn’t the shit show last time start just like that?

She’s nothing like Patricia, I snarl back at that little voice.

A deep inhale brings Samantha’s sweet scent to me and I trace patterns down her arm. She looks so serene now, no signs of hunger or pain, brow smooth and mouth relaxed. Perfect.