Page 103 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

“Her fangs are starting to change,” Alex said softly. “It’s taking.” He traced her face. “Can you feed her this time? I’m getting a little dizzy.”

“I would, but I think it needs to be your blood. You’re her mate. We have juice in the fridge, and I can make you stir fry with protein, but her best chance of the change taking is feeding from you.”

“No, you’re right. I’ll be fine.”

Dani blinked, finally managing to force her eyelashes to part. She tried to speak, but her throat was so raw it hurt.

“Alex,” she croaked.

“You’re awake,” he murmured, eyes glassy. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I feel terrible.”

“I know. You need to take more blood.”

And this time, when he pressed his wrist to her lips, when that first taste touched her tongue and she moaned in relief, when she felt the soreness in weak canine teeth that were trying to descend from the top of her mouth, she knew.

She was changing.

And there was no going back.

She drank deeply, until she thought she would pass out. When at last she was sated, Alex smoothed her hair and lay her gently back against the pillow.

“Dante just texted,” Sera murmured. “Everything is in place.”

Dani tried to hang on, desperate to hear what they were saying, even as she was so exhausted she wanted to sleep for weeks.

Alex quietly swore. “We’re down to four hours.”

“One of us needs to go,” Sera said. “You stay. I’ll meet him at the rendezvous point.”

“No, it should be me.” Alex hesitated. “If something happens, if she starts bleeding internally again, you’re the one with the expertise to help her. I would just be here, alone and panicking, and that won’t do either of us any good.”

“Okay.” Sera didn’t sound happy. “But you look really pale. Let me make you something to eat before you go.”

“There isn’t time. I have protein bars back at my apartment.”

“Fine.” Sera sighed. “At least drink some juice and hydrate before you go.”

Dani felt Alex leaning over her. Lips brushed against her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Everything is going to be okay now. I promise.”

She tried to reach for his hand, to beg him to stay, but exhaustion dragged her under before the words could form.

In his apartment back at the castle, Alex checked his phone for what had to be the tenth time, hoping for an update from his sister saying that Dani had woken up. To be fair, Sera had texted every quarter hour as promised, after making him swear he would let her know when they were about to go dark. So far, there had been no change.

Dani would be okay. She had to be okay.

“Any news?” Henri asked quietly from beside him.

“She’s stable. But she lost a lot of blood. Sera said if we hadn’t gotten there as quickly as we did, it would have been bad. It’s still touch and go. We’ll know more over the next twenty-four hours.”

“Any theories on who shot her?”

“Plenty.” Alex felt his jaw tighten. “But she wasn’t coherent enough to answer questions. She just kept slipping in and out of consciousness, asking for her sister. Sera said the sedative was making her hallucinate.”

“The worst of it is behind her now.” Henri squeezed his shoulder. “You turned her. Your blood will allow her body to heal.”

“I’m terrified for her, Henri.” Alex paced across the sitting room. “You know what happened with my mother. And hers was an ordinary, planned turning where she and Father did everything by the book. This was anything but. If I didn’t give her enough blood—”