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"You have a handy hamburger lying about this fancy crate?"
"As a matter of fact, yes I do." He did up his pants and rose. "This fancy crate has seen a lot of seductions over the years, and I've learned to cater for my meals." He Hashed me a smile over his shoulder that had my depleted blood stirring. "Hope you don't mind your burger microwaved."
"Not in the least." I forced myself upright, and shuffled to the toilet to clean up. The teeth marks in my neck were little more than pink dots. By the time we arrived at the function, they'd be gone. One good thing about a vampire bite - the evidence of it didn't hang around all that long. Unless, of course, you had multiple bites, which took a little longer to fade.
The rich smell of meat began to fill the air, and my stomach rumbled as I walked over to the microwave.
"Your burger, madam," he said, handing me the plate.
"Yum." I parked on a sofa and dove in. As far as microwaved burgers went, it was pretty damn good.
Quinn poured himself a bourbon, and sat down on the seat opposite. Maybe he figured it was safer keeping a little distance between us. Though if he thought I'd jump his bones again he was in for a disappointment. I couldn't afford to lose any more blood tonight.
"So," I said, licking the ketchup off my fingers. "Where do we go from here?"
His dark gaze followed my actions almost hungrily.
Obviously, his appetite was nowhere near sated, but given I could no longer sense it, it had dipped below danger point.
"We are in much the same quandary as we were before," he said.
"Why?"
"I don't want to share you, Riley."
Don't, not won't. That was a more-than-hopeful sign. "Then let's throw a few more facts into the mix. I live in Melbourne. You live in Sydney. That means it's not going to be possible for us to see each other every night, if only because you have a business to run."
"True."
"I have no intentions of moving to Sydney. Do you intend to move Evensong Air's headquarters to Melbourne?"
"At the moment, no."
"So, you're telling me you won't share, but you probably won't be able to get down here more than two or three times a week."
"Possibly. But lots of relationships work fine like that."
"Human relationships, yes. As I keep reminding you, I'm a werewolf, with werewolf needs."
He raised an eyebrow. "Even a werewolf doesn't need to have sex every night. I know that for a fact."
Need, no. Liked, yes. We could survive a few weeks' drought, as I had over the last month, but it wasn't ever something we did willingly, or often.
"Except when it comes to the moon dance. Have you ever seen what happens when a wolf cannot satisfy the urges of a moon?" The desire for sex mutated into something for more deadly, and only sex and blood could quench the fire.
"Seen it? Of course I have. I was the one who satisfied the blood urges after Talon kidnapped you, remember?"
I waved away the comment impatiently. "Besides that. I was chained, and therefore not really dangerous to anyone."
He snorted softly. "I have scars up my arm that prove otherwise."
Well, he was the one who put his arm in front of my teeth. What did he expect would happen, given the situation? "Quinn - "
He held up a hand. "Okay. No, I haven't seen a free wolf in full blood lust. But I know you and Rhoan are the result of such an event."
I nodded. "Our mom was headed back to her pack when her car broke down near a small country town. Lucky for the town, she met a newly risen vampire, and took the edge off her desires before she tore him to pieces. Had it not been for that vampire, up to a dozen humans could have died that night." No one knew why a wolf in blood fever went after humans, though the popular theory was the easy-prey one. For a moon-mad wolf, humans were fun to chase, and simple to bring down. "Making the promise you demand is dangerous, Quinn. For me, and for the community at large."
"I can be there for the moon dance," he said flatly.
