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“Jude, can you open your eyes now?”
He blinked several times. “My vision is better.” He turned toward her, but the whites of his eyes were still red, and he squinted. “You okay, Hannah? Because I can’t imagine what this was like for you. I’m used to wraiths and battling, but I never wanted you to have to see it.”
She thought that the fact he asked her how she was, when he was in so much pain, probably defined Jude’s finest quality: He was always thinking of others first.
If she hadn’t already made the decision, his concern for her would have pushed her over the edge.
She’d seen humans donate before at the Gold Rush, though Jude had prohibited neck-feeding at the bar. But many vampires took what they needed from the wrist, usually from willing, human females. She also knew that there was a sexual component that couldn’t be helped.
Taking a deep breath, she held out her arm and said, “I want to donate.”
~ ~ ~
Jude stared down at Hannah’s very white wrist and shuddered with need. The blue veins beneath a thin layer of skin called to him like nothing he’d experienced in a long time. His mouth filled with saliva, and his stomach cramped all over again.
Still, he hesitated.
This was Hannah, essentially one of his employees as well as a friend, and he didn’t want his relationship disrupted by a blood-feeding. But he hadn’t been hurt this bad in a long time.
He’d almost bought it when he turned his battle energy toward the wraith going after Hannah. And when his attention shifted, in that split-second, the wraith’s vampire-mate let loose with a powerful strike that had caught him in the gut and opened him up.
But it was seeing Hannah standing there, fully aware she was about to die, that was the real horror. Jude was pretty sure he’d live with that terrifying image in his head for a long time.
And right now, he really didn’t like that she was seeing him in a weakened, hungry state. He had a stable of doneuses who offered up their blood on a daily basis. He’d chosen these women with great care to make certain that he never developed an attachment or inadvertently created feelings he couldn’t return by tapping into a vein. Most of the women were married with families, so their loyalties lay elsewhere.
Donating always carried a certain level of sexual heat, and for that reason he never drank from the throat, which kept that heat at a low, acceptable level. And he never drank from the women he dated. He held to his commitment to remain unattached until the Invictus no longer plagued the Nine Realms.
The trouble was every molecule in his body craved Hannah, from her blood, to her lips, her breasts, her hips. He wanted to bury his cock deep between her legs, to do what he’d been lusting after for months.
And now she was offering up her life-force for his to take.
A big part of him didn’t want to. Hannah had become a vulnerability for him this past year, though he couldn’t exactly explain why. The encounter in the closet had cracked the door just a bit, but if he drank from her, he suspected he’d be throwing the door wide.
But he needed blood desperately. He hadn’t said anything, but his stomach had been spasming for the last half hour so that he could hardly breathe.
The difficult battle, coming at the tail end of a long night, had used up his reserves, as well as the energy required to heal himself and just stay alive. He was close to a point of no return so he couldn’t really turn down her offer even if he wanted to. He carried too much responsibility on his shoulders to risk his life on a point of discretion.
But he knew in his gut he shouldn’t be doing this.
He met her gaze. “I’m grateful, Hannah. And I accept your offer. I’ll never forget this.” He would at least try to restrain himself.
She smiled and nodded, encouraging him. “I can feel that you’re reluctant and I know why. I know you don’t want to disrupt our working relationship. But this one time will be okay. You’ll see.”
He didn’t say anything, but her statement had the feel of famous last words.
Still, he followed suit. “And afterward I’ll do everything I can to make sure things stay on an even keel.”
She dipped her chin once more, her gaze falling to his lips.
He drew a deep breath, “But you’ll need to lie down beside me. I don’t have the strength to do this sitting up. Okay?”
She looked a little panic-stricken, but she nodded. “Whatever you need is fine by me.” Her cheeks were flushed, and her scent that he loved floated in the air now, roses and the seashore.
He lay back down on the bed and scooted toward the wall as she stretched out beside him.
He took her left wrist gently in his right hand, which pulled her body closer to him so that she snuggled in tight. And damn him for loving it.
His chin trembled now. Having made the decision, the scent of her blood reached him, and because he’d been lusting after her, his groin heated up, a reaction he wasn’t able to help. He’d been longing for her anyway, but taki
