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Then I could no longer help myself. I fell to one knee beside her and took her small hands in mine.
“Kaitlyn, please—let me help you,” I said earnestly. “Let me nourish and protect you. My honor demands it.”
My Drake demanded it too—as did my heart. But even as he spread his wings, eager to declare our devotion, I had to keep him contained and simply hope that Kaitlyn would take what I was offering.
She looked at me uncertainly, her one visible eye wide.
“It…it doesn’t seem fair that you should have to make up for the awful things Pedro Sanchez did and said,” she said after a moment.
I shrugged.
“It is the Drake way. My wings fly higher than his—I should have curbed his shameful behavior and not allowed it to escalate as it did. Besides,” I added in a softer voice. “I don’t mind. I want to be of service to you, Kaitlyn. Please—let me.”
Within me, my Drake roared in agreement.
Kaitlyn shifted uneasily, almost as though she could hear my other half and he made her nervous.
“Well,” she said at last, in that soft, musical voice of hers. “It’s really not completely up to me, you know. I think it kind of depends on how we both feel when I, er, bite you. I mean, I tried to bite Avery just now and it was awful.” She looked up at her friend and Coven-mate. “No offense, Avery. It was really sweet of you to let me try.”
“None taken, Katydid.” He smiled at her tenderly and I felt my Drake rumble jealously at the exchange.
“Be still,” I told him sternly. “They’re only friends and he has no interest in females—that’s why she couldn’t bite him and drink from his vein.”
Speaking of which, I very much wanted my little human to bite me. Not for any effect it might have on me, but to nourish her. She looked pale and sick and so weak I felt a surge of concern as I looked at her. My Drake and I both agreed that we must feed her—the sooner, the better.
I held out my wrist to her—though I would have preferred to let her drink from my throat.
“Just try,” I said softly. “It’s the only way to know.”
“Well…I suppose so.”
She looked at me shyly, as she took my wrist in both small hands. Just touching her skin again sent an electrical tingle though my entire body and my Drake rumbled with approval. Finally, the female we had both fixed on as our fated-mate was within reach.
I had never expected to get near her again after Nancy had done her best to ruin my chances. And letting Kaitlyn bite me and drink from my vein was certainly the last way I had imagined getting another chance.
But at this point, I didn’t give a damn. Anything that brought her close to me—even accidental vampirism—was a good thing, as far as I was concerned. Of course, my mother and father most certainly wouldn’t see it that way. They would be most concerned that I had tied myself not only to a non-Drake but to a Nocturne—and a Made Nocturne at that.
I pushed the worry away as Kaitlyn bared her sharp little fangs. I told myself that I would make them understand—that I would never allow myself to be parted from her.
And then she bit me and everything else flew out of my mind.
36
Kaitlyn
I still couldn’t understand why Ari was doing this. Couldn’t understand why such a big, handsome, muscular guy would want to let me bite him. But he seemed completely in earnest when he told me he had to restore his honor so I figured it was probably just a Drake thing—a custom I didn’t understand.
At any rate, I could feel my body crying out for blood. My mouth was parched, as though I’d been walking through a desert all day and my whole body felt completely dehydrated. Griffin was right—I needed blood and I needed the right kind of blood. Fresh blood, right from the vein.
The thought of sinking my teeth—fangs—into another person’s skin and slurping out their blood would have been completely alien to me just a few hours before. But now it felt natural—almost normal—as I contemplated Ari’s thick wrist, which he was holding out to me.
Delicately, I took his large hand in both of my much smaller ones and brought it to my lips. His skin was darker than Avery’s—though not quite as dark as my own creamy brown—so it was a bit more difficult to make out the veins. But I could still somehow see them, pulsing just under the surface, almost as though they were calling me to pick one and sink my fangs in.
My mouth watered and my heart sped up as I settled on the one I wanted. It seemed to pulse just for me, calling me to bite it.
