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And it was pounding.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I drawled, leaning back against the door and folding my hands over my chest. The nausea I’d felt with my lips above the human’s wrist faded, replaced by an unquenchable, burning thirst.
I had hours before my body overruled my mind and ripped into the nearest thing with a pulse. Have Gabriel knock you out and tube feed you some canned shit.
It had never been done, but it was worth a try, and definitely a better option than sucking a feeder bone-dry, and then hurling it all up moments later. My body would accept Avi’s blood and no other.
Too fucking bad.
As though a piece of fabric split and fell away, Avianna materialized half-a-dozen feet away. Her royal blue gown stood out against her creamy skin, the neckline pushing her breasts up like an offering, and her elbow-length gloves were black as night as they rose up her arms. Her hair lay piled on her head in an array of curls that left her neck alluringly bare.
Mine.
My fangs punched down hard.
I wasn’t sure what was a worse temptation, her bare neck and its throbbing pulse, or the intoxicating scent of her hair when she left it down.
It seemed I was fucked no matter what with this female.
She had the nerve to look a little sheepish as she tilted her chin at me. “You called?”
“What the hell was that up there?” I nodded toward the ceiling.
Color flushed her cheeks.
“You know I hate when you do that shit.” Mostly because it was a pain in the ass to defend and protect her when I had to rely on my own gifts to know where she was.
“You’re the only one who knows when I do it.” She shrugged and held up the back of her hand. “Wonder why.”
I couldn’t see my mark through the fabric, but I could feel it—a pulsing, living bond that demanded fulfillment. “That doesn’t make it okay.”
“How else am I supposed to have a life when I’m kept in this gloriously gilded little cage my brother constructed? Or would you have willingly let me follow you into the feeding suite?” She lifted a brow at me.
“There’s zero chance I would have let you follow me.” My fangs sinking into someone else’s vein with Avi’s scent in my lungs was a deadly combination.
“I wanted to make sure you fed,” her voice weakened with the lame excuse.
Pushing off the door, I took two steps toward her, unable to fight the bond’s constant demand that I get closer.
Claim her. Taste her.
Fuck. Off.
I may have been a predator by nature, but I wasn’t some animal that couldn’t fight off the urges of a mating bond. It was for Avianna’s own good. Maybe she was momentarily caught up in the hormones, the primal cravings, but soon enough, her head would clear and she’d realize that being mated to me would only drag her down both socially and mentally.
“You thought I was capable of feeding in front of you?” My smile had a mad edge to it. All of me rode that edge, honestly.
Her gaze dropped to my mouth. “I hoped you would.”
“Why?” Shit, my voice was rough.
“Because you’re starving, Hawke. I can feel it.” She raised her hand and rested it against the swells of her breasts. “Right here. It’s a constant burning, like my entire chest is on fire.”
Fuck, I hadn’t taken her pain into account. I should have known that she’d feel my hunger through the bond, but I wasn’t exactly an expert on this shit. Nor was I about to bust down my buddies’ doors and ask them how it all went down for them. This wasn’t a fucking slumber party, and none of them could know about the mark on Avi’s hand.
It would stop the betrothal negotiations.
True, but it would also force her hand, and I wasn’t about to make any more decisions on her behalf. She’d been told what to wear, what to say, where to be, and what to do since she’d been in leading strings.
“When did you last feed?” I asked, circling her slowly like the prey she was. Her skin glowed with health and thrummed with power.
“Last night.” She watched me out of the corners of her eyes.
“From a volunteer?” My attention lingered on the draping of blue silk over her ass as I passed by. Avi had always been a fan of the empire dresses—simple, elegant, and sexy as hell.
She shook her head. “Well, kind of. It was in a glass.”
Bingo.
“And tell me why you didn’t go straight to the source?”
She sighed, impatient little thing that she was. “Because I’ve gotten a little nauseous over the last few days when I feed directly.”
“Do you?” I teased, full-out knowing this was a dangerous path to tread.
She gave me a curt nod, and I continued my perusal, openly staring at the woman fate had foolishly gifted me. Oh, I always watched Avianna. I was always aware of where she was and who was around her. But I rarely let myself drink her in with such open admiration, like I was doing now.
