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“Where are you, Caleb? Where would you be?”
My heart lurched. I knew there was only one other place he’d go. The chapel.
As soon as the answer came to me, I was off again. I missed my wolf. Running with four legs instead of two would have made this so much faster. As it was, each step felt like I was running through mud. Painfully slow.
When I finally reached the church, my breath caught at the wide-open doors. He never left the doors open.
“Caleb?” I called, rushing into the sanctuary, my voice echoing off the domed stone ceiling. “Caleb, where are you?”
I ran down the aisle all the way to the altar and then back into the sacristy, but he wasn’t there either.
“Caleb?” I tried again when my eyes landed on the confessional. The little booth was ajar, not quite flush with the wall behind it.
He must have gone down into the catacombs.
I pressed my palms to the confessional, shoving it with everything I had, determination giving me a boost. “Come on. Move.”
The wood creaked before it finally slid across the tiles, revealing the entrance to the underground tunnels and rooms. He had to be there. The urgency building in my chest had to mean something.
I didn’t waste time searching the little rooms. I knew if he was down here, there was only one room he’d have gone to. The same one he offered me while I was riding out my heat.
When I found him, a part of me wished I hadn’t.
“Oh my God, Caleb. Who did this to you?”
He was on the ground, clad in only a pair of dark boxer briefs. His silky hair was dull, the curls obscuring his face. But my eyes were locked on the markings ringing his neck. They were an angry, swollen red.
I dropped to my knees next to him, unsure of what to do. Reaching out, I brushed back the hair that had fallen across his face. From this vantage point, I could see the severity of the wounds. Blood streaked down his throat where the skin had been burned raw. Blisters and sores that looked so painful I shuddered accompanied the deep bruising.
I was afraid to touch him; wounds like that on a vampire must have been left with silver. He would have healed by now otherwise.
“No,” he groaned softly. “No more. Please.”
My entire body relaxed when I heard his voice. He wasn’t dead.
“Caleb, you’re okay. I’m here. No one is going to hurt you.”
“Blood,” he whispered, his eyelids waxy and bruised as he tried to open them.
Without stopping to think, I offered him my wrist. “Here. Take what you need.”
There was zero hesitation as he latched onto me, the bite clumsy but sure. I scooted myself closer until his head was resting in my lap as he fed. The pleasure that accompanied a vampire’s bite was there, but not as strong. An edge of pain came with this one. He was too out of it to worry about making it feel good for me.
Caleb grunted, his hand gripping my forearm and holding me tight to him. When he sucked harder, his eyes opened, locking onto mine. There wasn’t a shred of recognition there. All I saw was a feral, hungry vampire staring back at me.
A low trill of fear raced through me, but before I could do anything, Caleb released my wrist and jerked upright. He blinked a few times, his color already returning as the wounds on his neck began healing.
“Caleb?” I whispered.
A chilling smile stretched his lips, now coated with my blood, right before he lunged and tore into my throat.
