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“You’re doing just fine,” Atlas says.
“Just lean in and bite,” Lex says.
I fight the urge to growl at him, because thatreallyisn’t helpful advice. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. I close my eyes and inhale slowly. The girl’s scent fills my nose, and I gasp softly.She smells good. I lean in, and my pulse skyrockets when a sharp flash of pain fills my mouth. It’s gone as quick as it came, but left in its wake are new, razor-sharp teeth.Fangs.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the girl. No sooner are the words out of my mouth does the fire in my throat burn hotter than ever. A snarl passes my lips and a new sensation fills me. In the space of a heartbeat, I grip the girl’s chin and sink my fangs into her neck.
My entire body explodes with sensations completely new to me. This is unlike any time I’ve ever tasted the guys’ blood. This… this is euphoric. This iseverything. The hot, coppery liquid coats my tongue, filling my mouth as I drink deeply, swallowing mouthful after mouthful, feeling more incredible with each one. The girl leans into me but remains silent. Warmth floods through me, and the fire in my throat finally fades almost completely. The ache in my temples is gone, and I feel stronger than I ever have.
“Calla.” Gabriel’s voice interrupts my haze of pleasure. “Listen to her heartbeat. You need to stop or you risk hurting her.”
His words register, but part of me doesn’t care. The part that is starved and needsmore.
I sink my teeth in deeper, and the girl makes a soft noise, leaning more against me as I continue drinking.
“You can choose to let her live,” Gabriel says.
“Oh, chill out, Gabe,” Lex chimes in. “Take what you need, Calla.”
I swallow more as a bit rolls down my chin. I pick up on the sound of the girl’s heartbeat. It’s slowing way down, and I’m holding her upright at this point. I should stop.I don’t want to stop.
No. I don’t want to kill her.
I growl deep in my throat, struggling with the powerful pull to keep feeding, to drain her. I force my head back, pulling my fangs out of her neck, and shove her toward Gabriel before backing away, breathing heavily, pressing my fist against my mouth.
Gabriel disappears into the bedroom with the limp human in his arms, and I shake my head, her blood dripping from my lips and down my chin.
“I… Is she?”
Kade glances over his shoulder, then turns back to me. “She’s alive.”
Relief floods through me, and I blink back tears. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d killed her.
“Take a deep breath,” Atlas says, walking closer.
“I almost—”
“But you didn’t,” he interjects. “And quite frankly, most vampires do kill their first feed, so you’re already ahead.”
“Yeah, way to make the rest of us look bad,” Lex says with a grin. “Day one, and you’re a more skilled vampire than I am.”
I nod slowly, my heart still racing as I lift my hand to my mouth and wipe the blood from my lips. “I, um… need a minute.” Without waiting for a response, I hurry out of the common area, slipping into the bathroom and sliding the fogged glass door over. I cringe when I leave streaks of blood and quickly turn the sink on, scrubbing my hands. The water turns pink, and I keep scrubbing, using several pumps of soap in an attempt to cover the metallic scent that seems to be burned into my nostrils.
Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look.
Chanting the words over and over only works for about five seconds before my gaze flicks up to my reflection in the massive mirror over the vanity.
I pull in a shuddering breath, my eyes—mysilvereyes—widening. I blink a few times as if that’ll make them return to the brown I’m used to. Nope. They are definitely silver now. And holy shit, feeling my fangs break through my gums andseeingthem are two wholly different things. It doesn’t help that my lips and chin are still covered in that girl’s blood.
The bathroom door slides open, and somehow I know without looking that it’s Gabriel who came to check on me. I can’t pull my gaze away from the mirror, from the fangs poking down from my gums.
“You’ll get used to them.”
“Will I?” I prod gingerly at them, pulling my hand back and frowning at the bead of blood on the pad of my finger. Oops.
Gabriel walks closer, standing at my back, and smiles softly at me in the mirror. “I’ve never been more confident in you, angel.”
I try to smile, but the action is painfully forced. Instead of trying to fake it, I grab a washcloth from under the vanity and soak it with hot water, cleaning the blood from my face.
