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Pride surged at Nicola’s brilliance.
“So, the remote ships won’t work?”
“No. Unless they kidnap another of my kind. But I hid warnings all over those ships. Magical warnings. If another witch or warlock comes close, they will know it’s trouble and alert the rest.”
And there went Cross’s confidence over not being hunted and staying under the radar. Ruby was brilliant, too, but she was already asleep before he could tell her. He left her alone and returned to the other cabin, where he found Nicola on the bed with bags of blood on the floor. She fed each one directly to Maddox’s lips, and Maddox, despite his injured form, sucked on them eagerly and settled deeper into rest. Every bag had the half-vampire turning less pale…and every bag had Nicola slumping more in her spot and trying not to look too wistful.
“When was the last time you had blood?”
She startled at his voice—another sign that her vampire senses weren’t up to sharpness. But she shook it off rapidly.
“I don’t need it. He needs it more than I do. This is the last set I could take from your animals.”
“You can—”
“I’m not killing them,” she cut off, sensing where his question was heading. “I refuse to. Don’t you dare ask me that.”
Every line of her tight body was brimming with defiance, and he knew there was no arguing with her in this state. So he let it go, but couldn’t quite let go of the frustration when the blood bags were gone, Maddox was sleeping in peace, and Nicola looked lost—and was trying not to look lost. He let her hide the remnants of what they had been feeding Maddox in the cabin, then gently took her elbow.
“Come on.”
“I can sleep here—”
“No,” he said sharply. “Moon insisted on monitoring him tonight, so give the boy that. You are coming with me.”
“Fine.”
She didn’t sound petulant, but she was close. She was also tired, the shadows under her eyes growing more apparent in the lights of his cabin. He dimmed those lights and led her to the bedroom, allowing her to survey it.
“You have a really nice bed,” she commented. “I feel bad taking it from you.”
“Don’t feel bad.”
A second later, he was sitting down and tugging her to his lap, using enough force to catch her by surprise. When she realized what was happening, she struggled against his hold, but he had already locked her in place—a dirty move considering her near-drained state, but he didn’t care.
“I’m not sleeping with you—”
“Who said anything about sleeping?”
With his free hand, he unbuttoned his shirt and wrenched it back until his throat was exposed. Her gaze flew to it, green eyes flaring, then turning red. She trembled.
“I might hurt you,” she whispered.
“Try not to,” was all he said. She trembled again, then struggled with herself for a little bit more before those fangs glissaded out. Even then, she didn’t move.
Isaiah backtracked and gave his wrist instead. That seemed to change things as she snatched it up, eyed it with a hunger that was palpable, then finally descended on it. He winced at the initial pierce before her tongue eased all the pain away, and she suckled with a force that swept his senses. But she took care to be gentle after a while, slowing down after a minute or two.
“I suppose human blood is tons better than animal blood,” he mused.
There was a popping sound as she finished, then licked his wound again and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Yes. But I haven’t had it in a while.”
There was no missing the intimacy of the whole act, and he wondered if it was the same for every vampire. Then he dismissed it, remembering some had no compassion in their souls at all.
“Why not?”
“I traveled a lot, remember? I didn’t want to take blood from non-volunteers, and most volunteers lived in Ostrov Krov. And there were always animals around. It just became a habit to take from them even when I was home. Animal blood isn’t so bad.”
