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She could’ve told her mother the truth—that she’d wanted that little assignation as much as I did. Instead, she’d been deliberately cruel.
But hell, if I’d been raised by Victorine Tremblay, maybe I’d have done the same thing.
I tucked the comforter around her slender form. I was bending forward to brush my mouth over hers when I halted and pulled back.
Nothing had changed. Zoe was still Victorine Tremblay’s precious spawn. She’d agreed to help me find Zaq, not run off with me for a hot-and-dirty weekend.
I took off my leather jacket and sat on the edge of the mattress. The adrenaline that had allowed me to push myself and the motorcycle through the night had dissipated. I hadn’t had any fresh human blood in more than a week. I was exhausted and lightheaded with hunger. Hell, I’d even found myself staring at the hotel clerk’s bearded neck. If I was going to be of any use to Zaq, I needed to feed.
I put on my sunglasses and went back outside. I got lucky almost immediately. Without my glamour, the twenty-something hotel employee arriving for the dayshift recognized me immediately.
“Holy shit.” She did a doubletake. “Are you Rafe Kral?”
“Guilty.” I gave her the smile that seemed to melt the panties off humans.
“Ohmigod, ohmigod. Don’t go anywhere. I—” She fished a phone out of her backpack. “Can I please get a selfie?”
“Sure. If I can feed first.” I wrapped an arm around her and before she could aim the phone, sank my fangs into her neck.
“Oh!” Her eyes went wide. She stiffened and tried to struggle free.
I kept her where she was. It wasn’t right to feed from a human without their consent. My mom would have my head if she knew. But fuck ethics. Zaq was more important. The clerk would recover, and I’d make sure she didn’t remember me.
I pulled her behind a big green dumpster and drank.
Zoe was still out when I returned to our room, sated and sleepy. I took a quick shower and crawled naked under the comforter next to her.
* * *
Iemerged first from the day sleep. The comforter had slipped beneath Zoe’s breasts. She lay flat on her back, her chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly.
I rolled onto my side and propped myself on an elbow. Her straight dark hair was sexily disheveled, and the traces of makeup—mascara smudges beneath under her eyes, a hint of lipstick at the corner of her mouth—made her look so hot, like a starlet who’d collapsed into bed after a night out clubbing.
I’d woken with my dick hard anyway, but having her this close, and looking so available made me want to drop back my head and howl at the rising moon.
The peeling skin on her nose had healed. I trailed a finger down the long, straight bridge, and her nostrils twitched.
“You awake?” I asked.
No response.
I continued down her face, outlining her mouth with my finger, rubbing the pad of my thumb over her full lower lip.
Something—the scent of my blood, or maybe me playing with her mouth—made her fangs extend. One cute tip protruded over her lower lip. I rubbed my thumb over the sharp point and her mouth worked like a baby suckling.
I couldn’t resist. I cupped her cheek and leaned over to kiss her awake. Her lips clung to mine. She sighed and muttered something unintelligible. Beneath her lids, her eyes flickered like she was dreaming.
Hell. She probably didn’t even know who she was in bed with. I eased back.
She opened her eyes and looked at me drowsily. “Rafe?”
“Bon soir,Princess.” This close, I could see all the colors that made up the hazel of her irises: green and gold at the outer edges, with a burst of amber-brown radiating from the center.
A sleepy smile. “Good evening.”
“Did you sleep well?” I brushed her spiky black bangs back from her forehead. “I like the bangs, by the way.”
“Thank you.”
