Bite, My Love (14 page)

“
Nope.” She holds his hand to her face. His fingers curl over
the curve of her cheek. She leans into the touch. “I need a pick me
up. Eating regularly seems the smart thing to do.”

Ben nods
vigorously.

I suspect
if Lee suggested massacring a whole village seemed ‘the smart thing
to do,’ he’d be as enthusiastic.

“
Whatever you need,” he promises, “I will call on–”

I’m not
sure I can sit and watch the Vampires casually snacking on a
hypnotized Human. “She can guzzle some of mine.”

Yeah, my
mate is a Vampire. Yeah, he gets off sucking people dry. I need
adjustment time. I’ll have to watch him feed eventually, but I want
to be mentally prepared. So I don’t start freaking out.

Ben
stares.

Have I
grown a second head?

“
Perhaps ‘guzzle’ was an overzealous adjective, sweetling,”
Daniel says dryly.

“
It’s a sip she needs, right? I can manage that.”

A few
mouthfuls are acceptable, but if a sip to a Vampire is as a pinch
of salt is to a chef then my offer will be politely
retracted.

Daniel’s
laughter ghosts through my mind.

Lee’s hanging jaw snaps shut. She splutters.
“
Yes, please
. Um,
what I meant to say is I tasted some earlier and I want more.” Her
eyes widen. “No. I mean. God, I’m sorry. They’ve had centuries to
practice doing this. Accepting an offer to feed, that is.” She
exhales slowly. “What I mean to say is–”

“
Thanks?”

She
smiles, and nods in relief.

I don’t
have a problem with her curiosity. Hypocrites are annoying. I do
enough annoying crap already to let double standards become part of
my personality.

I’m
interested in what it’ll feel like.

Daniel
bit me during sex, and the first time he drank from me meant more
than sating his hunger. Are all bites designed to feel good? Can a
Vampire make a bite feel platonic? Or is it a fetish you associate
strongly with sex? Maybe the sexual enjoyment is nurtured into
you.

Biting is
an accepted part of Lycan sexuality. The males secure the females
with their teeth to mount them. Blood can be drawn.

The
thought of Daniel – or a Vampire known to me like Lee and Ben –
biting me isn’t frightening to consent to. I’d go as far to say the
idea of my mate drinking my blood, making me a fundamental part of
him is a pleasant one.

Vampires’
siphoning my soul to nourish their own is where my understanding
ends.

Lee
slithers off the couch and slinks over to me on hands and knees.
Her eyes are different, larger and feline. Her pearly fangs are
bared, and I can tell she’s fighting the instinctive transformation
of her face. “A sip,” she whispers, afraid of startling me into
retracting the offer. “It won’t hurt. Ben will help if things slip
beyond my control.”

“
It’s fine.” I think hard about how to be tactful. Fuck it.
“My soul is off limits. Alright?”

Nodding,
she stops at Daniel’s leg and lifts up onto her knees.

She holds
out her hand. With a wobbly smile, I let her flip my hand
over.

Lee
smoothes her pale fingers across the thin skin of my wrist. My
veins deepen in colour. They throb in invitation, and my blood
smells richer.

A prickly
sensation crawls up my arm, spreading from her touch.

Her head
lowers a fraction. Glossy hair spills over her shoulders and
obscures her face. I catch sight of her pink tongue darting out to
lick her lips wantonly. “Smells pretty.” She brings my wrist to
meet her cold lips.

Ben rests
his hand on the nape of her neck, biting his own lip with the tip
of a fang as he watches.

I hold my breath expecting pain. Yeah,
ouch
. Her teeth sink deep, making
twin delicate holes. Blood flows. My curiosity is satisfied.
There’s nothing sexual between us, and that’s a relief. I’ve heard
stories of Humans becoming addicted to Vampire bites, blood junkies
who live to be fed on, and end up in a mindless thrall until the
Vampire is kind enough to put the Human down.

Lee has
swallowed more than two gulps.

I’m
starting to feel woozy. Last call. I give an experimental
tug.

Eyes
narrowing, she snarls. Her hands clamp on my arm in a way my jaws
often do as a wolf when I have a particularly tasty
bone.

Though
he’s swallowing incessantly, and licking his lips, Ben clasps Lee’s
head. He pulls firmly. She has no choice but to release my arm. Ben
kneels and whispers calming things into her ear.

In
moments, Lee’s herself and peeks at me. Her face is flushed and
rife with shame.

I give
her a one armed hug to show I’m not bothered.

Ben
stares again. “You fed my woman and child. This will not be
forgotten.”

Again, I
wave it off as no big deal, and lick the fangs marks she
left.

Ben
carries Lee back to the sofa. Setting her down, he opens her legs
and situates himself between them. His palms cover her stomach
tenderly.

Daniel
strokes the small of my back. It’s the first movement he’s made
since I made the offer to feed Lee. His mind is silent. I hope he’s
okay with Lee drinking what he may consider his. Why am I worrying?
He’s not the type to sit idly by if something pisses him
off.

‘
You cared for them as if they are your own, family.’
Daniel kisses me.
‘There
are no words for what I feel.’

Where was
the conversation before Lee got thirsty? Ah yes, my
Alpha.

Daniel sighs.
‘Like a dog with a
bone.’

‘
Wolf,’
I correct. “So? What did you
and Daddy discuss?”

“
You.”

“
Very forthcoming,” Lee mutters.

I’m
afraid to ask, but it has to be done. Unless Aaron sold me down the
river, my Pack could only know the barest of details of that
happened between the Vampire and me. From the scents we left
behind, they will discover a rogue Vampire aroused me. How they’d
fit that into a logical flow events I don’t know.

“
Come on, what did you talk about?” I twiddle my thumbs. “Did
you tell him about us?”

“
I explained you are my Bride. He was distraught.”

He must
be putting it mildly.

I’d been
nothing but a source of disappointment to my Alpha, but this must
take the biscuit in his eyes.

First he’s told I’ve been consorting favourably with
Vampires. Then I ditch my sister’s wedding. That would have been
enough to rattle most fathers’ cages. To sweeten the pie, my
husband
by Vampire law
and my
mate
by
Pack rule strolls onto his territory informing him that he and I
are doing the nasty.

Sweet
lord, Daddy must have had an apoplexy.

‘
I was not crude.’
Daniel doesn’t
hide his exasperation.
‘I explained what
happened with your cousin, and between my kind and me. What
happened with you.’

“
You told him I found you? Fine, but I know Daddy. He’d still
want your head for being on the hunting grounds without an
invitation.”

“
I never suggested he wasn’t. Believe we both have your best
interests at heart. We came to an understanding the
soonest.”

“
That’s it?” Lee frowns. “Simone’s sure the Lycans will
declare war as soon as they amass enough strength. I sent Daniel to
pay for the death he caused, but he never made it to your
Alpha.”

Resentment my mate was treated so callously busts through my
calm. “Well, breaking his legs then dumping him miles from the
Alpha house expecting him to take himself there wasn’t exactly a
fool proof plan.”

Lee
cringes in embarrassment, but nods. “Liam must feel as if our
family has ignored him by not acknowledging what happened to your
cousin.”

“
That is irrelevant now, love.” Ben cocks his head, gaze on
Daniel. “An understanding?”

Clever
Ben cuts to the heart of the matter.

What
understanding could have been made so fast between hated
enemies?

“
I am exempt from any peace treaties or truces of safety
between our kinds now or ever to come.” Daniel contemplates the
middle distance. “I must not cross into Lycanthrope territory.
Packs will be advised of who I am, what I look like, and the danger
I pose.” His lips twist wryly.

Ben makes
a small noise. “There is more.”

Daniel
shoots him a look of irritation. “All this hangs on the outcome of
a test. Tomorrow night, Harmony will allow the Pack Beta a chance
to….” He trails off. His whole body tightens before he forces it to
relax. “If her wolf accepts him, I will revoke my claim, and vow
never to touch my Bride again.”

Lee’s
horror-struck gasp swallows Ben’s heartfelt curse.

I will
revoke my claim.

My hand
falls from Daniel’s face to my lap. I stand jerkily. Shuffle my
feet. I look around helplessly. Finding no solace, I sway, a bit
like a scarecrow caught in the wind.

I will
revoke my claim.

Where’s that nails-on-a-chalkboard-screech coming from? Oh.
That’s
me
trying
to speak, breathe, and scream in chorus. The silence is horrible,
but the racket trying to escape my mouth is dire.

I will
revoke my claim.

He wears
my mark. He has been inside me and will rest in my heart as my true
mate until I die. Mine. There’s no ‘revoking’ to be done.
Impossibility. My mind cramps and I rub my brow endeavouring to
fathom what he’s agreed.

Not considering,
agreed
.

“
How will this wolf male test you?” Lee sounds nervous on my
behalf. Bless her. She looks from me to Daniel to Ben, who shakes
his head sadly. She touches her temple and her eyes drift out of
focus. “I have no memory of this test. I don’t
understand.”

Clasping
my hands at my waist, my eyes drop to the floor. “We shift to
wolves. He’ll try to mount me, and if I submit he’ll claim me in
front of the witnesses and mark me. I-. It–. This is, um….”
Hysteria bubbles just beneath the surface. Outrage fuels some false
courage and gets me coherent. “This will bond me to him as his life
mate.”

I feel
Daniel’s eyes on my face.

Gathering
my courage, I look up and watch a jumping muscle in his jaw. He
looks determined, and I resist the natural urge to slump in
defeat.

The test
is archaic and flawed. It’s rare for a she-wolf to possess the
strength to fight off a male who pins her beneath him, and Sy is a
Beta. Only the Alpha is stronger. The test had been designed for
when leaders of the Pack set their sights on a piece of ass they
wanted, but was already taken. Challenge to the mate was issued,
and supposed to be considered a fair challenge that avoided loss of
life. Blatantly unfair, its usage had faded from Pack
life.

My Alpha
has resurrected it to bring me to heel.

I’m
more
than most she-wolves – born a powerful Alpha female. I will
not allow them to do this to me.

It hurts
Daniel found it tolerable for the test to be suggested. Why is he
not enraged and ready to spill blood? Is he all wax and no wick?
Why is he not ready to start a war in my name? Ben would obliterate
the person for daring to utter the words about Lee then destroy
evidence they existed. Daniel cares so little for me–

‘
I do this because I care.’
Daniel is
grim.
‘It’s wrong of me to separate you
from your family, and cause conflict because of misplaced
pride.’

‘
Bullshit. I doubt you’ve ever considered doing anything that
principled in your life.’
I eye him. He
body looks no older than his late twenties, but his eyes are
ancient.
‘How old are you
anyway?’

‘
Nine hundred give or take a year. Time was not measured as it
is now. You see? I have a greater perspective on what needs to
happen here.’

‘
You think I’ll fail.’

‘
I want you safe. This agreement with your Alpha gives me
that.’

‘
I won’t do it.’

‘
Lee is going to be a mother. My kind has a chance at a new
future. You would jeopardize that?’

Lee makes
a noise of protest.

Daniel
shuts her down with a fierce look. “This is private.”

Ben nods
then captures his mate’s outraged eyes, drawing her into an intense
stare. From their changing expressions they're having a private
argument of their own.

The
barrier of my folded arms drop.

Despite
being mated to me, Daniel retains his sense of self and loyalty to
his people.