Exposure: Bloodlust Series Book 1

by L. L. Ash

  “Let’s try it together,” I said quickly and stumbled to my feet, realizing at some point I’d lost a shoe.

  Eddie got up too and we both leaned against the door, pushing as hard as we could. Without a budge, we took a moment to rest before deciding to pull. Finding a place to dig our fingers into the iron was almost impossible, but we managed to get a tiny grip on the hinges before pulling with all our might. When nothing happened, I looked toward the walls.

  Digging my fingernails into the grout between the stones I started tearing into it, my nails bleeding and my skin tearing against the raw stone.

  “Addie,” Eddie’s arms wrapped around me from behind. “Calm down. Think logically here. The more your hurt yourself the weaker you’ll become. We have no food, no water, and we’ve got no idea what’s coming next. Keep your strength and think this through.”

  I let him press my bloodied hands against my chest, taking another moment to calm myself.

  “Ok, ok,” I agreed, moving out of his arms.

  I paced back and forth, eventually kicking off my awkward single shoe as I went. Eddie slid back down against the wall, watching me pace.

  “So what?” I asked again, frustrated. “Are they going to torture me again? Obviously I’m not dead yet so they’re doing something with me. And why are you here? And where is Clarence?”

  He shoved his hand through his hair and shrugged.

  I went back to the door and banged on it for a good few minutes before sliding down the cold stone to the floor.

  “At least it’s cold here,” I said eventually and he chuckled.

  “Good for you,” he said, his arms wrapped around his bare chest. “I’m fucking freezing.”

  I frowned at him, feeling bad already for him.

  He sighed and huddled up, trying to lose as little heat as he could.

  We sat there for hours. At least it felt like hours.

  There was no sun so we didn’t know exactly what time it was. It was dank and cold and wet, and though it was dark it didn’t really bother either of us.

  “So...” Eddie said after a while longer, “The only way I’m going to sleep is if I turn. The fur will help.”

  I nodded.

  He slowly got to his feet and fussed with the front of his shorts. I curled my legs up and dug my head into my arms, circling my knees. I gave him a little time until I heard the whisper of his shorts falling, then the cracking and groaning as his body shifted from man to beast.

  A wet nose touched my hand and I jerked back up. An animal-esque, human face looked at me, vibrant green eyes meeting mine. He nudged me again, licking my hand before digging his head into my lap and settling down by me feet.

  “Did I give you permission to cuddle?” I asked him with a chuckle.

  His head shot up and he looked into my eyes again, whining like a dog. Then again, he was a dog.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Fine,” I sighed and he dug his head back down right into my crotch, nose in the apex of my jeans. “Watch yourself, Pup,” I shoved his face and I swear I saw him grinning underneath all that fur, huge teeth on display.

  He rearranged himself, nose still a little close for comfort, but we settled. The heat of his body warmed my feet but I wasn’t too uncomfortable. The room was cold enough so I wasn’t burning up.

  Lifting my hand, I scratched behind his ear and his legs twitched, curling up further under him as he crawled further into my lap.

  I smiled, watching him wiggle himself even further into my lap.

  “You’re something else, Eddie. You’re not fooling me with the whole dog routine. You do anything inappropriate and Clarence will come after you.”

  A big jaw opened up in a yawn before settling a little further onto my thigh instead of in my crotch.

  A wiggling body on top of my legs woke me up. Eddie was restless, turning, panting in his wolf form. I petted his head and he settled for a minute before big green eyes appeared and he was looking at me.

  “Are you ok?” I asked him but he didn’t answer me. Instead he got off me and walked further into the dark room.

  As he shifted back to human form I gave him space again, closing my eyes and resting my head on my forearm, suspended between my knees.

  “I’m starving,” came Eddie’s eventual reply as he made his way back over to me.

  “Do you think they’ll feed us?”

  “Doubt it. Why would they feed us if they can starve us and make us weak? It takes weeks to kill us of starvation alone. Though that would basically destroy our brains.”

  Sighing, I bit on my lip for a minute before remembering Clarence eating werewolf.

  “Eddie?” I asked hesitantly, thinking of how uncomfortable my idea would make Clarence. “Can you, hypothetically, eat vampire meat?”

  His head slowly turned to me as one eyebrow shot up.

  “You afraid I’m going to eat you, Honey?”

  “No, I was actually thinking of a solution. Not a permanent one, but maybe one that’ll help stave off the worst of our hunger. So can you?”

  “Yeah, I could. Nasty stuff, but it would sustain. What’re you thinking?”

  “Well, as far as I know, we can drink werewolf blood. So… if we wanted to, if we get desperate enough… We could feed each other, and we’d heal. It at least should help us keep our strength up for whatever’s coming.”

  He chewed on his lip for a minute, considering.

  “It’s worth a try. Suppose it’ll keep us entertained at the least.”

  I rolled my eyes and sighed, wondering if Clarence was ok.

  “If they didn’t kill him right away, which they didn’t, then he’s probably ok,” Eddie said gently rubbing his palm over the top of my knee. “The sucker’s a survivor. He’ll be ok, I think.”

  “I’m sorry about Adonis.”

  Eddie scoffed.

  “Yeah, so am I.”

  We sat in silence for a minute before Eddie spoke up again, his voice cheery again.

  “So? We doing this?”

  “Yeah. Why don’t you go first?”

  He grimaced.

  “Healing or not, it’s going to hurt like hell, Addie. You sure?”

  “Just do it fast then.”

  He grinned again.

  “That’s not the first time you’ve begged me to go fast.”

  Slapping his shoulder, I looked over my arms.

  “Where’s the best place?”

  “Uh...” he looked over my arm too, then down my body.

  “Shit, probably your thigh. I didn’t realize how skinny you are til just now.”

  “I’m NOT skinny,” I laughed. “I’ve never been ‘skinny’ in my life.”

  “Gunna make a mess though. There’s a main artery that goes through there that I’ll try not to get, or blood will go everywhere.”

  “Yeah, please do try not to get it. I’d rather keep my pants clean.”

  “You’re gunna have to take them off, Honey,” he raised an eyebrow. “Or I’ll have to chew right through ‘em.”

  Groaning, I thought about what underwear I was wearing. It was a lacy one, but not especially see through.

  “Is this weird to you, too?” he asked finally, curling up his knees to his chest. “This feels really weird to me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, when I change, you hide your face. You’re worried about me seeing your underwear… A few weeks ago we were eating each other’s faces off and fucking like animals. Now we’re like 12 year olds in a locker room. What the hell happened between then and now that’s made this so damn weird?”

  I blew out a breath. He was right, sure. But there were reasons.

  “Because we’re not together, Eddie.”

  “We’re together right now.”

  “That’s not what I mean. We’re not a couple. I’m not your queen anymore. That’s what changed. I love Clarence with my entire being. And what happened between us hurt him. I mean, it really, really hurt him. I appr
eciate you, and you’ve been a great friend to me, Eddie, but I’m more worried about Clarence’s feelings when we eventually get out of here and I have to tell him what went on here between us than I am about your comfort in the moment. I’m sorry I’m making you uncomfortable. Just know that it doesn’t actually have anything to do with you.”

  “Woo… Wow,” he breathed, pressing his hand to his chest.

  “What?”

  He shook his head sharply and looked toward the other side of the stone room.

  “What, Eddie?”

  He shook his head again before looking forward. His bottom lip was tucked fiercely between his teeth for a second before answering in a breathless tone.

  “I think I already knew that… But fuck if it doesn’t hurt hearing the words.”

  I sighed and tried to touch his shoulder but he moved away, scooting over a few feet to give us some space.

  “Let’s just… have a little silence for now, huh?”

  “Sure,” I agreed pensively as the dark room became quiet.

  It was a long, long time of silence before I eventually spoke again.

  “Why didn’t you fight them, Eddie? Why did you choose to go peacefully when they attacked?”

  More silence met my ears and I thought he was going to ignore me for a minute until his raspy voice met me through the dark, his outline still visible against the stones.

  “Because they threatened my people,” he said quietly. “My people wouldn’t be hurt if I didn’t fight. And I couldn’t let them take you alone. Not again.”

  “What do you mean?” I almost gasped.

  “I could have fought,” he said. “Rory and I would’ve… to the death. But I knew whether I died there or whether I let them take me, they would abduct you again and you’d be alone, facing them alone. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “Are you saying you gave up the fight for me? You let them have everything because of me?”

  “Yeah...”

  “Why would you do that? Why didn’t you fight them? They’re probably just going to kill us anyway. At least then you would have had a chance of winning...”

  “Because I love you, Addie. It’s painfully clear you don’t share the sentiment, but I love you and you mean more to me than my den or my pride or my life. If you were going to die, I wasn’t going to let you die alone.”

  Emotion made my chest heave, useless air flooding out of my lungs in shock.

  “Eddie...”

  “Not another word about it, got it?”

  I snapped my mouth closed and we descended into silence again.

  He may not want to talk about it, but I needed to do something.

  Crawling on my hands and knees I made my way back over to him, sitting in the corner of the room with his forehead pressed against the wall. Clarence may not ever understand why I did what I did, but I crawled into his arms, pressing my head against his shoulder and rubbing my nose onto his neck.

  “We’re going to figure a way out of here,” I whispered to him, feeling his arms coming around me, holding me tightly in the way that was comforting to his kind. “Either we’ll figure a way out of here or we’ll be rescued. We’re not dying today, or any day soon. We’ve got too much left to live for.”

  He nodded before digging his face into my hair, sitting silently and motionlessly for a long, long time.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Thank you,” he said eventually as he unwrapped from around me.

  “I may not be one of you anymore, but I still remember.”

  “I know. You would’ve made a good werewolf. I miss you around the warehouse. Everyone does.”

  “How’s little Yuri?”

  “He’s ok. He’s with big Yuri so he’ll be alright.”

  “Those boys need a mom. I wonder if you could take in a human, maybe.”

  He shook his head.

  “She wouldn’t last long. The boys are too animalistic. They’d scare the hell out of her and she’s drop dead before a week was even out.”

  I chuckled.

  “It’s not easy to find someone who is kind and tough at the same time. You’re kind of a miracle.”

  “Freak of nature?”

  “That too.”

  We laughed at that for a second before I heard Eddie’s stomach rumble loudly.

  “Is it time we try to do that eating thing?” I asked him and he whined.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Adds.”

  “Well, I’m taking your blood whether you get your fill of me or not. And I need you to stay alive so I can keep getting my fill, so do what you have to do Eddie.”

  Groaning, he shifted again and we looked at each other.

  “You sure?”

  “God, stop asking me that.”

  He laughed.

  I wiggled out of my jeans, sighing in pleasure at the feel of the cold stones under my butt.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s good,” I grinned, wishing I could just sit naked against the floor and wall.

  “Ok, prop up a leg when you’re ready.”

  I rolled my jeans up and put them under my head as I found a comfortable position on my side, leaving my thigh exposed for him to eat.

  A shiver of dread ran through me cause I knew this was going to hurt, but I thought about the blood I’d get next.

  As I closed my eyes, resting peacefully I heard the whisper-faint zipper of his shorts then the cracking and popping that indicated that he was no longer a man, but a beast.

  Licks on my thigh made me jump and I almost told him to stop when I realized that he was just doing his version of what Clarence did. Preparing me and my skin for the onslaught.

  Large teeth nibbled against my skin and I cringed, waiting for the sharp first bite.

  Another lick as his nose sniffed, finding the perfect place to start. He nudged at my hip a few times and I understood enough to move to my back.

  Spreading my thighs a little, I asked, “You want the inside?”

  He nudged the fleshy part of my thigh for a second before I felt a rough, wet tongue drag between my legs against the yellow lace of my panties. I shrieked and slapped at him, hitting him on the head a couple times while he chortled in a weird, throaty way.

  “Eat and get it over with!” I slapped him again. “And be nice or I’ll tell Clarence and you won’t make it out of this cell alive.”

  Another laugh and his nose was back on my thigh.

  Lick, lick, then a sharp stinging pain as his teeth punctured skin. Agony seared through my flesh as his jaw sank in, quickly tearing a huge chunk of flesh from my leg as I laid there, thrashing on my back in pain. Gobbling up whatever piece he got from me, he started to whine and lick at the wound as it tingled and burned while healing.

  Pressing my palms to my eyes, I was grateful for my inability to cry or I’d be tearing up at the intensity of the pain in my thigh.

  Snap crackle and pop happened at my side before Eddie’s face appeared in front of my face, his hands pressing against my thigh where the gaping hole was mostly healed over.

  “You ok? Speak to me. Did I hurt you?”

  “No more than we both knew you would,” I gasped out, finally feeling the relief from the burning.

  “Ok, we’re not doing that again,” he groaned, rubbing at the new, irritated flesh on my leg. “That was worse than I thought it would be.”

  “Oh, c’mon. Don’t be a girl,” I told him, sitting up and grinning, feeling fine again minus the weakness in my limbs.

  “You’re a fucking machine, Girl,” he sighed, looking relieved.

  “Now hurry up and get dressed again so I can eat.”

  He chuckled and dropped onto his back, lying spread eagle on the cold stone floor. Exactly like how I wanted to.

  “God, get your pants on!” I groaned, slapping my hands over my eyes.

  Eddie honest to God giggled.

  “Alright, alright,” he nudged the side of my head before sitting down beside me. “I’m dressed. Eat up.”
r />   Like a dork I immediately licked my lips, which Eddie thought was funny so he chuckled again.

  “You’d think we were on vacation or something,” I said suddenly. “We’re trapped in a dungeon with no food or water, no shoes, no comforts, not even a bathroom. Someone could come in here at literally any minute to come and kill us, and we’re sitting here laughing.”

  “Life’s too short,” he shrugged. “Besides, I have every confidence in your boy Clarence. That guy was a friggin’ beast last time. He’ll figure this out. It’s just a matter of time til we’re out of here, so we just need to wait it out as best we can. Besides, even if I’m wrong, I refuse to spend the last hours of my life afraid and cowering. I’m just glad I’m here with you, and that I find you so Goddamn funny.”

  I grinned at him and felt relief flood me.

  “You know, I thought that if this ever happened to me again, that it would literally be the end of me. And maybe it will, but having you here with me at least gives me hope. So thank you. Thank you for choosing to come with me. I just hope we don’t die.”

  “Yeah, me too, Kid,” he nodded before putting out his arms. “Now c’mon. Your turn.”

  “I just need your wrist,” I told him.

  “Not a chance, you won’t get anything out of there. You need a main vein.”

  My head jerked back as I looked at him.

  “And how would you know that?”

  His eyes went all wide and innocent.

  “Well, you wouldn’t be the first vamp I’ve...fed.”

  I gasped and his cheeks colored.

  “Friggin’ kinky werewolf!”

  “What? A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman.”

  “Wow, Eddie… Just wow.”

  “Anyway,” he shrugged. “Hop up. I know the drill.”

  “So how many times?”

  “You’re not my girlfriend, so it’s none of your damn business.”

  “Oh, so NOW I’m not your girlfriend,” I rolled my eyes.

  “You have made that abundantly clear,” it was his turn to roll his eyes.

  I skittered over the floor between us and straddled his lap.

  “Ah, it’s been too long since you sat here,” he grinned at me.