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Without a word she walked past him, noticeably swallowing as she opened the cooler. She reached into the cooler, but hesitated to touch the bags full of blood.
"It won't taste as good as it does from the source," an understatement, it tasted like shit until you got used to it, "but it will do the job," he explained, reaching into the cooler and picking up a bag of blood. He handed it to her.
She tentatively took it from him. When she turned to leave he moved to grab one for himself when she suddenly turned around and quickly picked up two more bags. He cocked a brow at that, but said nothing. He doubted that she'd be able to handle even half a bag of blood. She'd probably gag and have to work at not vomiting, but it would be enough.
He fed her his own blood during her transformation so her body was used to the warmth and taste of fresh blood. If he had used bagged blood it would have been a hell of a lot easier for her now and her stomach would have been used to the cold metallic taste of bagged blood. As long as she managed to hold down half a bag she'd be fine. She'd have to feed more often for a while until she was able to tolerate the stuff, but in time she'd be able to limit her feedings to twice a day.
"I'm going to go take a shower," she said, walking to the open bathroom door as she hugged the blood against her chest.
"Fine," he said, letting his fangs slide down as he prepared to eat his meal.
He watched her shut the bathroom door behind her and heard the click of the lock a few seconds later. After he finished off four bags he walked over to the small sitting area and plopped down on one of the loveseats. As he looked around the plush apartment he had to admit that he much preferred this, over one of the rooms in Jax's house. He'd have to make sure to request it the next time he was in the area and needed to lay low for a night or two.
Then again, the next time he was in the area could very well be a century from now and Jax and his pack would have already moved on. Like him, shifters didn't age once they were fully matured. Some stopped aging as early as twenty-two while others didn't reach their immortality until their early thirties.
Living among humans for long periods of time was a problem for them since humans tended to notice that sort of thing and overreact. Jax usually didn't keep the pack in an area for more than ten years. Since he'd already been here for nine years the Alpha was probably already looking for a new home.
"Come on," he heard Danni say, sounding frustrated.
He shrugged it off. She was probably just having problems keeping the cold blood down. He looked around and sighed heavily when he didn't spot a microwave in the apartment. He'd have to tell the man to get one for the next place. Not that it would really improve the taste of the blood all that much, but it was better than drinking it cold. He really missed the days when he lived off the source, but once he started working for the Sentinels he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter.
Not that he had much of a choice now. If he wanted to stay off the radar he was going to have to drink the bagged shit since an epidemic of neck bites would probably attract the attention of the Council. If he was careful, he could probably get away with-
The sound of glass shattering yanked him out of his thoughts and off the couch. He was across the room and breaking down the bathroom door in the next second and what he saw when he stepped into the bathroom felt like a physical blow to his gut.
Danni stood in front of the bathroom sink, her bloody hands cupping her face as her body trembled. His eyes darted over to the large shattered mirror, the broken glass on the sink counter and floor among the drops of blood and finally down to the neatly stacked pile of undamaged bags of blood.
"It's okay, baby," he said, having absolutely no idea what to say to the woman as she continued to cry.
He could count on one hand the number of times she'd cried as a child. Even as a little toddler she'd been a tough kid and usually only cried because someone else was hurt or sad. She didn't cry if another kid was mean to her, if she got in trouble, or when she threw one of her adorable fits that used to make him laugh when she didn't get her way.
She never once cried for herself and that had amazed him back then considering her less than normal childhood. He remembered the few times that she did cry. When another child lost his father during a raid on a rather nasty nest, she'd cried quietly in his arms for an hour. The moment she was able to pull back her tears she wiped her face, grabbed her favorite teddy bear and gave it to the little boy, promising him that the teddy bear would watch over him and love him now.
The time he decked her father and broke his jaw had been a memorable affair. Then again, he probably wouldn't have done it if the bastard hadn't promised Danni that they'd be home for Christmas that year and didn't show up or send her a present. Danni hadn't cared about the presents. The only thing she did care about was that her parents were never there on Christmas Eve to help her lay out stockings and were never there on Christmas morning. It broke Caine's heart when Danni came running out of her room, grinning hugely as she looked past the Christmas tree he put up for her and the presents from the toy store that he'd bought. She always searched for her parents who were never there.
She always made sure to force a smile as she opened her presents, barely aware of what he'd bought her as she threw hopeful glances at the door, but they never came. The only thing that seemed to give her any joy on Christmas morning was his reaction to the gift she'd given him. It didn't matter if it was a glob of glue, glitter and a bunch of other shit she'd put together for him, he smiled each and every time and made damn sure to act like it was the best gift he'd ever gotten all while wishing that he could get his hands on her parents and smack some sense into them.
The year she turned twelve she told him that she didn't want to celebrate Christmas and asked if they could just hit the movie theatre and the Chinese buffet instead. For a while he'd considered making her an orphan. When her father called a few weeks before Christmas and out of the blue promised that they would be home that year he damn near sighed with relief.
Any relief he felt was short lived when they didn't show up on Christmas Eve and when Christmas morning rolled around and Danni walked out of her room with a hopeful smile he'd had enough. He didn't let her know how pissed he was. Instead he focused on her. He brought her to the movies, sat with her at the buffet and even let her win their yearly snowball challenge. She put up a tough front and pretended that it didn't bother her that they hadn't showed up or even called for that matter and he pretended that he hadn't noticed.
When her parents finally showed up, six months later, Caine walked right up to the bastard and punched him, sending him flying twenty feet through the air and crashing into a wall. Unfortunately for him, Danni chose that moment to come into the room. A second later so did half the compound with their weapons drawn.
It seemed the rule about him not harming a Sentinel included beating the shit out of one that had it coming. They sentenced him on the spot to a month in a cell, like that would really bother him. He'd get to relax, have all the blood he wanted and all the books he could read. The only thing that bothered him about the sentence was not being there to take care of Danni, but they'd make due. She'd come visit him and before they knew it the month would just fly by.
Tall, Dark & Heartless Page 59
