Tall, Dark & Heartless

by R. L. Mathewson

Page 86

 

  She was his and there was nothing and no one on this earth that was going to deny him.

  "The cancer never fully went away," he explained as he reached for the bottle, careful not to pull too far back since he liked having her hands on him.

  "But you changed me," she pointed out quietly as she stole the bottle from him and squirted more bodywash into her palm before she returned to washing his chest. "Your blood should have killed the cancer. "

  How to tell her this next part without her freaking out? he wondered as he lathered his hands and reached for her shoulders. The truth, he decided a moment later while he gently massaged her shoulders and ran his hands down her arms and back up again.

  "We think that-"

  "We?" she asked, interrupting him.

  "Jax, myself and Ethan," he explained as he moved closer to her so that he could move her long hair over her should so that he could wash her back.

  "I thought I was dreaming, but I guess I wasn't," she murmured absently as she moved her hands around him so that could wash his back.

  "Dreaming about what, baby?" he asked, leaning in and pressing a kiss against her damp forehead. He pulled back and continued to take care of his woman, a chore that he never thought would please him.

  She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts as she ran her hands up his back, sending little shivers down his spine. "I thought I dreamed a human's voice. It was so. . . . . . . ," she pursed her lips up adorably in thought, "sexy," she finished, sealing the human's fate.

  He was going to f**king kill him.

  Danni noticeably started as she caught the scent of his aggression. "What's wrong?

  "You thought his voice was sexy?" he practically spat out as he moved to go hunt the bastard and kill him.

  "Well, it was," she said with a shrug as if what she said was no big deal. It was a huge f**king deal! She shouldn't be noticing anything about any male! She shouldn't even realize that they exist any longer. "Oh my god, relax. His voice was sexy, but yours is sexier," she said, somewhat appeasing him.

  "Now can you please tell me what happened?" she asked, moving closer and brushing her soft br**sts against his stomach as she ran her hands up to his shoulders before she ran them back down and over his ass, making his c**k take notice, but he chose to ignore it and focus on explaining the situation to his mate since some things had changed in the last twenty-four hours.

  He took a steadying breath as he focused all of his attention on running his hands over her back and shoulders. He didn't want to upset her, but she had a right to know, especially since she was going to have to go on a special diet, maybe for a little while, maybe for life, he wasn't sure yet, but the only thing on her menu for a while would have to be immortal blood.

  Human blood would help, but not enough. The blood they'd pumped down her stomach acted like a filler, stretching out the immortal blood and helping bring it where it needed to go. It would never be enough to keep the cancer at bay or kill it off, which might not even be possible. The cancerous tissue could have very well been altered by his blood, making it impossible to kill completely. Thanks to immortal blood they could damage it and shrink it, but that might be all they could do. Whatever it was she had a right to know.

  "We think that when I changed you that the cancer was more advanced than we originally thought. You. . . . you," he couldn't get the words out. Just thinking about how close he came to losing her left him on the verge of losing it. Eternity without Danni? He'd never survive. Without her he'd wither away and wouldn't care about anything or anyone. She was his heart, his soul and his reason for breathing.

  "Shhh, it's okay, Caine," she whispered soothingly as she brushed her lips against his, offering him comfort and he greedily took it. He brushed his lips against hers, but had to force himself to pull back before he lost himself in her. They needed to talk and he really had no idea where to start.

  "Just say the words, Caine. It's okay," she promised as she reached up and cupped his face in delicate hands.

  He looked down into her beautiful violet eyes, the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen and felt himself relax. "You were closer to dying than we thought, Danni. The cancer was probably already spread throughout your body and it was probably only a matter of days, weeks at the most," he said, this time forcing his mind away from the accompanying pain that knowledge brought and continued. "I should have given you more blood during your change, but I didn't have enough, baby. It's my fault. "

  "No, it's not," she said, offering him comfort when he should be the one comforting her.

  "Yes, it is, Danni. I should have taken better care of you. I should have known something was wrong. If I hadn't pushed you out of my life you would have come to me and we could have tried to find a cure. We could have cured this damn thing before I changed you so that-"

  "You would have changed me anyway?" she asked in a watery voice.

  "Yes," he said, leaning down and brushing his lips against hers before adding, "because I would have fallen in love with you that much sooner, Danni, and I wouldn't have been able to part from you. "

  She let a little sexy gasp against his lips that had him grinning. "You love me?"

  "Mmmhmm," he said against her lips, moving to continue the kiss when of course Danni decided to pull back and punch him in his shoulder. It stung like a bitch, but of course he didn't let her know that as glared down at her.

  "What the hell was that for?" he snapped. "I tell you that I'm in love with you and you punch me?"

  "No, you ass**le!" she snapped right back, getting into his face. "That's for telling me that you love me after you had another woman in your arms!"

  He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Like he'd want another woman when he had her. That was f**king ridiculous, he thought as Danni muttered something about his balls, but thankfully didn't go for them, and turned to leave, but enough was enough. She wasn't leaving him, not now, not ever.

  She let out another one of those adorable little squeals as he grabbed her by the h*ps and dunked her beneath the water so that he could rinse her hair out and rinse himself off. Once that was done he ignored her rather violent sputtering as he sat down on the flat rock and pulled her on his lap until she was straddling him.

  "Let me go, you jerk!" she snapped, moving to push away from him, but he wasn't having that.

  "She was only a meal, baby. I had to feed off of them throughout the night so that I could feed you," he explained, not mentioning that he'd busted his ass all day and night protecting her and the pack while Jax got his energy back. When the moon was high enough in the sky and the pack had shifted, he'd spent several hours hunting down deers, coyotes, and anything else he could catch. He drained them until one of the f**king werewolves took a hissy and tried to steal his kill. They learned quickly to wait until he was done draining the animal before they tried taking it away from him.

  Lazy bastards.

  Danni narrowed her eyes on him even as she settled onto his lap, slapping her hands onto his shoulders to help keep her balance. "Did you sleep with any of them?"

  "No, and I wasn't even tempted, baby," he said, pressing a quick kiss against her forehead. "Now, if you're done interrogating me, it's time for you to eat, baby," he said, gripping her h*ps and pulling her closer as he tilted his head to the side.