“Blood?”
My mind flashed back to earlier that day when I’d seen Alexander with his bloody wrist pressed against Charlotte’s mouth. Is that what happened here?
Millie nodded as she pulled farther away. Even though my mind was a maelstrom of questions, I still missed the feel of her pressed against me.
“I gave you my blood, and it healed you,” she said, even softer than before. Like she was scared to tell me the truth.
Honestly, I had no idea what to think.
Since when did blood heal injuries? I’d heard of transfusions when you’ve lost a lot of blood, but never someone drinking the stuff to get better.
But that was what Alexander did with Charlotte earlier, wasn’t it? I’d just seen it happen that morning but hadn’t wanted to think too hard about it. Or ask too many questions. It wasn’t really my business, and I didn’t need to get pulled any further into their weird bullshit.
But now it was my bullshit, and I needed answers.
“How did your blood heal me?”
She looked away, and I already missed her emerald eyes. Millie took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning back to me. “I’m not what you think I am.”
I frowned as I spun those words around in my head. I didn’t miss the fact that she’d said what and not who. But what the hell did that mean?
The questions were loud in my head, but not louder than her soft sigh. Millie’s shoulders curled inward as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She bit down hard as her hands fidgeted in the limited space between us. It was clear something was bothering her, and I hated it.
Without thinking, I reached out and cupped her face. She let loose another shaky breath as I turned her to look at me. When her eyes met mine, it was like watching the sun rise. They were so beautiful. So big. So bright. I swore they had the power to see so much more than I wanted them to.
I met her gaze head on and asked the question I couldn’t ignore anymore. “What are you, then?”
Her eyes widened for the briefest moment, but I caught it. “You’re not going to believe me.”
I continued to stare down at her for a long moment as I raced through all the theories I had lined up in my head. None of them really fit or made sense of this situation, though. None of them explained what the fuck had happened.
I slid my hand from her jaw to the back of her head, cupping it gently. “It’s okay. You can tell me.”
I made my words as gentle as possible, but she still flinched. It was clear she didn’t want to answer the question, but I needed to know.
Finally, she sighed and dropped her chin to her chest, eyes pointed down. “I’m a vampire.”
My heart leapt at the word as my mind struggled against it. “What?” I asked, so softly I didn’t think she’d hear me.
Millie lifted her head and met my eyes again. She smiled wide, but it wasn’t happy. I frowned as my gaze darted to her mouth and back again, not understanding.
But finally, I saw what she was trying to show me.
Her perfectly white teeth all looked normal until I got to the long, pointy ones.
The ones that looked just like fangs.
My eyes widened as I stared until she closed her mouth and looked away again. I was stunned quiet as my brain tried to accept what I already knew in the pit of my stomach to be true.
“I’m a vampire,” she said again. “So is Alexander. That’s why we can glamour humans. That’s why I’m so strong. That’s why my blood healed you. That’s why–”
She closed her mouth with a loud clack of her teeth and looked away. My mind was still spinning, but the questions took a backseat to Millie. She looked upset, and I hated that.
I gripped her chin and turned her to face me again. “That’s why what?”
She shook her head, her eyes barely meeting mine. “I don’t want to tell you.”
I cupped her jaw and pulled her closer. “Millie, don’t you think we’re past the secrecy at this point?”
Her big green eyes met mine, and in them I saw so much hesitation. So much fear. And all I wanted to do was erase it.
Finally, she blew out a deep breath, her shoulders slumping. “That’s why I drank from you too.”
Why the fuck did that make my dick harder?
“When did you drink from me?” I asked quietly, scared that if I spoke too loud, it would spook her into clamming up again.
She pursed her lips to the side, her cheeks flushing and making her look even prettier. “When we were… you know,” she said, waving a hand between our still-naked bodies.
My brows furrowed as I tried to think back through the past several minutes. I didn’t remember getting bitten, and you’d think something like that would be hard for a guy to forget. I reached up and touched the side of my neck where she’d buried her face earlier. It was tender, and when I pulled my hand back, my fingers were covered in blood.
“Damn,” she murmured. “I forgot to close the holes.”
I looked up at her contrite expression, not even knowing where to start. “Why did you bite me? Were you… hungry?”
She shook her head, eyes earnest. “No. Not at all. I’d already drained the other two guys before I got to you.”
I rubbed the sticky blood between my fingers, watching as her eyes followed every movement. “So, why’d you bite me then?”
Her face flushed darker as she looked away again. “It was kind of… instinctual.”
I waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, I prodded gently. “Okay?”
She blew out another breath and met my gaze, hers wide open and pleading. “It just kind of happened. You were drinking from me and then you pulled me onto your lap, and we… you know. I just couldn’t help myself.”
Now, why the fuck did that make me harder too?
“I’m sorry,” she said as she looked away again.
I wiped my sticky fingers on the pants I still had gaping around my waist and cupped her chin again. “Hey, I’ve got no complaints.”
She met my eyes, her gaze wary. “Really?”
My lips twitched with a grin that I didn’t hold back. “Millie, that was easily the hottest sex of my life. Whatever you did, I fucking enjoyed it. A lot.”
Her pretty pink mouth stretched with a smile of her own. “Really?” she asked again.
I didn’t think before pulling her close and kissing her lips. They were cooler than mine, something I hadn’t noticed before, but they were so soft and plump, I felt like I could sit here kissing her all day.
When I reluctantly pulled away, she swayed toward me and something deep in my chest squeezed tight. I cleared my throat. “Really.”
She smiled at me, the look on her face so content I wished I could capture it. Snap a photo of the moment and keep it forever. I never wanted to forget the way she looked right then.
Her cheeks flushed again as she looked down at our still-connected bodies. She squirmed on my lap and I gripped her hip tighter.
“I should probably get dressed,” she said.
I wanted to argue, but kept quiet as she slid off my lap and stood up. I didn’t stop watching her though, as I climbed to my feet and shoved my hard dick back in my pants.
She pulled her clothes back on, moving so fast she was just a blur. In seconds, she stood in front of me, fully dressed again, and all I could do was gape.
She smiled, her cheeks pink again. “Sorry. That’s a vampire thing too. We can move really fast.”
I shook my head as I shrugged my bloody shirt back onto my shoulders. “That’s pretty amazing.”
She looked up at me. “You think so?”
“Hell yeah. I’m just imaging how fast you’d be at meal-prepping for the week and wishing I had your skills.”
“Meal-prepping?”
“Yeah, you know. Like marinating your meats and chopping the vegetables for all your meals in the coming week.”
She shook her head. “I don’t eat.”
I paused,
buttoning my shirt to stare at her. “How do you not eat?”
She shrugged. “I just drink blood.”
I shook my head as I continued with my shirt. “I feel like that wouldn’t be enough. Don’t you get hungry?”
Millie giggled, and I looked up to watch her eyes sparkle. “No. I don’t get hungry. I get thirsty, and I drink blood. That’s all I need.”
My stomach twisted the smallest bit as I asked my next question. “Where do you get the blood from?”
Were there like vampire supermarkets somewhere?
“From humans. Usually women.”
I frowned as I looked over my shoulder to where we’d been naked and fucking just minutes ago. “Do you do that with all the people you drink blood from?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not.”
That shouldn’t have relieved me as much as it did.
I didn’t have any right to care who or what was feeding Millie. I didn’t have a right to ask about who or what she did in her free time.
But damn, I wished I did have that right.
I felt something tickle the side of my neck and I swiped at it, my hand coming back bloody again.
“Oh, shoot,” Millie said as she rushed over. “Let me close those for you.”
“How?”
“My blood.”
She stepped into my space and her sweet scent fucked with my head. “Do I have to drink it again?” I asked, wondering why the fuck that made my dick twitch.
Last I checked, I didn’t have any weird fetishes like blood, but there I was, hoping like fuck I’d get to put my mouth back on her in any way possible.
But she shook her head. “No, you don’t have to drink it. I just need to put some on your wounds.”
She stepped closer and my hands automatically gripped her waist. “How do you do that?” I asked, dipping my head closer and breathing her in.
She inhaled a shaky breath. “I could bite my finger and rub it on the bite marks.”
There seemed to be more to the story. “Or?” I prodded.
She pulled back and looked up at me, her jewel tone eyes unsure. “Or I could bite my tongue and lick them.”
Fuck.
I was rock hard instantly.
I pulled her to my chest, and she gasped when she felt my cock rubbing against her. “I like that second option,” I murmured into her hair.
“Okay,” she said, her voice just a whisper. Millie pulled me closer, but the height difference was too great, and it was making things awkward.
I wrapped my hands around her thighs and pulled her into my arms. She gasped again, and I swear, my dick was seconds away from bursting through my zipper.
Millie ducked her head into the crook of my neck, and I felt her wet tongue lapping at my skin. I groaned and pulled her tighter as she sucked on my throat, and I thought I’d come right there.
I spun us around and pushed her back against the wall so I had better leverage. My hands instantly found her ass and squeezed. “Millie,” I warned.
She dug her fingers into my hair and sucked again, the sensation going straight to my cock. I rubbed against her, Millie’s moans spurring me on. “Fuck,” I groaned. “I could take you again right here.”
Her fingers pulled on my hair as she rotated her hips against me.
“Is that what you want, Millie? For me to fuck you again?”
She moaned against my skin and my dick leaked in my pants. I reached for her zipper and had her coveralls down to her waist in seconds. I slid my hand inside and cupped her mound.
“Fuck. Your panties are soaked,” I grunted as I slid the wet fabric aside to touch her.
Millie shivered in my arms, her mouth never leaving my neck as I circled her clit. I pinched it between my fingers, and she gasped before pulling me closer.
I pressed on her clit for a moment before sliding two fingers deep inside her. Millie’s head fell back on her neck with a gasp, and my lips were instantly on her.
“Ashton,” she moaned.
I’d never heard her say my name before, and I liked it. A lot.
I kissed my way up her throat to her jaw before claiming her lips. This kiss was not as tentative as the earlier ones. This kiss was forceful. And wild. And so fucking hot it made my dick ache.
I pulled my fingers out of her depth and she gasped again, but I wasn’t done. I ripped my pants open and dug out my cock. Millie had already unzipped the rest of her coveralls. I lined myself up with her wet folds and sank inside just as a loud gasp rang through the room.
But it wasn’t hers, and it sure as shit wasn’t mine.
I whipped my head to the front door to find a woman standing there, her eyes wide and a shaking hand covering her mouth.
Millie squeaked and squirmed out of my arms before zipping her coveralls back up. She sprinted over to the woman faster than I could track her, and I had one single second to worry about the intruder before Millie came to a stop right in front of her.
“Hey there. You seem lost,” Millie said, her voice low and hypnotic.
“Lost,” the woman said, her eyes vacant.
“Do you live in this building?”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you doing up here?”
“I heard a loud crash.”
Fuck. I wondered how many other residents heard our scuffle.
“You didn’t hear anything, and you didn’t see anything. You never came up here. You’re going to go back to your apartment and forget all about this.”
“Forget all about this,” she repeated.
“Go now.”
The woman turned around, her eyes still wide and her movements jerky. But she did as Millie asked, both of us holding our breaths until the elevator doors closed with her behind them.
Millie turned around, her eyes darting from me to the destroyed foyer and then back to me. “I think we need another suitcase.”
Chapter 4
Millie
“Hey, where’s the third guy?”
I stood up from where I’d been dismembering another body to look at Ashton. “What?”
He gestured around the marble room. “There were three guys. I only see two bodies.”
My heart sank as I looked around, but I knew I wouldn’t find him. “I don’t know,” I whispered. Clearing my throat, I said, “I took care of this one first.” I gestured to the body at my feet that was already missing his arms. “The other two were near you. I tossed one over my shoulder–”
“I’m sorry, what?”
I smiled at him. Ashton was so easy to be around. So easy to talk to. It made me forget that he wasn’t actually a part of this world. That the idea of vampires was brand new to him. That a five-foot nothing woman shouldn’t be able to toss a full-grown man over her shoulder. But that was exactly what I did.
“Yeah. They were both on top of you and I tossed one and grabbed the other.”
He looked at me, his gray-blue eyes blinking slowly. “That’s something I’d really like to see.”
“I could toss you,” I offered.
He chuckled. “Nah. I don’t want to see it that bad.”
The humor died as quickly as it arrived. I pointed to the splintered table in the middle of the room. “I think he landed there, but I don’t know what happened after that.”
Ashton’s whole demeanor shifted. His eyes narrowed as they darted around the room, his body tight with tension. “I’m going to search the place.”
I opened my mouth to tell him not to bother, but he was already gone. I shrugged and walked over to the destroyed table and took a sniff. The smell of dirt and sweat and beer met my nose, and I recoiled. It was enough for me to follow, though.
With slow steps, I tracked the scent from the table back to the front door. My stomach was in knots as I scanned the lobby and found nothing. I followed his stench to the stairwell, already knowing we had a problem.
“Ashton,” I called, as I peered over the railing.
He arrived m
oments later, his eyes shrewd. “Did you find something?”
I nodded. “His scent leads here,” I said as I started hurrying down the stairs.
Ashton was close behind me, but that’s only because I wasn’t running at full speed. I probably could have carried him down the steps faster, but I didn’t think he’d take kindly to the offer, so I didn’t bother.
When I made it to the tenth floor, I stopped dead in my tracks as I waited for Ashton to catch up.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Why are we stopping?”
I raised my nose in the air and let my feet follow the trail. “He went through here,” I said, pointing to the thick metal door on that floor.
Ashton hurried ahead of me but stopped to slowly depress the push bar. He carefully swung the door open and scanned the hall before nodding to me. “It’s clear.”
My heart warmed at the sentiment, but I had to hold back an eye roll. I guess it was sweet that he was such a gentleman, and I suppose I should have been thankful he was comfortable enough with me being a vampire to forget it all together.
But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t need his protection. I was a hundred times faster and stronger than him. If anything, I should have been working to keep him safe.
Ashton turned back to me still in the doorway and reached for my hand. “Come on.”
My fingers tingled as they wrapped around his, and I let him pull me down the hall. I caught the guy’s scent again, but I didn’t say anything, content to let him take the lead.
I was also reveling in the feel of his big, warm hand encompassing mine and had no intention of letting go anytime soon.
We were more than halfway down the hall before he turned to me. “Are you getting anything?”
“Oh yeah. He definitely came down this way.”
He stopped short, and I almost walked into him. Ashton shook his head and cursed under his breath. “You should be running point.”
I shrugged. “You seemed happy to be leading the way.”
The apples of his cheeks darkened with a blush, and it might have been the cutest thing I’d ever seen. “Sorry. I guess I’m used to taking the lead.”
Those words brought back the minutes I’d spent naked in his arms, and I shivered. I’d been more than happy to let him be in charge back then.
Blood Feud Page 3
