by Jessica Sims
And blood.
I couldn’t seem to get off the ground. I pushed, but my hands weren’t responding right. Something dug into my back, and it felt like a hot poker. Warm, wet liquid ran down my spine, and I realized I’d been shot by the crossbow. “Well, damn.”
“Ruby?” Michael was at my side. I tried to get up again, but I was like a bug pinned to a board. Ridiculous that I was so strong and was felled by something so small. Michael’s hands had bruises on the knuckles as he reached for me, and they were gentle as he helped me sit up. He cradled me in his lap.
“No, Ruby, no. Sweetheart, why did you come after me?” I noticed blood smearing over his shirt—my blood. His eyes glittered with fury even as he tenderly pushed the hair away from my face. “I left to keep you safe.”
“You were in danger,” I said softly.
“You came after me because I was in danger?”
It was getting harder to breathe, my chest heavy. I wanted to cough but didn’t have the strength in me. “Wanted to tell you,” I said weakly. “I don’t want to be your friend.”
In the distance, I heard Jayde’s snarl and the crunch of her teeth sinking into the vampire, ensuring that he wouldn’t ever bother us again.
Michael stroked my face, his fingers shaking.
“I love you,” I said softly. I was so tired, and it seemed important to say it now, while I could. “Always loved you. I didn’t cheat on you . . . back then.”
“I know,” he said roughly, then kissed me. “I’ve always known. The whole blind-date thing was a setup. I just wanted to see you again. Everything I did—the blindfold, the stupid changes to my voice—all of it was to get you to stay just a few minutes longer.”
“How . . .” I asked, but things were getting dark, and I was suddenly irritated at my body’s failings. I wanted to hear the story. How had he always known?
“Ruby, I love you. I never stopped loving you.”
I smiled weakly up at him, at his face growing fuzzy. “Your timing is shit.”
He cradled me closer and pressed a kiss to my mouth. “I don’t want to lose you. Please, Ruby, don’t let me lose you.” His eyes flared black with emotion. “Do you want to stay with me? Do you trust me? Because I’m not ready to let you go.”
“Me, either,” I said softly, but I knew it didn’t matter. Wouldn’t soon.
“Then don’t be mad when I do this,” he said, and sank his fangs into my throat.
I stiffened at the flare of pain; he hadn’t licked me to ease the bite. But only a little pain. The red-hot poker between my ribs had flared outward to encompass everything, and I was too far gone to feel much more. The world was growing dark and blurry.
I felt Michael’s fangs slide out of my neck, felt him press a quick kiss there.
“Do it,” I heard Jayde hiss faintly. “Just fucking do it!”
“What if she never forgives me?” Michael said, his tone anguished.
That’s ridiculous, I thought faintly, the world growing black. I’d always forgive Michael anything.
Then a wrist was shoved between my teeth, bloody and dripping. Michael’s face hovered over mine. “Drink, Ruby! Drink.”
—
When I woke up, I felt . . . different. Not physically different but in my awareness. As if a door had been opened. As if something was suddenly flicked on like a switch. As if it was safe to come out and play again. Why I felt like that, I had no idea.
The world was deathly quiet around me. Too quiet. My eyes slid open, and I peered at my surroundings. A hand brushed over my cheek. “You’re awake.”
Michael’s voice. I automatically turned toward him. He was smiling down at me, his expression incredibly tender as his fingers stroked my cheek.
“Why is it so quiet?” I murmured, my words sounding like anvils in the stillness.
“Don’t worry about that. Everything’s fine. How do you feel?”
“Different,” I said slowly. “Not bad, just different. Did . . . did something happen?”
“You don’t remember?”
I remembered bits and pieces, but there was a mental fog that I couldn’t seem to shake. “I remember Jayde . . . and you leaving . . .” I thought hard for a moment and then gasped as the memories burst forth from a dam. “The bounty hunter! He . . . he shot me, didn’t he?” My hand rose and slid over my chest, feeling for an arrow hole. I didn’t feel that hot, stabbing poker of pain anymore. Someone had taken the arrow out? “And then it got dark, and you . . .” I vaguely remembered Michael shoving his wrist between my lips and the taste of blood flooding my mouth.
My teeth tingled, and something shot out of my mouth, the tip of it digging into my lower lip.
“Ow!” I put a hand to my lip, shocked. My two incisors had distended at the thought of blood. I felt along one tooth and realized it was long and wickedly curved. Like a fang. Like Michael’s.
I looked over at him. He’d smelled spicy and uniquely vampire before, but now the scent of him was . . . intoxicating. Delicious. It made my mouth water just to get near him. He’d changed. And I had fangs.
I looked at him in surprise. “Fhoo fhturned me?”
Michael watched me, his eyes intense. “If you want to retract your fangs, focus on mentally pulling them inward. It’s like learning to use a new muscle. You’ll figure it out in time, just like you’ll figure out how to speak around them.”
“But—”
“Fangs first,” he said softly. “Then we’ll talk.”
A thousand questions burned in my mind, but I wasn’t going to be able to hold a conversation without sounding like Elmer Fudd. So I closed my eyes and concentrated on thinking about normal teeth, and my fangs retracted. I felt them slide back under my gums. Okay, that was freaky. My eyes flew open, and I gave Michael a meaningful look. “Answers now?”
“You were dying,” he said, his voice low with anguish. His hand stroked my hair, then he tangled his fingers into it, holding me pinned against him. “You took an arrow for me—an arrow that would have staked me through the heart. Instead, when he heard you coming, he shot you.”
“I couldn’t let him kill you,” I said, running my hand over his chest, looking for wounds. Odd, but his skin felt warm to me now. Was my body temperature that much lower? Just running my fingers over him felt delicious, as if his wonderful smell was rubbing off on my own skin.
Michael groaned at my exploring fingertips, and his hand captured mine, keeping it pressed over his chest. “Ruby, you . . . I asked if I could save you. Surely you knew . . .”
Actually, it hadn’t occurred to me. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. Some goofball shot me through the chest, remember?” He looked . . . delicious. Both sexually and physically. Hunger had an entirely different edge when one was a vampire. “I didn’t really know what I was agreeing to.”
“I am so sorry, Ruby. I couldn’t let you die, so I offered it.” He closed his eyes and bowed his head, as if pained by the thought of turning me against my will. “I have a small fortune left to me by my vampire benefactress. Vampire courtesy states that I pass on the favor and give you half.”
I looked up at him, at his beautiful, firm mouth. I wondered if he’d taste different when he kissed me now. My fangs nudged out again, and I willed them to slide back in. I was only half listening to what he said. “Half? Half of what?”
“My fortune. Ten million.”
That registered in my mind. “Your fortune is ten million dollars?”
“Actually, my fortune is twenty million. Half of it is yours. It’s the least I can do for turning you against your will.” His gaze searched my face, desperate. “I’m not sorry you’re alive, though.”
I wasn’t, either, really. I thought for a moment. “That weird sense of relief when I woke up?”
“The sun is down,” he murmured. “You’ll feel that every day. It’s instinct telling you to keep away until it’s gone.”
Smart instincts. I licked my lips and looked over at him, noticing how decadent h
is pale skin was. This whole vampire thing was kind of . . . erotic. I rubbed my thumb against his bare chest, just now noticing that my legs were twined with his. We were both cuddled under the sheets in a large bed. I was in my borrowed bra and panties, and Michael wore nothing. That was so unfair. I dug my fingers into his chest, scratching at his skin and inhaling sharply at the delicious scent of him. “I—I think I’m hungry.”
As if on cue, my teeth slid down again, although this time, they didn’t stab my lip. As I looked over at Michael, I noticed his teeth flick out, also descending, and his erection grew hard against my leg.
“Then you must drink from me,” Michael said softly. He leaned back in the bed next to me and bared his throat. “But go slow, and don’t take too much for your first time.”
My mouth watered at the sight of his pale neck. God, he smelled good. “Will fhoo help me? Walk me fhroo it?”
His hand moved to my shoulder, and he nodded, pulling me in closer. I didn’t need much encouraging. I leaned over him, my hair spilling over my shoulder. He brushed it aside, and I shivered at his fingers grazing my sensitive skin.
“Find the carotid,” he said, his voice low and strong and thrumming through me. “There’s no pulse on a vampire, but you can smell the blood concentration there.”
I leaned in and sniffed his neck and nearly swooned at the heady scent of him. “But all of you fhmells fho good,” I said, unable to resist brushing my breasts against his chest.
He groaned. “Then pick a spot. Remember to lick the skin first.”
My tongue darted between my fangs, and I nuzzled the side of his neck, swiping at his skin with my tongue. My panties became instantly wet. Good Lord, this was a major turn-on.
“Lick . . . again,” Michael said, his voice sounding strained.
“Did I not get enough?” I mumbled between my teeth.
“Just lick me again,” he growled, and his hand went to the back of my head, pressing me against his neck. “Feels amazing.”
An intense bolt of pleasure shot through me, and I licked him slowly, enjoying his groan. That was hot.
“Now,” he said, breathing hard. “Bite down. Gently. When your teeth are in, you’ll know what to do.”
I licked his throat again and then gently pressed the tips of my fangs against his skin. They punched through, razor-sharp, and I felt my mouth fill with blood—thick, rich, and decadent. I heard Michael’s groan of pleasure as I swallowed my first taste of blood . . . and latched on to drink more. It was better than anything I’d ever tasted—Michael’s sweet, intoxicating scent made into pure, distilled ambrosia. I sucked hard, my tongue lapping against his skin as I drank, not wanting to miss a drop.
“Not too much,” he cautioned, even as his mouth nuzzled my own neck. I felt him pull my hair aside and lick my throat. “God, Ruby, I want to drink from you, too. Can—”
I pushed his head against my neck in response, still drinking.
I felt his tongue flick against my throat once, then felt his fangs sink in, and intense pleasure washed over me. My body stiffened in orgasm even as I continued to drink, the two of us with necks entwined, teeth sunk into each other.
Chapter Eight
In the afterglow, Michael’s fingers twined with mine, and I curled up against his chest.
“Did you mean what you said back there?” he said softly.
“Mean what?” I was still reeling from the most intense orgasm of my life, and not a single breast or cock was involved. Weird. Not bad, just weird.
“About always loving me?”
Oh. Suddenly shy, I tilted my head down, unable to look him in the eye. “I’m sure I was just saying things. Loss of blood and all that. We’re cool. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not worried. I still love you, too.” He kissed me lightly on the mouth, then the nose, as if he couldn’t get enough of looking at me, tasting me. “I’ve always loved you. I never stopped loving you. Even when I went to Europe, all I could think about was how much you’d have loved being there with me.”
I suddenly felt like the world’s shittiest person. “Our breakup . . . with Thad . . .”
“You didn’t sleep with him. I know.”
I looked at him suspiciously. “How do you know?”
“Because I went to his dorm the next day and punched his lights out for touching you. He didn’t protest in the slightest, just let me hit him. I guess it didn’t hurt too much if he was a shifter.” He grimaced. “At the time, I couldn’t figure it out. I was just so angry. It took me a few weeks to calm down, and then I realized his actions didn’t make sense—and yours didn’t, either. I wanted to talk to you, confront you about it. But you were gone.”
“I had to end it fast,” I murmured, twining my fingers in his hair. The spikes were flattened, and I raked my hand through his hair, making it stand on end again. “It’s against the rules for humans and supernaturals to have a relationship. One-night stand, yes. Relationship, no. Any number of things could have happened. I could have turned you by accident. Or if you found out my secret, it could have compromised my entire family and all the were-jaguars in the area. We’d get kicked out of the Alliance if you found out the truth, so I had to find a way to run you off for good.” I pulled him close to me once more. “I cried for a month straight.”
“I was miserable without you,” he admitted. “Still angry but completely and totally miserable. I vowed that when I got back from my trip, we’d talk. Except . . . I was turned into a vampire. And I knew I couldn’t have a normal life. After that, I felt like I couldn’t approach you. We’re not allowed to reveal ourselves to normal humans, just like you. It never occurred to me that you might be supernatural, too. Anyhow, when I came back, I still felt out of sorts. The local vampires all had blood mates, and the friend I’d been drinking from had left to spend time with friends in Australia. I met Mariah, and she offered to share blood duties for a while, but I hadn’t realized that Angelo was interested in her. I told her I wasn’t interested, but I didn’t have anyone else to drink from, and Mariah started to follow me, showing up at the most inconvenient times. I blood-banked it for a while, but then Mariah got even more annoying. I needed to get rid of her and thought a date might solve both of my problems.”
My heart felt a little twinge.
“Except no woman I’ve met compares to you. It wasn’t until I joined the Alliance a few weeks ago that I found you. I was scrolling through the profiles at the agency and came across your picture. I thought it was a mistake until I saw your affiliation, and then, well, I had to set up a date.”
I smiled even as tears spilled from my eyes. “Even after all this time, you wanted me?”
He leaned in to kiss away my tears. “Of course I wanted you.”
“I hurt you.”
“You didn’t have a choice. And it enabled us to get here, to this place. I don’t regret it.”
I devoured him with my eyes, still finding it hard to believe that I could look my fill at him, touch him, taste him, without fear of someone or something tearing us apart. “I’ve thought of nothing but you. Did you think of me?”
“Every day. Every moment, every hour. I could think of nothing but you.”
Dreamed of this, Michael had said when he’d touched my cheek.
I suddenly punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“For constantly calling me your friend,” I said in a heated tone. “If you called me that one more time, I was going to shove those fangs down your throat.”
He chuckled and kissed me again, as if unable to help himself. “I was trying not to pressure you. Just because I was still desperately in love with you, it didn’t mean you were still holding a torch for me.”
“I was, and I still am,” I said. “Does this mean we can be blood mates?”
If one taste of Michael’s blood made me feel so dizzy with love for him, I wanted to do it over and over again. The thought of drinking from anyone else made me feel s
ick. Michael was the only one I wanted.
The only one I’d ever wanted.
He stilled against me. “You’re not mad that I turned you?”
I flexed my fingers and was happy to see my claws pop. “I still have my jaguar. I’m alive and well. And now I have you. Of course I’m not mad.”
“You’re not doing this to save me from Angelo, I hope.”
I shook my head. “I’m doing this because I love you.”
I kissed him. I could kiss him for all of eternity now. I liked that. “Write him and tell him that you have a blood mate and she’s going to Europe with you.”
He grinned. “I would love to see Europe with you by my side. But I won’t take you as my blood mate until you’re absolutely certain that it’s what you want. The first day after you’ve turned isn’t the time to make that decision.”
“You can still write him and tell him we’re partners. It’ll get him off your back, regardless.” I wrapped my arms around him, feeling as if everything in the world had shifted back into place. “Whether we wait one year or twenty, my answer will be the same. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t want anyone to come between us ever again.”
“We have eternity,” he agreed. “And you might want to think about a new name. I wasn’t joking when I said vampires picked new names to start over.”
I ran my fingers down his back. “Let’s pick something happier than Les Miserables.”
“Something with a happy ending?”
“Exactly.”
—
At first, we argued over names. I thought it would be fun to be Lizzy and Darcy. Michael flat-out disagreed. Too obvious. He’d suggested Edmond Dantes and Haidee, but I was the one who protested that. Edmond and Haidee? Seriously. And here he thought I was the obvious one. I’d suggested Edward and Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, but he’d hated the thought—no vampire should ever have the name Edward again, he’d claimed.
I could see his point.
We settled on Marianne and Christopher Brandon and traveled Europe in style. By the time five years had passed, I was more than ready for the mate mark. Michael stubbornly insisted on giving me more time, so I went ahead and marked him at the top of the Eiffel Tower. And at the Sydney Opera House. And at the Great Pyramid in Giza, and the Acropolis in Greece, and the Taj Mahal.
