He was getting pissed. She had to be doing something to him. All this craving and unexpected sex. Her scent.
He dipped his head under the water again. Something nagged at him. Why, for instance, had he craved her so badly? Was it something in her blood? Had it affected him? Was that why he’d been able to defeat a deadly wraith?
He looked down at his stomach. His soapy hand was rubbing in a slow circle just below his sternum.
What had Emily done to him?
His stomach.
His hand fell away.
Holy fuck.
He had no pain.
For the first time in decades, he had no pain. And he hadn’t since he’d taken from her wrist while in the time-path.
Every mastyr vampire suffered from chronic blood starvation no matter how many times a day he fed. It was a result of gaining mastyr-level power. Crippling stomach cramps followed, something each mastyr had to live with.
Yet, the only time a mastyr experienced a cessation of this pain was when he fed from a realm woman known as a blood rose.
His whole body fell to vampire stillness.
His mind whirred.
No.
It wasn’t possible.
Her scent. It called to him even now. And what did she say about him, that she smelled oak and lemons coming off his skin, his hair, his body.
He murmured a long string of obscenities. This couldn’t be happening. Not to Kyle’s fiancé, not to the woman who had kissed him in a coffee shop mistaking him for Kyle, not to the woman he’d secretly longed for the entire time she dated his brother. It seemed like the cruelest joke.
He’d lost his brother because of his own anger. Kyle had wanted to change, to do better by Emily. He would have. For all Kyle’s faults, once he made a commitment, he would stick.
Emily was Kyle’s.
Rinsing the rest of the soap from his body, he shut the water off. He quickly buffed dry with a towel then wrapped it around his hips. He remembered he’d pretty much left Emily without support and they’d just had sex without a condom. Sweet Goddess, he’d come twice.
He brought her a washcloth and handed it to her. She thanked him, then tucked it between her legs. She lay on her side and pulled the comforter over her, maybe against the chill of the room. At least he couldn’t see her nakedness again.
Her eyes looked red-rimmed, though, and she didn’t meet his gaze. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded, but she didn’t look at him. He wasn’t sure what to tell her.
“I’ve been lying here thinking about you and about me. Then I got to wondering about all that’s happened tonight.” She took a deep breath. “I’m a blood rose, aren’t I?”
He stared at her. “How did you figure it out?”
“I’ve read the blogs. I know the process, I just never thought I would be one of them. I mean, after you went into the bathroom, what I couldn’t figure out was why you brought me back here when a half hour earlier you made it clear we could never be together.
“At first, I thought it was because I’d fed you, healed you and strengthened you. But then I thought, even if that was the case, why would my blood suddenly be so helpful? I’d never seen a wound heal so quickly.
“But it wasn’t just that. I did things I would normally never risk doing because I didn’t have the skills. Like the troll child. I caught her midair and got her out of the battle zone. I didn’t even think about it. I just did it. Devyn, that’s not like me on any front.”
She put a hand to her chest. “And I felt heavy here all night, until you fed just a few minutes ago. Now, I feel wonderful.”