His blood is like lightning on my tongue. It lights every nerve ending up. I swear I can actually feel the power rolling through my body. I want more.
Malachi digs his hand into my hair and gently pries me off him. “That’s enough.”
“But—” I can’t take my eyes off his neck. Even as I watch, the wounds close. “More.”
“Not today.” He steps back slowly, as if it pains him to put distance between us. “Get some sleep, Mina. You’re going to need it.”
I inhale. Even the air tastes different with his power flowing through my veins. “I don’t want to sleep. I want to…” I look at him. He really is sexy in a brutal sort of way. I can appreciate that, appreciate his strength and the way his eyes bleed to black when he looks at me. “I want to fuck.”
“Not that, either.”
“Why not?” Is this what being drunk feels like? It’s completely different than the bliss of his bite. That’s a physical thing and it eases almost as soon as his fangs leave my skin. This feeling is in my veins, searing me right to my very soul. I shiver. “It’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He’s studying me, but I’m too loopy to read his expression. “But not yet. If you still want my cock when you wake up, you’re more than welcome to it.”
“I want it now.” I hop off the counter, but the world shifts, turning topsy-turvy on me. My bones go liquid and the last thing I feel before darkness claims me is Malachi’s strong arms closing around me.
4
Iwake up in the same bed as before. Unlike last time, I don’t feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I feelgreat. Like I’ve had a full night’s sleep and a month’s worth of well-balanced meals. I sit up slowly and look down. My dress is back in place, but a quick check shows the bite marks are healed as if they never existed.
I prod my knee, but though the pain is fainter than normal, I don’t feel much different. Maybe it was all bullshit, but I can’t deny I feel better than I have in months.
Maybe that’s the point, though.
Biting him drugs me as much as his bite does. The first dose was free, but he’ll demand I fuck him for another.
The thought should fill me with horror. Having sex with Malachi means playing out the scheme my father put into motion. But the thought feels distant. Malachi isn’t anything like I expected. Oh, he’s vampire through and through—arrogant and predatory and sure that might makes right. But if he was as much monster my father is, he would have takeneverythinghe wanted from me that first time in the foyer. He’d have chained me to a bed somewhere and gotten down to business until I’m knocked up or dead.
But just because Malachi is taking a softer route doesn’t mean he’s a better person. I have to remember that. Even if part of me feels a thrill of anticipation at the thought of his hands on me again.
I climb carefully to my feet, and my knee doesn’t buckle the way it sometimes does first thing in the morning. A few careful moments brings some pain, but my mobility is already better than it was.
Maybe he wasn’t shitting me, after all.
The thought rocks me back on my heels.This, out of everything, doesn’t make sense. I’m here. I’m more or less willing to play my part. I might hold out as long as possible, but it’s inevitable I end up in his bed at some point. Especially with that bite of his. He has absolutely no reason to heal me. None. Not when I’ve already admitted my father pulverized my knee because I have a history of running.
I don’t understand this vampire, and that scares me more than anything else that’s happened.
I make a circuit around the room. My suitcase is gone, which initially fills me with panic, but I find it tucked in the wardrobe, along with all my clothing that’s been unpacked. I frown at the neat row of shirts and pants and dresses. “Pushy.”
The thought of putting clean clothes on without cleaning my body first makes me leave the wardrobe and go check the second door I didn’t bother with this morning. Sure enough, it leads to a bathroom. I don’t have high hopes for the plumbing, but when I turn the facet on the large copper tub, the water comes out clear and hot.
I eye the door. I could try to block it, but what’s the point? If he really wants into the room, he’ll end up here, chair in front of the doorknob or no.
Will he see menotlocking the door as an invitation?
I refuse to examine that thought too closely as I strip and step into the tub. The water is hot enough to make me hiss out a surprised breath, but I sink down into it all the same and lean my head back. I didn’t realize how cold I was until now, when heat begins soaking into my body.
The creak of a floorboard has me opening my eyes to find Malachi leaning against the wall across from the tub. I narrow my eyes. “Did you make a sound on purpose?”
“You seem opposed to me surprising you.”
“Gee, I wonder why?”
He crosses his arms over his chest, which leads me to realize he’s changed since I saw him last, too. Now he’s wearing a pair of low-slung pants…and nothing else. His body is too lean for his wide shoulders and sturdy frame, confirming my suspicion he’s gone without regular feedings for a long time. And he’s covered in scars. The one over his heart is the worst of them, but there are slashing and stabbing marks, and more than a few bullet holes. And that’s just what I can see from my position.
I frown. “If your healing power is so superior, why are you scarred up?”