“Maci,” he whispered my name. I jolted.
Had he just spoken or was I losing my mind? “You can talk?”
He didn’t answer, going back to drinking my blood. I leaned against him. Maybe I imagined the whole thing. I smiled.This is heaven. My body was liquid pleasure.Have I ever felt better than this?
It occurred to me I was getting a little bit loopy. “I fed someone today. Don’t accidentally take too much, please.”
After a few more blissful moments, he pulled back, licking my wound closed. “I would never take too much from you, Maci.” His voice was low, gruff, as if he hadn’t used it in a long time. “I can hear your heartbeat when I feed. I could tell if you were in danger.” He pulled me into his arms. “And I haven’t been able to say a word since I woke up a vampire. Completely unable. You gave me back my voice. Other things, too. How did you do that?”
I wished I could give him answers. “I don’t know. Truly. It’s a different experience for me, too. What you’re likely feeling, I am, too, and that’s not normal. Or at least, it wasn’t.”
He visibly swallowed before he picked up my wrist. “Did Caesar and Griffin do this to you? Because if they did, I’ll tear off their fucking heads and burn their bodies while their brains are still alive, so they can see it happen.”
Well, that’s violent.I gawked at him. “No, it wasn’t them. Caesar saved me, actually. How did you know about them? Did they send you here?”
“I could smell you on them.” He tilted his head in that vampire way. “I can’t talk, but my other senses are very intense most of the time. So, I stole Caesar’s phone, paired it, and tracked where he had been. I had to find you. Every single bit of me had to be here.”
Eight
Ilet his words move through my woozy brain. He couldn’t talk, but he had extra sharp senses, and he’d stolen and paired Caesar’s phone.Afterhe smelled me on them, which was sort of gross. I had to keep getting used to things being yucky over and over. Just when I’d get used to one thing, something else happened, and I’d have to not focus on the grossness of it again.
Okay.I pushed the thoughts away. He could smell me on them.Fine. I’ll process that later.Just then, the sound of screeching tires sounded outside. I’d no sooner heard it than Caesar and Griffin were through the door.
Tanner turned his head slowly to regard them. It was almost more threatening that he took so long to acknowledge them than if he’d turned right away, almost like he was letting them know they posed no threat to him.
“If either of you thinks to take her from me in this moment, think again.”
In unison, both Caesar and Griffin gasped.
“You can talk?” Caesar practically shouted while Griffin rocked back on his feet.
His reaction was slightly more tempered. “She gave you that back. Her blood. Like it’s returned other things to us, unless you’ve been pretending this whole time.”
Tanner ran a finger down the side of my cheek. “There has been no pretending, I can assure you of that. I’m not certain I could pretend if I wanted to. We don’t lie. I couldn’t have avoided my voice for so long. No, the part of me that is vampire doesn’t want to talk, so I don’t. That’s all there is to it, until now.”
He picked me off the counter and carried me to the couch. “She’s a little dizzy from the feeding, I think. Do you have any juice in the house?”
Griffin crossed to the fridge. “I’ll get it.”
“Probably because she fed me this morning, too. It’s amazing how she handles all the blood loss. It’s really incredible, and just another of the many things we can’t explain. She’s getting stronger every time. Still, she’s human. Better if we can avoid two major feedings in one day.”
“Oh, but I love it.” I curled against Tanner. He was here. That was just so incredible. I didn’t even care about the yuck factor from earlier. It was so much better he was here.
Caesar sat on the edge of the couch while Tanner stroked a hand down my arm. It was slow, methodical. He was obviously hard, but making no moves to do anything about it.
“Tell me how this happened.” Tanner stared at Caesar. While they weren’t being overtly hostile, I detected no warmth between them, not like there was with Griffin.They used to be close when they were humans. Did their vampire sides not care for each other? And how did having a side work anyway? Someone should do a study.
Caesar squeezed my foot. “I couldn’t stay away from her. I knew it broke the rules, but I haven’t been able to think about anything other than her once I could think, not since waking up a vampire.”
Tanner frowned. “I remember you yelling about getting to her in the beginning but not afterward. I couldn’t talk, or I would’ve told you I had similar thoughts. It was hard to get under control.”
“Well, you and Griffin are stronger than me. I never did get it under control. One rising, I woke up, and that was it. I had to see her. Justseeher is what I told myself. I left, crossed the country, and found her near death. She didn’t know she was that sick, but she was.”
Griffin set an orange juice in front of me, with a straw poking out of the glass. I didn’t usually buy straws, as they were a luxury I couldn’t afford. But with Griffin’s credit card, that had been my small splurge. Seeing it made me smile.
Tanner smoothed his hand up and down my arm. “Why is that? What happened? Who did this to her?”
His movements were so soothing. My four hours of sleep must not have been enough. I cuddled against him, and when my eyes threatened to close, I didn’t stop them. I’d heard the story several times and lived it myself, so it was fine.I’ll just sleep for a little while.