Nothing was wrong with his hearing, I was certain of that. “This could be a good thing. Finish what they started. Put an end to this. The guy whose body you wear would have understood. He would’ve gotten why this isn’t a scenario I could survive. I’m bleeding where he bit me—take my blood. Take too much of it. End this. Maybe there’s an afterlife. If not, I don’t care. I just know I can’t keep up this charade of existence anymore. You all abandoned me. Threw me out on my own after leaving me to suffer at their fangs for ninemonths. Do it. I’m sure you must be hungry. I’ll be an evening snack.”
He didn’t move, but instead of grabbing my wrist to bite me, he licked my wound closed. I gasped, warmth moving over me. Their saliva was addicting, but it could heal if that was what they wanted.
“Why did you do that?” He needed to answer me. “Caesar?”
With almost no effort, he picked me up in his arms, holding me like I was a baby. “Stop fighting. You’ll hurt yourself.”
I tried to roar, only it sounded so much like a whimper. It was pathetic even to my own ears.
We ended up in the basement of Rowan’s old house. I’d cleaned it many times in my months as a servant. There were plenty of bedrooms with no windows downstairs. When I’d been a resident on the compound, it was clear they used these rooms for important guests.
The house was cold because no one had used it in months. Caesar turned the lights on in the basement, leaving the rest of the house dark.
“Sit.” He placed me in a chair before going into a room and retrieving sheets.
I was done. Where he’d put me, I would stay. What other choice did I have? “Those sheets, what will you do with them?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he methodically made the bed before looking at me again. In one move, he’d lifted me from the chair and placed me in the bed, taking off my shoes a second later.
Did he want me to sleep? “Why are you doing this?”
“They bit you ten times a day?”
Oh, we’re back to that?I lay on the pillows. I hadn’t gotten what I needed. Everything hurt. Like death. “Sometimes more.”
“Fredrick can’t lie. He said that night you would be alive and well.”
“No, that’s what Rowan asked for, not what Frederick agreed to do. I wasalive. That was all he promised. Obviously, I wasn’t well, and then Rowan sent me away. As you can see, this is what I am now. Worse than my mother ever was.” I stared at him. “What do you intend to do to me?”
He sat on the edge of the bed. “You pay them?”
“Sure. I’m not supposed to be around vampires, so they have to be incentivized to bite me. They’re poor for vampires, but there are a few who will do it.”
He scowled. “Maggots.”
“Be that as it may, I’d be dead without them.”Why are we even discussing this?“What are you doing here?”
He climbed onto the bed, covering my body with his in a move that would be sexy if we were lovers but felt aggressive considering our current circumstances. “I came looking for you.”
That told me nothing but then again vampires never did. “Why?”
“I had to.” He rolled next to me. “You have to be bitten several times a night or you will die.”
It wasn’t a question. I didn’t answer him, just stayed where I was, staring at the ceiling. “Why did you have to?”
“I will feed from you tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll figure out a better solution than this. Those vampires don’t have the right to touch you.”
Have the right?I was pretty sure every vampire alive had the right, but it didn’t matter right then. I held out my wrist. He could have at it. I’d even be grateful. Caesar was many things, but gross wasn’t one of them. He was beautiful. As a human he had been, and he continued to be so now.
Caesar ran his finger over my wrist. The scars must be obvious. It was hard for me to look at. In a swift move, he dropped my wrist and pulled me to him, seating me on his lap. I realized what he meant to do a second before he did it. Gentler than anyone who had ever bitten me, he nipped onto my neck.
This was unheard of except with vampires and their paramours. They didn’t feed randomly from the neck. Heat exploded inside of me, and I had to close my eyes against the onslaught.Yes, I was so cold. Yes, this is warmth. This is tender.
Caesar moaned, bringing me back to the moment as he laid me down beneath him. I shook in his arms.Feeding shouldn’t feel like this.One second a warm bath, the next as though my body woke up and took note of what was happening.
He was strong, hard, and I’d always been attracted to him. This body used to hold me in bed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and drew him closer. There were things I should be afraid of but none of them mattered right then. Not as he sucked and sucked on me.
My insides started to throb. Sex hadn’t been on my mind since the night the guys died, yet right then, as an ache I’d really never felt so intensely took over inside of me, I would have gladly pulled my pants off and invited him inside of me. Begged him to make it stop with his hand or his cock. I squirmed. That was when I felt him. He wasn’t unaffected. His body was hard, and an erection pressed against my abdomen—something that shouldn’t have been happening with him as a new vampire.