Page 35 of Bitten By Desire

“I have to tell you what I learned so we can figure it all out together,” I said, but when I took a step forward, I stumbled, and Julian caught me once again.

“First, you have to recover.” He held me tightly to his sculpted chest, reminding me he was half naked because he’d given me his shirt.

He wasn’t wrong, but… “It’s important.”

“So are you,” Zoe said, hands on hips. “Now go lie down. The rest of us will stay out here and sort through what we know. Hazel and I will tend to Tabitha and get her energy back up. She’s the one that drew you out, by the way.”

“Keep an eye on her,” I said with a glance at the sleeping woman. She’d been through a lot between MorningStar, Julian’s sire, and then the brig. But she’d also tricked me and gotten me captured by the major before.

“We will,” Sam promised.

For the first time since crossing the portal, I looked at my surroundings. I’d asked for a hotel in Paris. We were back in the same suite Julian had rented before the memorial service for Gerard Montague. My vampire must have kept the rental active in case we needed a place to regroup. And it was a good thing he had.

My lack of protest to the idea of rest said I grudgingly agreed to the arrangement. Julian lifted me again and carried me into the enormous bedroom. The king-sized bed with feathery pillows and down comforter called to my aching body, but a pang of regret took hold as he pulled back the covers.

I’d slept here for a good week while still in my stupor of grief, and Julian hadn’t done more than hold me once or twice when I’d asked. He belonged next to me, with me…inside me.

He lay me down and started to lift the blanket to cover me when I set my hand over his and stared up into his sparkling eyes. “Stay with me.”

Julian’s expression softened and he climbed in beside me without hesitation, gathering me against his cool body.

“How long was I there?” I asked into his chest.

“Two days.” The despair in his voice hurt worse than the knowledge I’d been on that cold table for so long completely unaware. Meanwhile, he’d apparently spent his time searching and not feeding again. And in just two short days, he was practically drained. I worried that some of the silver remained inside of him somehow, eating away at him. But we couldn’t exactly walk into my lab to test him now. We just had to keep him fed until we found a way to take care of him.

“What happened out here?” I clutched his biceps, pulling him closer.

“I ran as you commanded. Straight to Sam because I knew he would act immediately. But by the time we’d arrived back at base, there was no sign of you or the general. We checked with Daphne and called in everyone else we felt was safe, but Daphne no longer felt either of you. I believe that was because of the way the machine interacted with your physiology.”

“Good deduction, Detective Carver,” I teased, pulling back enough to look at his beautiful face.

He grinned. “I learn from the best. Unfortunately, that threw us off the trail.”

“You must have been going crazy with worry,” I said, setting a hand over his silent heart. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Yes, I do,” I insisted. “I haven’t been treating you with the respect you deserve. I’ve been selfish, only thinking of my own feelings, whether by shutting you out or forcing you away to protect you when all you want is to stay with me. I’ve given you such a hard time about being overprotective and trying to keep me out of danger, and here I’ve done the same thing to you.”

Instead of words, Julian leaned in to share a tender kiss. When our lips parted, I frowned.

“You need to feed. You’re cold. You must’ve used a lot of energy looking for me.” For some reason, I couldn’t voice my deepest fear—that he was somehow permanently damaged—out loud.

“You are in no condition?—”

“We can heal each other, Julian.” My pronouncement stopped him mid-protest. “We give and take. That’s a relationship. That’s us.”

My heartbeat quickened as he smoothed back my hair once again, gaze focused on my lips. “You’ve just been through hell.”

“No. It wasn’t like what you experienced. I’m mostly just weak from not moving for two days and then fighting that thing with my magic.” When he didn’t move, I added, “And I really want to finish what we started in the forest.”

His hand froze near my cheek and his eyes flashed crimson. Slowly, I stroked the muscles of his back and let my fingertips slip beneath his waistband to find the curve of his ass. I leaned in to nuzzle his neck where I lightly nipped at his skin.

That made my vampire let loose. He tossed me onto my back and pinned me by my wrists, straddling me. “I’m the vampire here.”

“For now,” I said, unwilling to give up on what had become a deep-seated desire—to spend eternity with him. “But I do enjoy your taste.” I let the memory of what I’d done among the birch trees settle in his head.

Despite narrowed eyes, his length hardened where our bodies connected. I bucked against him, and he tightened his hold on my wrists. “Are you baiting me, Charlotte?”

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