Page 83 of Hot Blooded

“He saved your bloodmate,” Etta said plainly.

Amos looked to Tessa.

“Please,” she whispered. “Save him.”

Amos closed his eyes for a moment, drawing in a breath. When he opened his eyes again, his bloodied expression was resigned. He went to Phillipe’s other side, sinking to his knees. Carefully, he turned the thrall’s head, first to one side, then the other, until a stretch of intact skin was revealed, just over the carotid artery. With none of the finesse he used with Tessa, Amos bent down and sank his fangs into Phillipe’s throat.

Amos’s shoulders rolled as he drank. Phillipe’s eyes fluttered open, gaze wandering sightlessly, lips working soundlessly. His feet pedaled weakly, finding no purchase in the wet sand.

Amos pulled away for a moment, turning his head to retch. “Good god, he tastes like he’s been fermenting in a sewer.”

“He’s a starving, half-dead thrall,” Etta said dryly. “He wasn’t going to taste like Christmas dinner.”

With a groan, Amos bent back down to continue drinking. Another deep pull, and Phillipe’s eyes fluttered shut again. His feet slowly stopped moving. His mouth fell open and slack.

One more deep draught from Amos, and Tessa sensed with a strange certainty that it was done. Enough blood had been taken to tip Phillipe into death.

Amos sat up, wiping his mouth.

“Now what?” Tessa asked nervously.

“It’ll take about a day before Amos’s venom revives him,” Etta answered as Amos got up and walked to the water. He crouched, cupping handfuls of water and bringing them to his mouth. He swished, gargled, and spit—and then started again.

After several rounds of rinsing his mouth, Amos came back. He stood next to Tessa, looking dispassionately down at Phillipe. Sighing, he bent and hefted Phillipe’s body up, slinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Phillipe’s emaciated arms draped limply down Amos’s back.

“Congratulations,” Amos said wryly to Tessa. “You’re a mother.”

Chapter 23

Back at their home, Amos carried Phillipe up to the second story and laid his filthy, emaciated body on the bed in one of the guest bedrooms. He double-checked the light-proof shutters, making sure they were tightly sealed. Satisfied, he shut the bedroom door, then locked it from the outside with a digital keypad next to the door.

“What’s that for?” Tessa asked.

“If he revives before I come out of my daysleep, I don’t want him running off.”

“Is that likely?” Tessa asked, already envisioning Phillipe waking alone in a locked room, confused and terrified.

“No. In all likelihood, even if the revival begins before sunset, he’ll sleep through the beginning of the night. He’s exhausted and injured. He’ll need the rest.”

Tessa was relieved. “Good. He’s going to be terrified enough when he comes to. We don’t need to make it worse.”

Amos gently cupped her jaw, tipping her face up to his. “Your ability to be tough as nails but also so deeply empathetic is beyond my understanding.”

Tessa scoffed to hide her bashfulness. “I’m not tough.”

Amos’s blood-crusted eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “Not tough? You survived a werewolf attack while standing in freezing water in the middle of the night, holding the body of a dying thrall. You did that without so much as a whimper. And now, not even an hour later, you’re worried about the thrall.”

“He’s not a thrall anymore,” Tessa said. Amos’s admiration filled her with warm joy, but she’d never been great at accepting compliments, so she changed to the topic. “How on earth did Etta know what was going on? Was she looking for you? Can you, like, psychically call for her?”

The corner of Amos’s mouth curled up. “Uh, yes, actually. I mean, sort of. There’s a bond between a vampire and their dam or sire. If their progeny is in distress, a dam or sire can sense it. It calls to them.”

“Can you sense Phillipe like that?”

“Not yet. The bond takes time to develop. But eventually, yes, I will be able to.”

Tessa considered that, feeling mildly guilty. “Is that going to be unpleasant for you?” she asked. “I know you said you didn’t want progeny.”

Amos cupped her face with both hands, looking into her eyes. “He saved you when I couldn’t. I owe him my life a million times over. Don’t ever feel guilty for asking me to turn him.”

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