Page 26 of To Quench Her Thirst

“Oh my God, I begged you to suck my nipples and then Icamefrom it!” she moaned in embarrassment. Sinking down on the side of the bed, she put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I did all that!”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault—it was mine.” Drago crouched by the side of the bed and put a hand on her knee. “I’m really sorry, Addison. I shouldn’t have done it—youtoldme you were under the influence.”

“No, I remember now—Ibeggedyou to.” She couldn’t even look at her Protector. Had she also told him that she’d wanted him from the minute he first swore to guard her with his life?

Yes, I think I did—I’msureI did.

God, could this night get any worse?

She shifted on the bed and a bolt of pain from the bite on her thigh made her realize that yes, the night mostcertainlycould get worse.

“Ow!” she gasped again, wincing.

“Addison, look at me.” Drago pulled gently at her hands, forcing her to move them so they were eye-to-eye. Even though he was crouching and she was sitting on the bed, their gazes were nearly level because he was so tall.

“What is it?” Addie asked, feeling her cheeks burn as she was forced to face her Protector. “Are you going to tell me how crazy I was acting when I begged you to get me off?”

“No, nothing like that. I need to look at the bite on your leg,” he said patiently. “If it really is an arachnid bite it could be serious.”

Addie nibbled her lower lip.

"But it's soembarrassing. I mean, what if you don’t like what you see?”

“I’m not worried about seeing your pussy—I want to be sure that damn thing didn’t inject you with any kind of venom or poison,” he growled. “Now are you going to let me look at you or not?”

“Well…all right. But only because I did some personal grooming recently.” She was doubly glad now that she’d “trimmed the bushes” as her girlfriends in college used to say. Though it wasstillembarrassing to lie down on the bed and spread her legs while her Protector knelt between them.

“Good girl,” he rumbled, running his big, warm hands up and down the tops of her thighs. “Just relax and let me look, baby. It shouldn’t take long.”

Addie felt herself melting again when he called her "baby." She wondered if he realized he was doing it or if the nickname had just slipped out. Either way, it soothed her and made her feel close to the big Kindred.

“All right,” she whispered. Laying back on the bed, she lifted her skirt and let her thighs drift apart, baring herself for him completely.

Drago leaned forward, looking intently at the bite on her inner thigh.

“Hmm…” he rumbled noncommittally. But Addie thought his voice sounded worried.

“What? What is it?” she demanded, looking down at him anxiously. “I’ve got blood poisoning, don’t I?”

“Well…Idosee a bite. And itdoeshave some streaks radiating out from it,” Drago admitted.

"Oh my God!" Addie started to panic and sat bolt upright on the bed. "What am I going to do? I don't want to die like poor old Mr. Dumphry!"

“Likewho?”Drago asked.

“This old man—he lived in my neighborhood when I was little and he was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider on his toe. Only he had diabetic neuropathy and he couldn’t feel it. So then his foot turned black and swelled up and the poison got into his blood and hedied!”

It all came out in a rush and then she covered her face with her hands and started to sob.

She wasn’t normally the kind to break down into tears, but she’d been young when Mr. Dumphry had died—too young to see what had happened to him. But her mother had dragged her along to the hospital to visit him anyway, no doubt trying to be neighborly.

Addie could still remember the smell of the hospital—the reek of industrial cleaner, bland food, and the horrible stench of rot and impending death coming from Mr. Dumphry. She had stared in horror at the black and swollen leg and foot and the dying face of the old man. It had gone purple and bloated and his eyes were sunken into his skull.

She had always liked Mr. Dumphry before—he gave out the best candy at Halloween and he called her “pretty girl.” But he hadn’t even looked like himself anymore.

He looked like a monster.

Addie had nightmares about it for years afterward—dreams that Mr. Dumphry was chasing her through the dark streets of their neighborhood, holding a bucket of Halloween candy and dragging his rotten leg behind him. He was calling, "Come here, pretty girl! Come here and get some candy. Sweet treats for a sweet girl!" And no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't get away from him.

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