Page 32 of To Quench Her Thirst

Still pondering these questions, Addie at last fell asleep, clutching her Protector's pillow to her chest.

She dreamed of being held in a giant, clawed hand that wasn't human and rushing upwards toward the stars.

17

ADDIE

Addie woke up with a toothache.Twotoothaches, in fact. And both were located in her upper row of teeth—one on either side.

“Ow!” she mumbled and reached up with her tongue to probe gingerly at her painful right canine.

The result was a sharp pain in the tip of her tongue that made her wince and sit bolt upright in bed.

“OW!”she repeated, with much more conviction this time. It felt like someone had poked her tongue with a needle!

The lights were on by now—Drago must have been right about them being on some kind of timer. Speaking of her Protector, where was he? He must not have come back last night. Was he out somewhere fighting with his Drake?

Addie had no idea, but she couldn’t help feeling abandoned. Getting out of bed, she made her way to the small, closet-sized bathroom. Last night she hadn’t been able to see much of anything in the mirror but with the lights on high, everything was much more visible.

She leaned forward, studying her reflection in the shiny surface. Then she bared her teeth. She had no idea what shemight see but what shedidn’texpect was finding that she’d somehow sprouted vampire fangs in the night.

“Oh my God!” she mumbled, staring at herself. “No way—thiscan’tbe right!”

But there was no denying what her eyes were telling her. The girl in the mirror had her same long, wavy red hair and blue/green eyes. She also had two long, sharp fangs where her canine teeth should be. And a very sore tongue.

“What the hell?” Addie muttered, staring at herself. How could this be? She had no idea—none at all.

Then she remembered Ls Prissa ordering her to open her mouth and saying that her teeth “looked promising” or something like that, at the feast. Could the fact that she’d suddenly grown vampire fangs have anything to do with the Choosing Ceremony last night?

“Maybe it was that weird cup full of cum they made us all drink from,” Addie muttered to herself and shivered at the memory. Or maybe it had to do with the spider bite that Drago had healed for her.

That thought gave her instant anxiety and she hiked up the skirt of the long black dress she was still wearing to stare at her right inner thigh.

Pure, unblemished skin greeted her gaze. There wasn’t even a red mark to show where she’d been bitten—Drago reallyhadhealed her completely.

The memory of her Protector between her legs, licking her until she came, made her feel hot all over again. She wished he was here…but she wasn't sure what she would say to him if he was. How do you deal with a morning-after scenario with a guy who saved your life and made you come harder than you'd ever come in your life…and yet insisted the two of you couldn't be together because of the massive dragon he kept inside himself?

No solutions to that problem leaped readily to mind, so Addie decided to change her clothes and go looking for him. Maybe he would have an idea on how to get rid of her new fangs since he had been able to heal the spider bite. But then she hesitated—getting something new to wearwould mean going back into the main bedchamber where the screaming spider was still lurking.

On second thought, maybe she would just keep on this same gown, she told herself. Only she wished it wasn’t so itchy. It hadn’t bothered her a bit last night, but now she felt an irritation at the back of her neck and between her shoulder blades. Was there a tag in the gown that she’d missed? Whatever it was, it was suddenly driving hercrazy.

She reached back to scratch but couldn’t quite reach the right spot. It was maddening. Maybe she ought to take a shower—there was a tiny shower cubical located in the corner of the small bathroom. Rinsing off might help.

She pulled off the black dress and was in the act of hanging it on the hook on the door when she caught sight of her bare back in the mirror.

“Oh, my God!”

The words came out in a horrified gasp. Addie pulled her hair to one side and craned her head around, trying to get a better look.

Right between her shoulder blades, reaching all the way up to the nape of her neck and all the way down to the small of her back, was a brand new tattoo. At least itlookedlike a tattoo but Addie didn’t remember going to get any ink done. The only tattoo she had was a tiny, tasteful butterfly on her left wrist—she and her best friend in college had gotten matching ink to commemorate their friendship. They had been drunk at the time but Addie hadn’t regretted it even after she sobered up.

Thisshe regretted. It looked like a vast black spider web done in thick black lines and right in the center, between her shoulder blades, was a fist-sized spider with a human head.

“What the actualfuck?”Addie whispered, studying her new markings as well as she was able. What was happening to her? First she grew vampire fangs and now she had a huge new tattoo of a spider web and a spider on her back? Was she turning into a Goth or what?

But was the marking even a tattoo? What if someone had drugged her and had drawn the markings on her back while she was out? Maybe they would wash off?

Addie turned on the water in the tiny shower and didn’t even wait for it to get warm. She jumped in and clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering—she didn’t want to injure herself with her bizarre new fangs.

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