Page 29 of Hunting His Vampire Mate

Danny turned his face away from me, though I figured it was probably just a precaution.

“What are youdoing?” he demanded.

“I’m being an idiot,” I told him, as I began to loosen the knots holding the ropes in place around him. “I’ve said my piece, and if I’m wrong, I’ll regret it forever. But I think you love me too. Enough to not cause me any pain if you can help it.”

“Michael,don’t.You can’t trust me anymore.”

“Bullshit.”

Every single instinct I had developed in the last five-plus years as a hunter should’ve told me that Danny was right. But there was a calm and quintessentialknowingdeep within the very core of me. And it understood, in a way I’d never be able to adequately put into words, that he was dead-ass wrong. The idea that there would ever come a time when I couldn’t trust Danny—even now—was ridiculous. Laughable.

Gritting my teeth against the berating I knew was sure to receive from him—because Danny was still fucking Danny, whether he had fangs or not—I finished untying the knot. Theropes loosened immediately around him. With a few quick yanks, he’d be free to do as he pleased.

Danny turned to look up at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“Michael,” he whispered, horror choking his voice. “What have you done?”

CHAPTER NINE || DANNY

Of all the stupid, idiotic, ridiculous things Michael had ever done, this one most definitely took the cake. It was even worse than that time in Tucson when he’d slept with an evil warlock who was raising a literal army of the dead. At least he hadn’t known the guy was actually bad news until that creep’s zombies had started trying to munch on people.

But this was on a whole other level. Michael knew, firsthand, what a ravenous vampire was capable of. He knew better than to give me even an ounce of his trust.

Maybe if I’d had a few months to adjust to my new condition, it would’ve been a little less stupid of him. But neither one of us knew for sure that I wouldn’t hurt him, did we? If I didn’t know, thenhesure as hell didn’t, either.

The ropes pooled uselessly around my torso.

“Come on, then,” Michael said, leaning down to get even closer to me, very much invading my fucking bubble of personal space. All I would need to do is turn my head and his jugular would be right there, mine for the taking. It was pounding in time with his heartbeat. His life was there, flowing through that very point, and I could sink my teeth into it, and take all of that vitality into myself. “If you’re going to do it, now is the fucking time.”

My newly minted vampiric instincts seemed to stir lazily at that thought, like a cat that has been drowsing too long in the sun giving its food dish a glance before settling back down for another prolonged nap.

Both of us waited me out. Michael didn’t move so much as a goddamn muscle. And the pain from earlier didn’t return, the way I expected it to. Not the burning in my throat. And not the gnawing hunger, either. Not even with his neck so exposed that he was practically presenting it to me on a platter.

Zip. Zilch. Nada.

The onlyactualdesire I had in that moment was…

I blinked and jerked back from him when it slid into place. I didn’t want blood from him, the way I probably should have. Instead, I wanted to see how his lips tasted. I wanted to see if they felt as hard and unyielding as they looked, or if they would be soft and warm, pressed against mine.

I ignored him—and the sudden and alarming desire I’d just had. Instead, I shoved the ropes off me, giving myself room to escape.

The powdered silver was all over my hands and arms, it was on my clothing, it was probably on my neck and, hell, there was maybe even some on my face. I couldn’t go blurry with speed or anything. And I couldn’t throw him across the barn so he could land on his unbelievably stupid, ridiculous, reckless head. But Iwantedto.

Or, no. What I actually wanted was to see if his weight pressing me down onto the ground would feel as hot as I thought it would.

What the fuck was going on with me? Had my bloodlust been subverted into generalized sexual desire or something? Was that a thing that could happen?

I made a mental note to ask Bryan.

Michael watched me stand up and stalk across to the other side of the barn. He didn’t say a word. But the expression he wore was almost… smug. Like I’d just proven him right. The fucking jerk.

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had to consciously decide to do it, of course. Which wasn’t as strange as it might sound. Already, I was getting used to the new reality of what I was now. I still felt like I always had, mostly. In fact, physically, I felt better than I had in years. Well-rested, like I’d just woken up from a very long nap. And I felt strong, too. Even with the powdered silver sapping my body’s unnatural strength.

The breath was still calming, exactly as it would’ve been if I had still been human.

Michael still didn’t speak, but he stood up at last, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. He didn’t even look angry or defiant. Instead, his gaze was devouring me hungrily, like he was trying to convince himself that I was real.

“You’re an idiot,” I told him. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.

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