Page 42 of Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie

“Yeah, I know, it’s just…it hurt.”

Peaches’s eyebrows and nose scrunched. “Hurt? The bite?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know why I was exactly surprised. Leon’s teeth sliced through my flesh. I just thought…I figured vampires had a way to make itnothurt.” I waved a hand in Peaches’s general direction. “You seem to like it well enough. Or, at least, you don’t seem to mind.”

Phil made the mistake of taking a sip of his honeysuckle mead, promptly choking when he processed my words. When I looked over, his cheeks were nearly as pink as the tips of his magenta hair.

Glancing back at Peaches, he had an odd, amused twinkle lighting his eyes. “Well, I suppose you’ve got that right. Lucroy’s bite is far from painful. In fact, it’s orgasm inducing.”

Phil groaned while placing his forehead in his hand. “Peaches, we don’t need to—”

“Oh, I kind of think we do.” Peaches leaned over the table, gaze fixed on me. “I think Frost is very interested in how vampire bites feel.”

“I…” I swallowed and uncomfortably shifted. “Leon and I have gotten kind of close.” My cheeks heated and I figured they might be as pink as Phil’s. That warm feeling fled when I thought back to this evening and waking up in Leon’s lair again. Tonight was no different than last night. Leon didn’t drink when he got up. He told me he’d get something at the bar, but I’d yet to see him so much as lift a glass to his lips and I’d been watching—insistently so. His cheeks were hollower, and Leon’s body felt more chilled this evening.

“I don’t think he’s feeding,” I blurted.

Humor fled Peaches and seriousness rapidly took its place. Phil perked up too, sitting straighter and leaning in. He glanced at Peaches before settling his gaze back on me.

“Leon hasn’t been feeding? From you or…?”

“I haven’t seen him drink anything,” I clarified. “And believe me, I’ve offered him the bottled blood in his fridge the past two evenings. He keeps giving me bullshit excuses why he’s not drinking it. I know my vampire biology and he needs to drink. I know Leon’s old, but he’s not old enough that he doesn’t need to feed daily.”

“That’s true,” Peaches agreed. “Typically, Leon feeds multiple times a night. I don’t think he needs that much, but vampires enjoy sipping their blood. I’ve never known Leon to abstain.” Peaches threw a concerned glance Leon’s way. I watched as Lucroy caught his beloved’s gaze, a single eyebrow raised in question.

Peaches gave a slight headshake before returning his attention to me. “I don’t think Lucroy knows. Or if he does, then he hasn’t said anything to me. That means he either doesn’t think it’s a problem or he’s keeping quiet out of respect for Leon. I couldn’t tell you which right now.” Peaches huffed. “He’s my beloved, but sometimes I still can’t tell what Lucroy’s thinking. Vampires are sneaky that way.”

“Werewolves can be that way too,” Phil chimed in. “Sedrick doesn’t like to upset me. I keep trying to convince him that I get more upset when I think he’s keeping things from me. I’m not sure about Mr. Moony, but I think where Sedrick’s concerned, it’s part and parcel regarding his alpha nature. Protect, protect, protect. It’s part of his DNA.”

Peaches shot Phil an understanding smile before focusing back on the problem at hand. “Leon needs to feed. He’ll get weaker and increasingly unpredictable. First, he’ll get snippy. Or as snippy as a three-hundred-year-old vampire gets. They’ve got a pretty good lock down on their emotions.” Peaches’s eyebrows pulled down and he tapped his fingertip along his chin. “Have you offered him your blood again?” Peaches asked.

I jerked back, flattening my wings on the bench. “No. I…the last time I offered, it hurt. I can’t say that I’m ready to head down that road again yet.”

“Understandable. Did Leon say anything after he fed from you? Did he apologize about it hurting?”

I searched my memory. There’d been a lot going on at the time and much had happened since. I forced myself to think hard and remember. I brought up the memory and nodded. “He did. He said something about not having enough control to make it painless. Or something along those lines.”

Peaches nodded in understanding. “Whatever pain I’ve felt when Lucroy feeds from me is fleeting and quickly replaced by pleasure. But Lucroy’s never been in desperate need. He’s never required blood to heal injuries or in a time of distress. I’m not sure if it would be different then or not. I could always ask him, but I think he’d find the thought of harming me too horrid to contemplate. I’m his beloved. He cherishes me and would never—” Peaches suddenly stopped speaking. His eyes were wide as saucers. That earlier twinkle was back with a vengeance.

“Peaches?” Phil cautiously questioned.

Peaches licked his lips. They parted once or twice before he finally got enough breath together to whisper, “You said you and Leon have gotten closer?”

“We have. I’ve slept in his bed the last couple of days. We haven’t really… I mean, we haven’t done anything beyond kiss and some heavy petting, but I…” I tried mentally arranging my thoughts and corralling my emotions into something I could relate. But my thoughts were as wild as the mustangs running along the prairie.

“But you want more?” Peaches guessed correctly. “And so does Leon.”

“He’s concerned the council will call me back and send me off on another mission. So far, they’re keeping me put and I told him if they do call an end to this mission, I’ve got some vacation time I’m happy to use up. I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t want to leave him just yet.”

I was still struggling with why. Not that Leon wasn’t attractive. Just the opposite was true. But I’d seen my fair share of drop-dead gorgeous individuals over the years and never felt this connected to any of them.

Sucking on his bottom lip, Peaches fiddled with his phone. He kept shooting glances Phil’s way. They seemed to have some kind of silent communication going on. While I really liked the two of them, being out of the loop was starting to piss me off.

“What’s going on?” I asked, sitting up and leaning forward enough to free my wings. “If something’s wrong with Leon, then I need to know.”Needmight have sounded like a strong word, but it felt right.

“Nothing’swrong,” Peaches hedged. “At least, I don’t think so. In fact, from the vampire perspective, it’s probably something very right.”

“I don’t think just the vampire perspective,” Phil amended.

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