Page 4 of Death Deals

Andre’s brow arched, and he stood a little straighter. His stormy gray eyes roamed over me, lingering a little too long on my chest. Despite everything wrong with this situation, desire stirred inside me. Which only made me angrier.

Andre wasn’t bad to look at. I had stumbled across him naked at one point so I knew what he was packing, but now wasn’t the time to be getting all hot and bothered. He could be deciding whether or not to take his friend, Cassandra’s, suggestion, and make me some permanent food source.

Or a sex slave.

My heartbeat galloped at the thought of being his personal captive, and I recoiled. What was wrong with me? With every passing second, my rage was slipping away and was being replaced with yearning. Why did I suddenly want him to rip the sheet off and take me? Especially when at the same time, I wanted to punch him in the face?

With his hand still clamped over my mouth, my gaze hardened on him. No matter what my libido was saying, there was no way I was going to give in.

“The restraints are precautionary,” Andre assured me as if reading my thoughts. “Since the last time you were here, we didn’t exactly have the best of introductions. I have to protect myself, too. I’m sure you understand.”

I continued to curse him off with my stare.

“Now, I’m going to lift my hand away so we can talk civilly. Yes?”

The urge to lash out the moment he let go was overwhelming, but I nodded, agreeing. Slowly, he removed his hand.

I rubbed my lips together. I had so many questions wanting to burst out of me—so many demands—but if I had any chance of getting out of these ties, I had to comply. A little bit, at least.

“First things first, where the fuck are my clothes?” I snapped.

His expression unchanged, he said, “We had to remove your clothes to treat your wounds. The Omaris made quite a feast out of you. There were about a dozen bites, and we had to replenish your blood volume from the rapid loss.”

“What does that mean? Replenish my blood supply? How?” That Cassandra chick had mentioned something about an IV drip, but I didn’t see any medical equipment like that in the room.

He paused as if wondering whether or not to tell me the truth.

“Unless you want this introduction to go like the last, with you hurling through the window, I suggest you tell me what’s going on here,” I said.

He took a short step away from the bed. Smart move because if I got my hands on him, I didn’t know what I would do. Strangle him or jump his bones, both options were warring in my mind at the moment, and I didn’t understand why. I couldn’t control it. As much as I tried to resist, it was like my insides were calling to him.

Like mybloodwas calling to him.

Anxiety gripped me as the realization sank in. “Wait a minute… Did you…?” I started. “You didn’t.”

A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, and again my body reacted without my command. “I didn’t have a choice,” he said.

“Bullshit,” I bit back.

The strange magnetism toward him. The taste of something metallic in my mouth… Andre had given me his blood.

Oh no. This wasn’t good. Since a vampire’s blood carried the genetic mutation that caused their second life and superhuman abilities, like rapid healing, it could also be used to mend others.

But then, it could also be used to hypnotize non-vamps into serving them. While the blood coursed through a person’s veins, there was a need to be with them, which is what I was assuming I was experiencing now—the pull of his blood inside me and the push of my normal, rational thoughts. It was a trick they used when wanting a victim to stay around a little longer than one night. And if the victim somehow came to their senses and escaped, the blood connection allowed them to track the person. Wherever they were. Like a personal homing device.

“You were dying,” he explained calmly. “Would you’ve preferred me to have left you in the middle of the street to bleed out?”

I clenched my fists at my sides so that the pain of my nails could keep me focused. When that didn’t work for too long, I stared at the dancing flames in the hearth. Anything to distract myself from his nearness, my nakedness, and need to feel his mouth on mine. To taste him.

Ugh, no!Stop it!

“The…effectsshould only last a few days,” he said, but his pleased smile told me he was enjoying this a little too much.

Days?The mention of it reminded me that mine were limited with Monnie’s week-long deadline. My time was running out. I needed to get out of here.

“How long was I out for?” I asked.

“Almost thirty-six hours, I’d say.”

---