Page 16 of Eternally Yours

I didn't know why, but the way he said those last words made me think they weren't his. Maybe they belonged to the person who’d sired him?

In any case, immortality didn’t sound like a gift I wanted if it meant being kept away from my father and the life I had. But I didn’t have the heart to tell him that. Not when he seemed to be opening up about something that seemed so important to him. I also needed to play along until I found the right time to sneak away. I needed to at least set up some kind of care for my father. Make sure he’d be okay until I could come back to him again.

Placing a hand on his bicep, I said, “I’m... sorry. The bag—”

Nic straightened and gently slid away from my touch as he uncapped our meal. I watched as he brought it to his lips with his injured hand. It was still mending, the flesh actively weaving itself back together, but Nic didn’t show any sign of pain or discomfort. He simply drank, taking gulp after gulp after gulp…

I snatched the blood bag from his grasp, my hunger overtaking common sense. Sucking on the spout with greed, I gorged on the blood and hated myself as I did it. The liquid was sweet but not nearly as satisfying as Nicholas's blood had been. There was no buzz of power humming through my veins. It was cold and slimy as it slid down my throat, but that didn't stop me from drinking. Before I knew it, the bag was empty and I was groaning for more.

“Easy there,” he said as he wrapped his hands around mine, trying to pull the bag from my mouth with caution.

I growled like an animal, startling myself. My chest heaved as I peered down at the bag vice-gripped in my hands. What the heck was wrong with me? Loosening my hold on the bag, I released it to him, and feeling my cheeks burn, I lowered my gaze.

Nicholas gently tipped my chin up with his fingers. When our gazes met, a fire stoked inside me. His light touch and the way his eyes twinkled ignited a different kind of flame at my core.

“Don't ever be ashamed of who you are now,” he said. “Your instincts are kicking in.”

“I'm an animal,” I said in a whisper as if uttering the words out loud would make them more real.

“No, Loren,” he said as he wiped blood from my bottom lip with his thumb. “You're a creature of beauty.” He licked the blood off his finger, closing his eyes as a deep, rumbling moan escaped his mouth.

I inched closer, my gaze fixed on his tongue as he licked every slick of blood. The urge to kiss him was overwhelming. It seized me in a tight knot. I wanted to taste the blood on his tongue. I wanted him to touch me with his strength.

This stranger. This vampire.

His gaze dropped to my mouth and the same idea seemed to crystalize over him. He leaned in, lips parted and tinged red from the blood. I held my breath, heart hammering and ready to burst from my chest.

Chapter Seven

Nicholas

Watching her pull from the bag with such greed made my pulse uptick. Her hunger was insatiable. She’d probably clean out my supply tonight and still want more. I needed to get her out of New York as soon as possible. As I’d tried to pry the empty bag from her hands, she’d snarled, her lips glistening red with blood. That fierce possessiveness had made the testosterone in my body spike. The memory of her as she drank from my wrist during the transformation ceremony earlier spurred a different kind of beast inside me.

Images of bloodmating flashed before my eyes. Fuck. This woman was going to be the death of me. But if she didn’t get warm blood, her lust would take over. What if instead of my wrist, I offered her something different? If I let her take her fill from my neck, she’d get more blood quicker, perhaps sating her until we could get to Vermont.

When she’d lowered her gaze in shame, it nearly tore me up. And when I’d tipped her chin and her cerulean-colored eyes met mine, I was done for. Touching her lips and then licking the blood had been a mistake. The need to bend down and kiss her was unbearable. I wanted to taste her and holding back was a Herculean effort.

Peering down at her now, I knew there was no way I could kiss her and not let my male hunger take over. So why I chose to offer her my blood again was beyond me. I knew what it would do to her. And me.

But she needed it, and as her sire, the urge to give her what her body screamed for was unrelenting. “You need warm blood. Take it from me.” I didn’t give her a chance to turn me down. Picking her up, I sat her on the kitchen counter. Dressed only in the robe I’d given her, she spread her bare legs, allowing me to lean in closer.

Shit. Catherine had tossed out all of Loren’s clothes. That meant she wasn’t wearing any undergarments either. She was fucking naked under that fucking robe, and I was about ready to lose all self-control.

She rooted her heated gaze into mine, desire flickering like a flame. “Nicholas…” My name was just a breathy pant.

“Nic,” I corrected her. “And go ahead.” My insides were already jumpy with anticipation as I offered her my neck. Aside from sex, blood-sharing was as intimate as it got between vampires. And I couldn’t deny I wanted that intimacy with her. I needed to feel her drinking from me.

“Nic…” She tried my nickname on her lips and the sound of it made my entire body prickle with heat. She attempted to utter a refusal, but her body betrayed her. Leaning in, she wet her plumped lips, and the sight of her fangs descending made my own gums throb as my canines pushed down. Fucking hell. I wanted this so badly I didn’t care that it could lead me to an even bigger mistake.

The warmth emitting from her body seeped into my bones as she drew closer, her curves fitting perfectly against me. I wrapped my arms around her small, feminine frame as she nuzzled my neck, her soft breasts pressing against my chest. She probably didn’t know what was happening to her body, but her instincts were on point.

Loren was responding like an experienced female of my kind when presented with a blood offering, searching with her nose and tongue for the oxygen-rich blood carried by the arterial vessel in my neck versus the less favorable, nutrient-deficient one carried by a venous vessel. Drinking from a vein was frowned upon as the blood was extremely acidic and full of the body’s toxins. Not to mention it didn’t carry the desired pressure for feeding, plus it clotted easily.

She wouldn’t have known any of that, yet with delicate movements, she inhaled my scent, following the trail to where my pulse beat against my flesh, her breath making my skin prickle as she savored that reverent moment before the bite. I knew the feeling all too well and I couldn’t wait until she sunk her teeth into me.

My entire body quaked with arousal, making me growl, rendering me unable to hide my body’s reaction to the feeding ritual. But she didn’t rush, feathering her lips against my skin in tender kisses instead, unknowingly teasing my male instincts, making my dick throb as she used her tongue to prime my neck for her teeth.

Do it, Beastie… Fucking feed from me.

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