Page 50 of Blood Moon Heat

Gripping the handles, I forced myself to slow down and open the doors as soundlessly as possible.

They swung open, and the sight before me decimated what remained of the ice I’d lived under for so long. It shattered, and the monster inside me, the wild thing, broke free after so many centuries of being buried.

Mina was tied down on a table, her dress torn from her, her naked body deathly pale and covered in bite marks. Her skin was smeared with blood, while the five elders fed from her, unaware of what was going on around them, blood drunk from gorging on my female, from hurting her, draining her.

Mina lay there unmoving, unblinking. No fight left in her. The sound of her heartbeat had slowed dangerously. The elders had lost control completely. They were killing her.

Baring my teeth, I ran to the nearest one, wrenched back his head, and tore it off. I moved with speed to the next and the next, until only the prime was left standing. Like the others, he was too blood drunk, blinded by his hunger, to notice what was going on around him.

“Prime,” I roared.

The older male blinked, breaking from his trance, and slid his fangs from Mina’s throat.

He lifted his head, finally looking around him. He blinked again several times, as he took in the decapitated remains of the four other elders—then his gaze sliced back to me.

“How dare you,” he seethed, Mina’s blood spraying from his red lips. “You will be put to death for this. You will—”

“No,” I snarled. “You are the one who will die.” In the blink of an eye, I closed the distance between us and grabbed the ancient vampire by the throat. He tried to toss me away, and any other day, he would have succeeded. He was older, stronger, but I was fueled by rage, the kind only a male protecting his female possessed. Right then, I matched his strength and then some. I squeezed the prime’s throat with everything I had, and he dropped to his knees, gasping.

I wanted to take my time torturing him, peeling the skin from his body, slicing and pulverizing until he begged me for death. I wanted to hear him scream. But my need for revenge came second to the needs of my female, and she needed me. Now.

His mouth opened and closed like a suffocating fish as he clawed at my wrist. I grinned down at him as I dug my nails into his papery skin—pushing deep until I could grip his spine, then I tore it out through his throat and tossed it aside. His lifeless body fell to the floor, and I kicked him out of the way and rushed to Mina’s side.

There was so much fucking blood. I quickly swiped my tongue over the gaping wound in her throat where blood still oozed, then gently, I took her precious face in my hands and turned her toward me. She was cold, her gaze dull, lifeless, staring straight ahead.

“Lalka?” Her pulse was slow, sluggish. She needed to feed.

Quickly I snapped the ropes around her wrists and ankles, then worked my way around her, licking the open bites all over her body, sealing them. She didn’t make a sound, didn’t move, just continued to stare blindly at nothing.

“It’s going to be okay. No one can hurt you now.” I swiped my tongue across the side of her waist, sealing the last bite and stopping the bleeding. “I’m going to lift you now, Lalka. I’m sorry if it causes you pain, but I need to feed you.”

She said nothing.

I lifted her carefully, still the pain must have been unbearable, but she remained limp, soundless. I carried her over to a chair and sat with her across my lap. “Drink, my love. You need to feed.”

Her head lay against my shoulder. She was too weak to fucking lift it. Sliding my arm free, I nicked the vein in my throat, just a small slice because she’d have to start slow and build up her strength. Lifting her higher, I cupped the back of her head and pressed her mouth to the cut.

She made a small whimpering sound, and I felt her tongue press against it with a barely there touch. I wanted her out of this place, I needed to get her out of here, but I was afraid if I waited any longer to feed her, I’d fucking lose her.

I’d just killed the elders, murdered all five of them in the prime’s own residence. I didn’t regret it. I’d do it again. But I didn’t know what that would mean for me, or for Mina. If we had to run, we would. I had more than enough money to protect and care for her anywhere in the world. I could take her wherever she wanted to go.

Which was why I needed to get her out of here. I needed to get her to safety.

Her lips moved, soft like butterfly wings against my skin, then she sucked gently. Relief filled me. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this way. “That’s it.” I rubbed her slender back, encouraging her to drink more. “Don’t stop, Mina.”

The seal of her lips grew firmer, and her hand slid up my chest to curl around the side of my throat. More relief rolled through me, so strong, so overwhelming, I shook from the sensation. Her legs curled up, her toes digging into my thigh—then she struck, going deeper.

Her fangs sunk into my vein, her nails into my shoulder, and she finally drew hard, her primal instinct for survival taking over, until her feeding became frenzied. I continued to rub her back. “That’s it, Lalka, take what you need.”

I was old. She could take far more blood from me before I would feel the effects.

The way I felt in that moment, she could have it all.

The sound of cars, several of them in the distance, reached me. The vampire court had been summoned. We needed to leave. I stood, Mina still in my arms, still attached to my throat. There were doors leading out to a garden, and I kicked them open and carried her out into the night, running for the cover of trees that surrounded the property.

I had to get her home, then I could deal with this. Yes, I could leave this city, I could take Mina away and make a life with her somewhere else, but I didn’t think it would come to that.

Not if I had my way.

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