Page 129 of Vampires and Violas

I fight him, squirming to get away. But I can hear his blood and feel the rhythm of it as it courses through his veins.

The sense is stronger than it’s ever been. It’s a siren’s call, beckoning me to bite him.

“No.” I pull against him.

“Run your tongue along the gums behind your upper teeth,” he commands, rubbing my neck like he’s trying to soothe me. It’s only freaking me out more. “Do you feel anything weird?”

I go still when I inadvertently do as he commands, horrified. There are two bumps in my gums, right where two bumps shouldn’t be. And theyhurt.

Sam suddenly releases me, and I wrench myself back so hard, I knock into the porcelain toilet lid.

“I think you just made my job a lot easier,” Sam says with a soft sigh. “You all right?”

Ignoring him, I frantically stick my thumb in my mouth, feeling the raised spots. Slowly, they begin to recede, and the throbbing pain eases.

I meet Sam’s eyes, still trembling, beyond terrified.

“Welcome to the club,” Sam says, laughing a little. “It’s freaky, isn’t it?”

“What have you done to me?”

“Your original infection scars are gone, too,” he says. “That scratch on your arm will clear up by tomorrow.”

“No.”

“This doesn’t have to be so difficult,” he says. “Ethan has given me the power to give you anything—anything. You want it, tell me. Money. Land. Vacations. The world is yours, Piper, just because the right man fell in love with you.”

“Anything?”

“Anything,” he vows.

“I want you to spare Noah.”

Sam sighs, sitting back on his heels. “Anything but that.”

Before I can answer, the bathroom door busts open, swinging in and breaking the spring that’s supposed to stop it. The handle crashes into the drywall, the sound shockingly loud in the tight, tiled space.

Noah stands on the other side, bleeding and bruised, with a dark red stain blooming on his white T-shirt. He points his gun at Sam. “Release her.”

“Impossible,” Sam breathes. “How?”

Noah stares down at him. “I might not be able to fight eight men at once, but you better believe I can take seven.”

Sam slowly sits back on his heels, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Piper, come into the hall,” Noah says, his voice too calm.

I stagger out of the bathroom, giving Sam as wide a berth as possible, and cower behind Noah.

My immense relief that he’s alive is tempered with fear. Fear that my life is never going to be the same.

Usually three,Cassian said at the police station over a month ago.But sometimes two.

It’s best to abstain altogether.

“Why are you people so freaking loyal to a man who’s in prison?” Noah demands.

“Good benefits,” Sam answers flippantly, even though there’s a gun pointed at him. “And four weeks of vacation.”

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