Page 20 of Only Fangs

Mikael gritted his teeth at Sterling’s tone, but at least the man was helping Collin, so he swallowed his pride and his urge to explain himself further.

“He’ll need to stay overnight, but I’m sure he will be fine eventually. You can leave now.”

The idea of simply turning on his heel and walking away made Mikael’s stomach twist uncomfortably.

Mordyn stepped up to him then. “Let’s go to my room,” he suggested. “We need to talk.”

Talking wasn’t really what Mikael felt like doing, but Mordyn didn’t wait for his answer and just walked out of the infirmary, and Mikael knew that he was expected to follow—and that he wasn’t in a position to argue with his sire.

“You can come back to check on him later,” Mordyn said out in the hall, as if to reassure him. “But for now, I want you to focus on yourself. What happened?”

Mordyn’s question sounded innocent enough, but there was an edge of warning to his voice. As if he was saying that Mikael’s explanation had better be satisfying.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Mikael admitted as they reached Mordyn’s room, and the door fell closed behind them. “I didn’t plan this.”

“I figured as much.” Mordyn gave him a stern look as he sat down in his favorite chair. “Sit.” He gestured at the couch across from him, and Mikael obeyed, sinking down into the cushions. It had been a good long time since he’d had to come here for a lecture, but the decor of the room hadn’t changed at all.

There was a desk, some shelves with various magical knickknacks that Mikael could never quite figure out, like a toaster that was supposed to toast ice cubes and a pair of shoes that could walk themselves and ended up in a different corner of the room every time Mikael visited.

Mordyn liked weird things.

But he’d still want an explanation for the weird way Mikael had acted tonight.

“Your victim tonight was the streamer you told me about, wasn’t he?” Mordyn prompted.

Mikael swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”

“And you weren’t planning on draining him, so why did you?”

If Mikael only knew how to explain this. The truth was he wasn’t sure. “The way his blood tasted…” He searched for words. “It wasn’t like fae blood or mage blood, or even like shifter blood, which is my favorite. Itwasmy favorite, anyway. Collin’s blood is better than that. So much better. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“So you lost your mind because of a tasty treat?” The words held a note of amusement, but there was a serious undercurrent.

Mikael grimaced. “It’s not a joke.” It was embarrassing, being reduced to this. “It just hit me unprepared.”

Mordyn studied Mikael’s face thoughtfully. “Were you particularly hungry?”

Mikael shook his head. “A little, but no more than usual.” Mikael thought back to the moment he’d shared with Collin outside the club. He’d wanted to bite the man so badly, not because he was hungry, but because he wasCollin,and Mikael had been fantasizing about biting him for weeks. “He didn’t even smell particularly tasty.”

“What did he smell like?”

“Cheap cologne.”

“Nothing else?”

Mikael thought hard. In the end, though, he came up blank. “I don’t know what he is. He doesn’t smell or taste like anything I know.” Mikael ran a hand through his hair in frustration, gripping the strands tightly. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“Incidents like this aren’t like you,” Mordyn said. “You’re not a fledgling anymore. Your self-control is good enough for you to go on stream.” He paused and his expression hardened, betrayed only by a glint of sympathy in his eyes. “Don’t turn blood into your new drug.”

Mikael swallowed. Mordyn had turned him when he’d been twenty-two–a young, reckless idiot who’d been saved from the consequences of his overdose only by the vampire who happened to attend the same party. Mikael didn’t rememberthe incident clearly anymore, but he knew he’d gotten hold of a cocktail of drugs that would have killed a person twice his size, and that he hadn’t cared because he’d been chasing a high… because he’d wanted to self-destruct.

But if he went chasing highs as a vampire it wasn’t himself he would destroy.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and lowered his gaze to the floor. His sire had taught him better than this, and he was right to be disappointed. “It won’t happen again.”

“I’m counting on that.” Mordyn stood up and crossed the distance between them in two strides. He sat down next to Mikael, reaching for his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I never regretted taking a chance on you, kid. Now stop looking so grim and get up. You can go back to the infirmary, wait for your crush to wake up and apologize.”

Mikael nodded and stood up, forcing himself to smile, even if it wasn’t entirely sincere. “Thanks… for understanding.”

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