Page 10 of First Bite
Chapter Four
The knock came again, and I forced myself off the bed and over to what awaited me on the other side of the door.
I opened it, my cheeks burning red and my body tingling as it always did when I locked eyes with these vampires.
“I’m making some lunch.” He looked over my shoulder with a smirk, “I guess you beat me to it.”
I glanced back at the crumbs on my plate from the sandwich I absently devoured. “Stress eating,” I shrugged. “I’ll join you,” I said, feeling calmer than I was moments ago.
He turned, gave me a half smile, and called out, “Boots, I know you’re starving too, you little fur ball.”
“Boots?” I looked over at Braden as we walked, “He’s here?”
Braden hit me with an irresistible smile, dimples and all, “Can’t leave your new friend behind, now can we?”
I impulsively hugged Braden, “Nope. He’s the sanest one out of all of us right now,” I said with a laugh as the cat ran from out of a dark room and into the hallway.
“I’m perfectly sane,” Braden said with a laugh. “I’m also in perfect control of my emotions.”
“Even with me around? This bond isn’t bugging the shit out of you like it is Cole?”
“Nah. I’m used to kicking anyone’s ass who pisses me off. You having this control over me just gives me more of a reason to rip a vampire apart without remorse.”
“Nice,” I responded. “But I was referring more to the—um…” I stopped, not knowing how to phrase this question.
“Sharing you with my cousins?” He arched an eyebrow at me as we entered the kitchen, and he brought out food to start making a sandwich. “As you know by now, we’ve never experienced these emotions before. I think Cole is having a hard time at the moment because it’s getting more and more real to him. I think he understood in theory that we are all bonded, but once you were intimate with Logan, we all felt a stronger pull; and then when you were with Zac, the pull was even more intense. That brought the theory into a harsh reality. I can tell you with certainty that the feeling of not being in control is what has him spinning out,” he laughed as he finished piling meat on his mile-high sub sandwich. “I think once the bond has been completed, we’ll all understand our roles in this much better. Just like your human mind would naturally fight you being drawn to us, our predatory genes tend to fight the attraction toward a human as well.” He glanced up at me, “Make sense?” he asked, taking a large bite of his sandwich.
My eyes were drawn to his plump lips as he chewed his food. God, this guy was more than handsome. His five o’clock shadow enhanced his strong jawline, and his GQ-model beauty was intoxicating.
Calm down, Elle.
“You sure you’re not hungry?” he asked as he turned and poured out a cup of dry cat food for Boots.
“I’m good. How about you, I mean, with the blood situation,” I asked, knowing we probably shouldn’t go down this road again.
“The guys will be back tonight or tomorrow,” he turned back to me. “They’re bringing some blood bags for me.”
“Why can’t you just trust yourself with my blood?”
Braden forced a smile, “Give me a second.” He was back before I could question him with a fresh glass of peach tea for me and a glass of bourbon for himself.
“You don’t mind, do you?” he asked, motioning toward his drink. “Keeps the blood thirst at bay. I know your mom’s issues probably made you hate the idea of alcohol consumption.”
“Not at all. My mom is a blackout drunk. There’s a big difference between enjoying a few drinks and boozing it up from the time you wake up until you pass out every single day. I can hardly see you turning into a blackout drunk on me,” I said, resting my head on my palm and watching him curl his lips after taking a gulp.“Well,” his eyes tightened in humor, “You won’t ever have to worry about that with us. Alcohol only affects us if we let it. If I want it to calm my nerves, then I just allow it to.”
I impulsively reached for his hand like it was calling for me. “Are you essentially drinking it to calm your cravings for my blood?”
He took another gulp and tightened his lips. Damn, he was sexy. “Pretty much.” He shot me a grin. “Truth be told, I can’t trust my emotions around you. I know that I could hurt you, or God knows what else. I’ve never felt this strongly about a woman before, and I’ve been alive a very long time.” He swallowed the last of the amber liquid in the glass, “I can only imagine what it must have been like for Logan and Zac to drink from you with all of these feelings.”
“Can’t you tap into each other’s feelings if you want to?” I asked softly, seeing Braden’s eyes do that swirling thing.
“Yes, but Logan shut his emotions off when he was with you.”
“Oh,” I responded curiously. “Seemed like he was into it from my perspective.”
Braden turned to me and ran his knuckles along my jawline. “Don’t take that the wrong way. Logan had to shut it down. Even though he went too far by drinking from you, none of us know what would happen if he gave into it. It’s the same with Zac. He would have definitely fucked you on that plane if he didn’t shut shit down before he drank from you.”
“Well, they were pretty convincing. I really thought they were totally into it.”
