Page 8 of Midnight Prince
Hazel
Ididn’t want him to leave, if anything I wanted to help him. But I wasn’t sure if he wanted to go to his house and was trying to be polite and not ask me to take him. He said his friend Galen would. but he couldn’t get in contact with him.
I wanted him to stay, I had an ache in my heart for him. I wanted to learn about him, get to know him. But was that just going to make it worse? He said he was dying. Would he prefer to be alone? These were all the questions I had for him and so many more. I just didn’t know how to ask him.
“Oh yes, I am sorry. I have taken your bed.” He didn’t meet my eyes that time, he looked so unsure. Was he really dying or was this a ploy to stay here? Then I looked down at his arm, that… that was real.
“How about you tell me what you need? And I could go over and get it for you? And you can wait here… and we can try to call Galen again.”
He met my eyes this time. And gave me a small smile. His fangs weren’t there any longer and I was so curious about them. Vampires were real. And werewolves too.Oh god.Would they come back for me? He was so sick, and they did this to him. I needed a gun or a weapon. I looked down to Ben’s hand. He still held the aspirin and hadn’t made a move to drink the water. Oh, man. I groaned internally. How could I have been so dumb?
“You don’t drink water or take aspirin, do you?” The side of his mouth quirked up and he made a chuckling sound, then a groan of pain sound. I rushed over to his side.
“What do you really need, Ben? It’s blood, isn’t it?” When he froze, I continued, “It’s okay, I have had all day to get used to the idea of a vampire in my bed.” His eyes roamed over my face and fixated on my lips. I smiled. He was so perfect. His face, his eyes… everything about him. I wanted to kiss him. Wow, back that up. He was dying and I was thinking of kissing him.
“I love that you offered, how could I say no?” And then I laughed. Because yeah, I might not know much about vampires, but I probably should have realized that. I have watched those movies. I get the basics. Blood, fangs, and sexy vampires. He was all three.
“But hang on, you were drinking at the bar.” He nodded and tried to sit up higher. The water sloshed in the glass, so I reached out to take it from him. His fingers were cold to the touch. He was like ice. “You are so cold, did you need more blankets?”
He smiled and shook his head. “And I did it again.” I groaned and pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. Of course he was cold.
“I can drink, not water so much. It would just make me worse. But alcohol warms me, makes me feel human to, well… humans. Plus, it helps the cravings.” I didn’t say anything more. I understood what he was talking about.
Blood.
Would me giving him my blood heal him? Or fix him? I didn’t want him to die.
“Would… do you think maybe... maybe that if I gave you my blood you would get better?” He didn’t say anything at first, the silence wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable just tense. Like he didn’t know how to let me down nicely.
“I can’t heal from this.”
He didn’t say no. But he didn’t say yes. Oh, man, I felt tingly all over. This was so outside of what I thought I would be doing here.
Renovating a house that was falling down around me and now having a dying vampire in my bed. And I was starting to crush on him way too hard. This wasn’t good. Shit, shit, shit.
“Does it hurt?”
I shuffled to lean closer to look at his arm, then to his chest. It was bare and had a warm, golden tan. He looked like he worked out.A lot. I resisted the urge to run my hand down his chest, to feel the planes of his abs. He was like a model. So beautiful.
“I will be okay. I will try to call Galen again.”
I was confused at first, then giggled a little. Like a teenager girl, because yeah, he was making me a little worked up and giddy. I shook my head before I spoke.
“I meant does it hurt if you feed from me? I don’t know how any of this works.”
His eyes widened and looked to the window that was blocked out, there was no way he could see anything there. And that’s when I heard it. The first howl of the night. My skin prickled in fear, and I started to shake.
“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath.
