Page 91 of Blood Moon
He sighed, dropped his shoulders. “Mira,” he said warily, and I knew he wanted to deny my offer, but he didn’t outright. “You don’t know all the risks.”
“Like what? Tell them to me,” I demanded quietly. “Would it turn me into a vampire?”
“No, I don’t have the power to do that.”
“Would my blood … could it hurt you?”
“No.”
“Will I die?”
“No.”
“So then, what?”
“I feel like you’re diving into this without thinking. I want you to be sure.”
“I am sure, and I’m confident in my decision, even if you aren’t. This is me being proactive, Julian. I don’t want to be stuck out here, hiding. What will waiting allow us, if we don’t have time?” His stare flickered away from me. “Is it that … is it that you’re afraid?”
Julian’s head tilted back, hair tumbling away. A bob of his throat as the words implanted there. “It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted someone’s blood like this.”
I waited, wondering what he meant by that. “How else do you get blood?”
“Since it’s not required for survival, it means I can be selective.Meaning …it has always been a rather intimate experience.”
I understood what he meant immediately, but also in that understanding was the burning curiosity of who it’d been, and what they’d meant to Julian. “Okay,” I said.
“Okay?” he repeated the question, a hitch in his face.
“Yes. This is what I want.”
Julian’s eyes dulled into a bleakness that was hard to place at first. Maybe it was unspoken depravity. Maybe it was the unnerving vulnerability, a tale that muttered he’d never taste my blood. Maybe it was the tamed hunger—but despite all those very real things, I was his salvation.
“You trust me?” he breathed.
And I knew he needed to hear me say it. He craved my permission like he was on his knees. I stared at his full lips, leaning closer to him, air on his mouth. With definite truth, I said, “Julian, I trust you.”
CHAPTER44
Veni. Vidi. Amavi.
That was to be the new way.
Article VII, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
It was a squeezing against my chest, my heart shooting adrenaline through my veins, but nothing had happened yet. Julian took a deep breath, looked away from me. A sign he was changing his mind.
“Mira—”
“Don’tyou dare,” I whispered, and he exhaled. He couldn’t deny that he needed me, that we needed this.
“Okay,” he said, finally giving in.
“How does it work?”
A glance at my neck. “The first bite might hurt, but the venom will ease you into a haze that will eliminate the pain. You’ll feel faded, but I will … I will be gentle,” he promised.
The golden color in Julian’s eyes vanished, his pupils dilating until there was only black. He brushed my damp curls away from my shoulders, and his thumb touched my cheek, running down the edge of my jaw, to my neck, and stopping at the collar of the shirt.
