Page 65 of Hot Blooded
“You and me both, Wilson. You and me both.”
***
“Do you need to feed, dear?” Mrs. Potts pokes her head into my study where I’ve been brooding all day.
“No,” I growl before realizing my tone. “Sorry. I’m worried about our… guest.”
Even calling Henrick a ‘guest’ makes my insides swirl in discomfort. Maybe I do need to feed, if only to calm down. Or better yet, make love to Tressa while I drink from her wrist…
No, you scoundrel, definitely not that!
Mrs. Potts nods somberly. “Did you want me to check on him?”
“No,” I snap again. What’s wrong with me? “I apologize. I meant no, it’s not safe. I’ll do it. Don’t go down there. Don’t let anyone in the hall even.”
Poor Mrs. Potts. I need to give her a raise and possibly a bonus for putting up with me.
I lower my voice, steadying myself. “You might place an order with the local blood bank though. Get us a pre-bagged order. He’ll need something to eat.”
As my phone rings, Mrs. Potts nods and shuts my door.
“Tressa,” I answer, my heart feeling light for the first time in days.
She laughs. “Someone’s happy to talk to me.”
“I miss you,” I admit.
“Same here,” she says, but there is something in her voice. Discomfort perhaps.
“What’s wrong?” The light feeling in my heart is already floating away as concern for Tressa washes over me.
She hesitates, which does nothing to help the pain spreading in my chest. “It’s just… Well, it’s stupid. I don’t want to worry you, but Alastair is acting strange.”
Damn my brother. I’ll kill him, rip out his throat, slice off his head. “Strange how?” I ask with fake nonchalance.
She drops her voice to a whisper. I can hear wind in the background. “I can tell he wants to um, eat. He seems on edge, like he’s, um, physically bothered by my presence.”
Perhaps she’s mistaken. She may not be able to read vampire cues as well as she thinks. Let’s hope that’s it. “That doesn’t make sense. He ate right before you left. He should be fine for a couple of days,” I attempt to explain it away, if only to reassure myself that this hasn’t been my worst idea to date.
“That may be the case, but there’s something else,” she starts to say, but the line goes quiet.
“What is it?” I press, my panic rising to unprecedented heights as I practically wear a path in the wood floor I’m pacing so much.
She clears her throat, like she’s nervous to tell me. “I’m um, having my period and I’m not sure, and this probably sounds crazy…”
“Tressa! Fuck! What the hell?” I cut her off.
“W-what?” she stammers in confusion.
I slap my hand to my head. How could I be so thick? “Yeah, of course, that’s driving him insane. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She lets out a little laugh. “Um, because I don’t usually tell my boyfriend when I’m menstruating,” she says, as if this much should have been obvious. Maybe to a human boyfriend, but to a vampire. This is serious.
“Okay, well, from now on, you do…” I pause and adjust the front of my pants. “Fuck. Now I’m hard.”
“Reign, be serious. That’s disgusting,” she sounds embarrassed, and picturing the red blush on her cheeks is not helping my predicament.
“I want to eat you,” I growl, my voice curling around the words, low and provocative.
