Page 57 of The Way You Bite
Chapter Eighteen
Lexan dragged a hand through his hair and pulled on a clean T-shirt. He yelled across the medical room to Eric, “You find any clothes for Vee?”
Eric held up a sweater and pair of jeans. “Donated by Vanderburg’s wife.”
For a frozen moment, she stared at Lexan. Everything she wanted to ask him about the two of them crowded into her brain, along with a demand he tell her about his condition. She couldn’t vocalize the words. Hearing he wasn’t 100 percent clear of silver would devastate her. Despite her diligence, his battle wasn’t over.
She accepted the clothes, mumbled “thanks,” and left to change in the half bath down the hall.
When she returned, dressed in the ill-fitting sweater and jeans, she looked around, baffled. “Where’d everyone go?”
Lexan said, “To the cars. I have a meeting we’re going to be late for, but attendance is a non-negotiable for me, not you.”
“You’re feeling…?” She didn’t want to know. Everything felt cold. Sure, the air-conditioning blasted air on high to combat the eighty-something outside, but the cool air froze her much deeper than an arm-hugging chill.
“Alive.” His unreadable expression scared her.
Trembling started in her arms and spread.
He took her hand. “Come.” He pulled her into the room across the hall from the hospital room and kicked shut the door. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“I’m f-f-fine.”
“Yeah, okay.” He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to his chest. Her cheek fit into the nook beneath his chin as if they were made for each other.
Ah, sweet warmth. Wonderful warmth.
“You’re shocky, Vee. It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that. None of us knows that. Ambrose… He would’ve killed me before your guys showed up. If he took me to Dominic after he did his mind-meld thing, I’d definitely be dead. You almost died. The war is going worldwide. All of it because of me.”
“The war isn’t your fault. It’s been active underground worldwide for at least ten years. We’ve been teetering on an edge of it being open warfare for decades.” He smoothed her hair from the crown of her head to her back. “You’re safe. I’m getting you out of the country tonight.”
Every defiant neuron in her brain fired at once. She struggled to get out of his grip without success.
“Shhh,” he said, hugging her tighter against him.
“I can’t go with you.”I won’t.But she wanted to. Good Lord, she wanted to stay right here with her head against Lexan’s hard chest forever. The girl who’d fought Dominic her entire life reared her independent head. She wouldn’t trade being under the thumb of one ancient being for another.
“Let me get through this meeting and then we’ll figure things out,” he suggested.
She glanced up. A half smile lifted his beautiful lips. His hand came up and stroked her hair back from her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. The same thumb traced across her lips, mesmerizing her. He lifted her hair away from her neck and pressed his warm lips over her jugular, sucking hard. Her heart hammered as her body bowed against him. Not a fair move on his part.
He whispered, “God, you smell amazing.”
“We can’t. Especially not when you just almost—”
“There’s only right now. Stop worrying about anything else.” He stretched the v-neck of the sweater off her shoulder and licked his mark. Spikes of lust shot through her body, but she wouldn’t forget he intended to ferret her away. Tonight.
She pushed to move away, needing space between them since apparently his touch sapped her ability to think clearly. But he didn’t release her. She said, “This is never going to work. You’re a… And I’m a vamp. Even if in some alternate universe it might work, I won’t be a secret mistress, and I’m not cut out to be a political wife.”
He stepped forward and kissed down her neck. “Let’s disappear. No more political bullshit. No more assassination attempts. Just you and me. No clothes.”
Didn’t he hear anything she’d just said? “You’re not just any wolf. You’re the king. Your people will paint a bright red target on me, mid-forehead, if we make this anything other than a short-term fling. They’ll think I killed you if we disappear. Everything going on here is a dead end.”
“You’re in shock and don’t know what you want right now.”
“Don’t you dare patronize me.” She shoved at him.
“What’s between us has nothing to do with politics or anyone else. This is real, and it’s about you and me. We’re meant to be together. I know you feel this. If anyone paints a target on you, I’ll kill him. If it becomes too dangerous for you, I’ll appoint someone else as leader. Kiss me.”
Like any ancient, he assumed she wanted him to take care of her. He planned exactly what she suspected—to scurry her away to some hole and never let her escape. Somewhere he could lord over her, own her, and take away her choices. “No.”
He retrieved his vibrating cell phone from his pants. With a quick glance at the highlighted screen, he announced, “Duty calls.”
