A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2)(59)

When she wouldn’t, he said, “This is no’ the first time I’ve seen them like this.”

That got her to open them. Wide. “What do you mean?” She could tell by the way he stared that they were still that freaky color. “Look at you staring! This is what I wanted to avoid. When have you ever seen them like this?”

“They turn when you drink from me. I’m staring now because if your eyes even flicker silver, I want you.”

“I don’t believe—”

He placed her hand on his rigid erection.

The memory from the night in the hotel bloomed in her mind, and her fingers curled around it, about to stroke…. The memory—the confusing memory from his point of view. She wrested her hand away.

“But my eyes are weird,” she insisted, unable to face him. “And I can’t control it.”

“I find them beautiful.”

Damn it! Why did he have to be so damn accepting? “Well, I didn’t find your change as appealing then.”

“I know. I can live with that if you can.”

“Great. Not only do you seem to have gotten past your prejudice with me, now you’re accepting that I don’t accept you. Are you trying to make me feel like an ass?”

“Never. I just want you to know that I am sorry for what happened.”

“I am, too.” Yes, she might have just spanked that Lykae, but it didn’t mean she liked that she had to. And she didn’t necessarily blame Cassandra for attacking. If Emma had seen a vampire strolling about the manor, admiring paintings, she’d have attacked, too. That did not negate the fact that this Cassandra was still a bitch.

Emma was shaken by the incident. All the training her aunts had forced on her seemed to have rushed to the forefront, finally clicking into place, and she’d felt like a different person. She’d actually won! Against a freaking Lykae!

Yet even as she felt like Frau Badass, she didn’t forget the first staggering thought that had entered her mind when she’d suddenly hit the stone floor and found the Lykae standing over her.

Emma had wanted Lachlain.

And knew he would always come to her rescue.

He tucked a curl behind her ear. “Ach, you’ve cut your wee ear.” He leaned down and kissed it, making her shiver. “And your lip.” He kissed that as well, then stroked her cheekbone, and she couldn’t quite feel the urgency she’d had that he shouldn’t be touching her. “I canna forgive her for marking you.”

“Fine by me,” she said in a surly tone.

“You had no fear down there,” he said, sounding impressed, and Emma had to admit that the next best thing to having Lachlain nuzzle her and kiss her wounds was him acting as if she’d just fought off Armageddon.

“What has changed you? Is it my blood?”

Record-needle scratch back to reality. The nerve! “Don’t flatter yourself! I’ve just realized a lot about myself. You know, having survived continuous Lykae attacks”—he flinched at that—“a sunbath, and a dissection via vampire, I’ve had to ask, ‘Is that it? Really. Is that all life has to throw at me?’ Because if that’s the worst and I keep bouncing back….”

“Aye, I see. Your trials are making you stronger.”

They were. Damn it, why did he have to look so proud of that fact? When had he begun acting so differently toward her? She knew why she’d changed, but why had he? If he kept looking at her like this, she’d start wondering if she was strong enough to handle him.

“You woke well before sunset? I was just coming for you when we heard Cass.”

Emma had been up with plenty of time to shower—and to rant about the weird pang she’d felt to find that, for the first time, Lachlain wasn’t there when she woke. “I don’t sleep well—in that bed.”

“Is that why I found you in the stairwell?”

Emma blushed. Dark and cloistered and cavelike, the stairwell had seemed like a good idea at the time. Since she’d been insane. “Who’s the woman?” she asked to change the subject, though she knew, had known at first sight.

“Cassandra. She’s a friend from the clan.”

“Only a friend?”

“O’ course. And that is tenuous, after she hurt you.”

“You’d take my side over hers? When you’ve known me for so short a time?”

He caught her gaze. “I will always take your side. Over anyone’s.”

“Why?”

“Because I know you will be in the right.”

“And the bleak one? Bowen? What’s his damage?” At Lachlain’s frown, she added, “Why does he look so bad?” With his jet-black hair and intense golden eyes, the guy would be a hottie—if he weren’t heroin-addict gaunt and evil-looking.

“He lost someone verra close to him.”

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “When did it happen?”

“Early eighteen hundreds.”

“And he still hasn’t recovered?”

“He’s gotten worse.” Lachlain rested his forehead against hers. “It’s our nature, Emma.” She knew he was waiting for something from her. Something more.

He’d seen her in her worst state, and he still wanted her. Seeing her like that hadn’t stopped him from following her directly to kiss her ear and commiserate. This gorgeous, walking fantasy of a male wanted something more. From her. Was she ready to give it? She felt bold and high from her first victory, but was she ready to brave taking Lachlain into her body and to risk seeing the beast rise inside him again?