Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(68)

“No.” I wasn’t about to argue with him. There wasn’t time. Even now I could see the small strength that one sip had given him was waning. “I’m the only one who can help you.”

Daniel shook his head. “No. I won’t take you. Not like this.”

“We did this before and everything was fine.” I didn’t understand his stubbornness.

“I was an idiot. I could have killed you.”

“But you didn’t, and you won’t kill me now.” It was painfully obvious to me that my little wrist wasn’t going to be tempting enough for Daniel. We were going to have to do this the hard way. I pulled my T-shirt over my head.

“I can hurt you in other ways, Z.” Daniel’s eyes had closed. He leaned his head back against the bed as though even the small act of talking sapped his strength. “When we did it before, we didn’t know what it meant. If we did this now, it would mean something. It would bind us in ways you don’t want.”

“You have no idea what I want.” I got out of my shoes and slipped my pants off. I wanted him to live, and I was willing to fight him to get my way. He had no idea how far I would go to not live in a world without him. Even if he went back to ignoring me tomorrow, I would be all right with it because he was alive.

“You don’t want this.”

I ignored him in favor of unclasping my bra and sliding out of my underwear. I wasn’t the smartest girl in the world when it came to vampires, but I knew a few things. Vampires liked sex with their blood. It was an integral part of the feeding process, and Daniel had denied himself for a long time. Vampires fed off of sexual energy as readily as the blood. He needed both badly. I hoped the combination of the two would be too much to resist.

I straddled his half-dead body and sat on the part of him I hoped would come to life soon.

Daniel’s eyes flew open, and for a moment, he just looked at me and breathed. He shook his head even as his hands came up almost unwillingly to circle my waist. His fingers roamed over my skin in restless patterns, finally making their way up to cup my breasts. His thumbs flicked over my rigid nipples, sparking pure arousal across my skin.

“God, I can smell you.” He breathed in, his fangs glinting in the low light. A single finger trailed down my torso to my *. He was right. I was already warm and soft. The intimacy of what we were about to do flared desire through my system.

“Touch me, Danny.” It had been so damn long.

He pulled his hand away like he’d touched a hot stove. “Zoey, please walk away. Don’t do this to us. Don’t bring this out. Don’t.”

“I love you, Daniel.” I leaned forward and kissed him. It was soft and sweet at first, and then I licked my tongue across that gorgeous, full mouth and felt his fangs. “Take me, Daniel. Call me by my title.”

His hands shook as they caressed my breasts. He left one hand on my breast but the other sought my core and began to pinch and rub that place that got me moaning. He slipped his fingers into my * as his thumb rubbed against my clitoris. He sighed, and strength or no strength, he was coming to life against me. His cock swelled. “Companion.” His voice turned dark and thick. “Mine. You are mine.”

“Yours, Daniel.” I pressed closer to him. Need suddenly filled the room. I needed to be with him. I needed to give the gift of my body.

I felt him change. I felt the instant he stopped being my Daniel and became all vampire. He pulled my head back, exposing my neck. His eyes bled to a dark blue and there was no white left. His fangs were longer than I remembered, and for the first time I felt trepidation.

“You will call me by my title, companion,” he growled. “You will call me master.”

The first orgasm hit as he plunged his fangs in. As I gave myself over to mindless pleasure, I had one overwhelming thought.

God, I prayed, let him remember. Let him remember that he loves me.





Chapter Eighteen





I woke up with a little shriek, unsure of where I was. I’d had the dream again. I was back in Hell where nothing was meaningful and I was a useless thing. I tried to shake off the nightmare as my eyes adjusted to the dim light.

I was in a dingy motel room lying on a bed I probably wouldn’t dream of sleeping on normally. Now it was heaven. I was under the covers, naked, and I was not alone.

“Hi,” Daniel said quietly as though he was afraid of startling me. The gray color of his skin was gone, and he looked closer to normal than I had ever seen him. Even when he was healthy Daniel was pale, but now he was practically glowing.

I fell back onto the pillow. I was still weak, my head light as though I was slightly tipsy. Even weakened I felt a rush of relief that he was here and I was here with him. The only discomfort I felt was a slight pain in the muscles of my neck.

Daniel frowned as he leaned over and pushed back my hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I lost control a little. Your neck is pretty bad.”

“Don’t—” If I was thinking about how close I’d come to dying, then I was sure he’d already thought of it a thousand times. “Don’t tell me how stupid I was.”

The dream was still riding me, and I couldn’t stand the thought of another lecture on my own idiocy. I wanted to curl up and cry. That feeling was so close to the surface it would overwhelm me if he said the wrong thing.