The Way You Bite(28)

“Vee, are you awake?”

She didn’t reply.

With a solitary finger, he traced her delicate bone structure and long, dark eyelashes. A blink when he touched her eyelashes made him smile. Foreign emotions tangled in his brain—protective, possessive, combative. The animal in him ramped up, ready to protect what it considered his. Get a fucking grip. He focused on steadying his breathing.

He hadn’t fought his emotions to stop a shift in ages. This was twice in less than a day. The effort hurt his brain.

He ran a hand down his face. Time to quit denying life had thrown him a curve ball and admit this insanity wasn’t just about the hormones of her being in heat for him. He took a deep draw of her sweet aroma. Bloody amazing hormones. His body throbbed to answer her silent call.

This had become about more than helping her through her first shifting experience and relocating her. He wanted her to choose him.

Her father wasn’t going to like this.

How the hell was he, the leader of the werewolf people, supposed to mate a demisang?

Suddenly, he was in the middle of a dreamlike scene he didn’t recognize. Had his mind been hijacked?

To his left, two giant oil paintings in elaborate gilt frames dominated a plaster wall, one of a pastoral boat scene and the other of… He squinted to make out the portrait’s details. The peacock in the painting was unmistakably Mercutio. Abject hate slid to the fore of his mind. A few Grecian statues of varying sizes littered the shelves where haphazardly stacked books threatened to spill. The pretentious furniture was designed to intimidate.

“How long did you think you could hide this?” Dominic waved a finger his way. His face was a mask of disgust.

Fear churned Lexan’s stomach, but it wasn’t his fear. That had to be hers.

“He’s a half breed,” Dominic spat.

He heard Vee’s voice say, “Christopher is going to be wonderful doctor. He’s my choice.”

“You have disappointed me, Velvet. He’s not worthy.” Dominic rose from his desk chair.

“I don’t care that he’s not a pureblood, that his mother was human. He’s a good person, and he loves me.”

Dominic moved in a blur of motion. He held a knife to her throat. “Would you fight for her? I plan to kill her for the dishonor she caused to our household by laying with you.”

She clawed at the knife at her throat, her fingers coming away bloody.

Panic and pain swamped Lexan’s mind, although he wasn’t certain if that reflected his emotion or hers.

The male vamp, her should-be rescuer, remained immobile, unwilling to make eye contact with her. He stared in petrified terror at Dominic.

“Shove that knife into Dominic’s heart and rip out his throat,” Lexan roared, but his command went unheard. “Move.” Wait a moment, why the hell was he yelling? He was awake. This wasn’t his reality. It was hers…a dream?

Dominic put the knife causally on the desk. He held his hands up in an almost teasing way to the male. His eyes dared the half vamp to move. He took one step in the guy’s direction.

The half vamp backed up.

Vee’s legs collapsed her to a kneeling position.

Dominic shook his head and looked dismayed. “You see, my darling little Velveteen? He is not good enough for you. He cannot protect you in the manner you deserve.” Dominic kneeled beside her and caressed his hand against her cheek. “I do this because I love you, you know. You are too young to know what is best. Being with this coward is not what you need. I promise I will always take care of you. I have found someone for you. Someone worthy.”

Vee pulled herself up using the edge of the desk. She grabbed the knife and sliced it down Dominic’s face, leaving a three-inch cut in his cheek. “Now we’re even.”

He screamed and clawed at his face as if it was burning.

“It’s not real,” Lexan said as he restrained Vee to the bed. She bucked and lashed out with her teeth. Her nails cut deep furrows into his forearm.

Suddenly, she went still. Her eyes were open, glazed, dilated, and fixed on his arm where red liquid was cresting and running from the lacerations.

“Vee? You with me?”

With morbid fascination, he watched her tongue dart out and moisten her lips. She leaned forward and delicately licked the blood from his forearm.

“No, don’t.” He yanked his arm away. Lore held a demisang needed werewolf blood to transform, but he didn’t trust rumor. He held his breath. No taking away any toxic reaction now. Even a few drops of his blood would kill any full-blooded vamp.

Nothing happened as she continued to stare at his wrist where he still bled. She reached out, touching his arm. A little bit hadn’t hurt her. Maybe…

“Vee?” he asked again. Nope, the girl was in la-la land.

She brought his wrist back to her mouth. The motion of her tongue as it too slowly lapped against his skin along the furrows, healing where it touched, mesmerized him. Her lips were incredibly soft. And gentle. And very warm.

Without warning she bit. Fangs straight into his wrist like a viper strike.

Shit.

Ouch.

He yanked, but the motion didn’t detach her mouth. At her first deep suck, he tensed and then trembled. He was so cold as memories of the past paraded through his brain. Although he’d never been bitten—that would’ve killed a vampire—too much had been done against his will by those with fangs. Memories… Humans covered in bleeding holes just like the ones on his wrist during a vamp feeding frenzy. He’d been forced to be part of the “entertainment” many times. Of course, he didn’t drink blood, and no one drank from him. But Mercutio, Dominic’s father, used Lexan’s brother to control him until Mercutio accidentally killed his brother during a blood-letting orgy. That moment had been the turning point, the moment he killed his captor and the War began.