Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(70)

Without meaning to, she let her next thought slip out of her mouth. "Sick people don't drink it. It's injected into their veins."

"Does it real y matter how it gets into their system? Personal y, I don't see the difference."

She gave his analogy some thought and felt smal and inconsiderate.

"Aren't you rooming with a vampire?" he asked.

"Yeah." But somehow in her mind she'd separated Del a the friend from Del a the vampire.

"And she hasn't asked you to donate yet?"

"No." And Kylie knew why, too. Del a knew how Kylie and even Miranda felt about the whole blood issue. For some reason Del a's angry retort from this morning rang in her head. You still think we're freaks.

"Al the vampires are supposed to get someone to donate. If they fail, they don't participate in the rituals."

Kylie remembered Del a hadn't gone to her regular early morning meeting today-then there was the argument Del a had with another vampire. The memory of Del a standing up to Fredericka flashed in Kylie head, then came the flash of how she'd protected Kylie from her cousin, Chan. Del a had been wil ing to go the limit for Kylie, but Del a hadn't even felt comfortable enough to ask Kylie for blood. You still think we're freaks.

Del a's accusation rang again in Kylie's mind.

Kylie didn't consider Del a a freak, but in truth, she hadn't accepted her for who she real y was, either. Sum it up and it meant Kylie hadn't been much of a friend.

The realization hurt like a punch to her stomach.

"Is it safe?" Kylie asked.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Donating blood to the vampires. Is it safe?"

"Of course it is. Holiday wouldn't al ow it if it wasn't."

Opening herself up to accepting Del a took Kylie down other mental paths. "What's it like?"

He shrugged. "It's just like they do it at a doctor's office."

"Not that. I mean, changing into a wolf. I heard some others say it was..." She tried to think how to put it.

"Scary?" he asked, and arched a brow.

"And painful," she answered, deciding not to try to sugarcoat it.

"I think it looks worse than it is." He didn't talk for a few minutes and then started again. "It's sort of like a real y sore muscle being massaged. It both hurts and feels good at the same time."

"So it's not like Perry when he changes?"

"No, it's not like that. A shape-shifter's body changes on a whole different cel ular level and speed. When we change, you can see the process as the body takes on the new form."

"It doesn't sound fun."

"But it is. It's exhilarating." His eyes lit up and Kylie didn't doubt he was tel ing the truth.

"And what's it like afterward? When you're changed, do you ... are you stil you?"

"Am I stil me?" he asked, not understanding.

"Do you think like a human, or do you think like a wolf?"

"I'm not human, Kylie," he answered. "I'm a werewolf."

She felt her face flush. "I just meant-"

"I know," he said, and let go of a deep breath. "When I turn, I have very heightened senses and instincts. To hunt. To mate. To protect what's mine. They could be cal ed very humanlike instincts. However, in werewolf form the instincts are harder to deny."

So maybe his kil ing her cat hadn't been out of meanness, but more from his instinct to hunt. Until that thought hit, she hadn't realized she'd been trying to find a way to forgive him.

The silence grew awkward.

"And when you're not turned, what are your gifts?" she asked.

"Heightened hearing, smel , strength, and agility."

"So it's the same as a vampire?" She recal ed Del a pointing out that vampires were the more powerful species, not that Kylie honestly believed her. Del a was biased. Then Kylie suddenly remembered one of Del a's gifts. "Can you hear my heartbeat?" Could he also tell if she was lying?

"Depends. Our strength and senses increase the closer we get to a ful moon. But for the most part, our hearing is tuned to listen for intruders moving in and not so much for things such as heartbeats."

She recal ed he'd jumped out of the tree the night of the campfire. It struck her as odd that he could do that but a wolf couldn't. Then again, she supposed there were lots of benefits to having fingers and thumbs.

"The fence is right here." He pushed the loose edge of the barbed-wire fence back, and motioned for her to slip between him and the opening of the wire. "Be careful not to get your shoulders cut."

The gap was smal . Kylie squeezed by him and her breasts brushed up against his chest. The warm and tingly sensations shot through her so fast that she started to jerk away.

Before she moved, he must have sensed her tension and he pul ed her against him. "Careful." His head lowered and his gaze met hers. They were so close that his nose brushed up against hers. "You're going to cut yourself on the wire."

She nodded and slipped through. The fence could have been wired with electricity for the tingles running through her body. As soon as she was clear, he stepped through and dropped the wire. Their gazes met again. Somehow, she knew he was thinking the same thing she was-about how close they had been to each other. She could stil feel the blood flowing to her cheeks.