Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(41)

She shook her head, her expression stricken. "It only goes one way."

"Nick!" A man's voice shouted from the parking lot.

The woman's voice answered. "He's breathing, Dave. He's alive."

"What in the hell happened?" the man's voice shouted. "Do you see any blood?"

"No. I saw him go down. He swayed like he was getting dizzy, then collapsed. He's too young to have had a heart attack!"

"Damn kid's probably been doing drugs."

"Mom?" a youthful voice asked groggily.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Oh, thank God, son, you scared me to death."

Jag pulled Olivia away from the window. She was trembling beneath his hands. "He's fine. Now, I'm going to ask you again. What happened?"

"I don't know." Her gaze flew to his face, her eyes wide with horror. "What if he wasn't the only one? What if there were others in the rooms nearby?"

"They'll recover, just like the kid did."

"If they weren't weak to begin with."

Jag's hands moved to cup her face. "We can't go pounding on doors seeing if anyone's injured. No one can know we had anything to do with this."

"Jag..."

"Olivia. Liv, listen to me. There are hardly any cars in the parking lot. There's no one here. The kid's okay. They're all okay."

"If you hadn't stopped me..."

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Sweetheart,what happened ?"

"I don't know. I fed like I always do, just a little. With your energy as strong as it is, no human should have been harmed by it. Jag, I've been doing this for hundreds of years.

He shouldn't have been harmed!"

"What's changed?" he asked.

She stared at him, her eyes widening. And he knew.

"The Daemon," they said together.

"The venom?" he asked.

"More likely the energy I sucked from him. The venom incapacitated me, but his life force felt foul and unnatural. And incredibly strong." She would have swayed on her feet if he hadn't been holding her. As it was, her face lost what little color it had managed to recover. "What if it's changing me?"

His fingers caressed her head, her thick, soft hair alive beneath his fingertips. "Easy, Liv. Let's not jump to conclusions. You're feeding more strongly. You're just going to have to dial it down."

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"What if that's not enough?" A shudder went through her. "I can't wait, Jag. I'm hungry. I need to feed."

His thumbs traced the lines of her cheekbones. "Take some from me."

She shook her head. "The only way I can be sure not to steal any more from the humans is to touch you and take it all from you. But I could hurt you. I could take too much too fast."

Despite the way he'd treated her, she was still protecting him.

"Then let's go. We'll drive into town where there are a lot of people around." But no sooner were the words out of his mouth than his cell phone went off. With a low curse, he released her and reached for the phone he'd left sitting on the nightstand beside his bed. Tighe's number flashed on the screen.

"Yo."

"We're crossing the bridge," the tiger shifter said.

Shit. They were out of time. Jag gave him directions to the motel. "We were just heading out for food. We'll meet you..."

"We'll bring it."

Double shit. "There's a sub shop on the way in. Bring four footlongs for us, and whatever the rest of you want."

Olivia held up five fingers.

"Make that five, and surprise us." He snapped the phone closed, shoved it in his pocket, and looked at Olivia. "We're going to have to go for a walk, and fast. They'll be here too soon to get you into a crowd, but I'll get you away from humans, and you can feed from me at a distance."

He pulled on his pants and a tee, then held out his hand to her, pleased when she took it. Hand in hand, they left the motel together, walking down the stairs and across the parking lot to the woods beyond. When they were a good twenty yards into the woods, Jag stopped and released her.

"Feed from me, Red. As low as you can, and we'll go from there."

She nodded, turning to him, her eyes tense, her expression worried. Almost at once, he felt a strong hum thrumming over his flesh. Not uncomfortable, but not something he'd likely sleep through. "If I had to guess, you're feeding twice as hard as you did in Feral House."

Her eyes popped wide, her mouth dropping open as the feeding stopped abruptly.

"That should have been a fraction of it."

"You're stronger, all right. Can you pull it any lower?"

"I don't know. I've never had to try."

He nodded at her. "Feed more, Red. You need it."

"You'll tell me if I'm taking too much?"

The fear in her voice squeezed something deep in his chest. That old urge to make her mad pricked at him, but he pushed it back, smiling at her instead.

"I'll tell you."

The buzz dimmed a little, but she continued to feed at a much higher level than she had before. Five minutes later he felt the first wave of light-headedness.