He’d only needed a fraction of his speed to catch her.
Amaros knew who and what was on the other side of the entrance, making Michaela fight his hold.Blood.
Most likely, even if Michaela’s sense of smell was already acute enough to scent the carafe of blood the servant had delivered outside his room right on schedule, his little angel would have picked up on Maeve’s heartbeat.
That was the siren sound that lured all Vampires.Something that took time to build up enough fortitude to fight the instant need to feed.For a new vamp, especially one newly created, Michaela was nothing but instinct—a deadly predator hunting for prey.
If he released her, she’d wreak carnage all over the cathedral home, ripping out throats, draining and slaughtering both servants and primes.In the days of old, newly turned ones, who weren’t monitored or trained and left to their own devices by reckless Vampires, vanquished small towns in a single nightfall.They couldn’t stop the need, and through gluttonous madness, they terrorized, only to settle days later into a more conscience-driven mind filled with nightmares of what they had done.The new Vampires did not spare men, women, or children from their feast.
Someone, human born, would find the memories of their senseless actions unconscionable and seek to end their life.Only to find the feat difficult and nearly impossible to accomplish, deepening their misery.Most learned to manage life by locking away the memories behind walls they built in their mind to keep them functioning and sane, but a few went to the extent of tracking down their Masters and woefully pleading with them to end their suffering and take their lives.
So, Amaros would spare his lovely Michaela the centuries-long tortuous guilt.He’d help her through this time.
“Please...”She pressed a hand against his chest even as she kept her other stretched behind him, refusing to stop trying to grasp the door.
“No.”He tightened one arm around her waist, only exerting an infinitesimal amount of strength to hold her slight form in her weakened state.Besides, he had hundreds of years of power over her, and even when she gained all her abilities, he’d still be stronger, faster, more cunning than she.Something he would vow never to abuse over his mate.
He pressed her tighter as his hand spanned the side of her narrow waist, feeling the coolness of her bare skin.The temperature of her flesh had more to do with her severe lack of blood than the change.
Michaela’s lissome body was delectable.His desire for her since seeing her and tasting the sweet spice of her blood had not diminished.Even while she was unconscious and transforming, his body craved her, and knowing that she was his increased it over time.
In the centuries he’d been alive, he had countless relationships, shared the company of women worldwide, and even had long-term affections where he had a genuine fondness for various women.However, none of those beauties, although fascinating, compared to his desire for her.He hungered for her like a man long in famine.He was an addict after one hit.
She was his, and that was a lure like nothing else.
“But I need,” she whined.
Caressing the side of her face, he leaned back and stared into her red-stained eyes.Typically, when the lust of any kind was on them, and their beasts had risen to the surface, the permanent red ring would expand and saturate the irises.Still, Michaela’s beast had complete control of her now, apparent by the leaching of red into the whites of her eyes.
The bright apple-red flood of color in her wide eyes made her appear possessed. She was.Her Vampiric nature, a Nature that would forever rule her into eternity, possessed her.But he would ensure she learned to control it.
“I know what you need, little angel.”He used two fingers to trace over her delicately arched light-brown brow, a contrast to the blonde dye of her short pixie cut, then he brushed along her temple and over the high arch of her cheekbone until he reached the tip of her pert nose only to stroke up her bridge and return to her brow—the gesture circling one of her lovely eyes.He reveled in the beauty of how his bite had changed her, just the first action that would bind her to him forever.
When he cupped her gaunt cheek, more evidence of the lack of substance she endured in the days of her transition, his gut tightened as Michaela tilted her face into his touch.
Yes, this gorgeous woman was more beast than woman, but she was still responsive to him.As it should be, they were mates.And that would rule over everything for them.
“Please—” Her words broke into a cry as her sorrowful, empty eyes, too dehydrated to release tears, reflected her pain.
“Come.Let me take care of you.”Still keeping one arm banded around her waist, not trusting her not to attempt to bolt, Amaros dipped low and captured her behind the knees with his other arm, scooping her up.
Carrying her away from the door, he took them across the room to the bed that rested on a platform, and it brought the bed just below waist high for someone of his height.
As soon as he laid her down on the mattress and prepared to leave her there so that he could go and retrieve the blood at the door, he heard her shift.He hated to leave fresh blood out to spoil, and their kind considered it sinful to do so, even pig’s blood.However, when he was only a few steps away, he felt the shift in the air and knew Michaela was set to dash from the bed and get out the door again.
Smiling at her persistence, in a blink, he had her restrained once again just as her feet struck the floor.He gripped her shoulder with one hand while holding his other over her sternum, keeping her back pressed against his chest as he seated them on the mattress.Her weight on him felt good as her backside and thighs settled on top of his.She squirmed, fighting his hold as she mumbled and whined about the agony of her thirst.Some of her words were audible, but more than those, he was captivated by the utterance in her mind.Her thoughts were mere whispers along the fringes of his mind.He could go further into her thoughts effortlessly, but he looked forward to how their thoughts would intertwine once he claimed her.
For eons, he’d heard mates bragging about the exquisite intimacy of communication through the heart rather than the head.He wanted that.
She thrashed against him as she snatched a claw at his hands.“Please!”
“I have what you want.”He slid his hand up her chest, sighing at the silken, delicate skin he brushed.Compared to her previous mortal self, her skin was closer to Teflon than it was flesh, and it was difficult to cut or wound.He encircled her neck with his fingers and felt her swallow around the emptiness of her urgent need.
“Give it to me.”
“Say it first.”
Michaela sank her short fangs into her bottom lip before the words tore from her, laced with confusion, “Say what?”
