But today, his skin didn’t burn, and his mouth didn’t hurt.
The light didn’t stab his eyes.
His head didn’t pound with his own heartbeat.
The fresh cuts on his lip from his fangs stung, and his throat was raw.He catalogued other aches and strange sensations as he lay there for a little longer, staring at the shadows on the ceiling.What had Nix said about being turned?He’d had the hunger, and Nix had been with him for that.They fed and fucked, and then he’d woken alone, not because Nix hated him the way he’d thought yesterday, but because he knew what happened next.
He swallowed and his throat felt as though it were cracking.He needed water.He was thirsty and hungry.He needed more than blood.He needed Nix.
Slowly, he forced himself up.His body was his, but it felt strange, as though he’d put on new skin, and it didn’t fit quite right.The damage to the bedding, and the bed, was too great for him to fix.If he knocked on the door, would it be open?
He wasn’t ready to find out.
He showered and put on the loose pajamas that had been placed near the door for him.He hadn’t even thought about clothing before today.He drank water until his stomach was full, and after staring at himself in the mirror and pushing back on his fangs with his fingers, he managed to get them to flick back against the roof of his mouth.He looked as rough as he felt.His hair stood on end, and he was in need of a shave, and he had Nix’s bite marks all over him.But he felt if not human, then something as close to it as he was ever going to be.
Dressed and with the blood washed off, revealing new pink skin on his knuckles, he knocked softly on the door, hoping someone was on the other side and that they would speak to him.“I’ll behave if you let me out.”
He rested his forehead on the door near the bloody smears he’d made.He didn’t remember doing half the damage he saw to himself or the room.The lock clicked, and Lance stepped back.
The door opened, and Nix stood there with his hair loose, wearing jeans and a T-shirt with bare feet.He wasn’t holding his stomach, and he’d shaved, so he looked entirely too edible.
Lance licked his lip as his gaze landed on Nix’s neck.His pulse was so welcoming…
His fangs flicked forward, and he gasped.He shouldn’t be thinking of his boyfriend that way.
Nix’s eyes widened.“That’ll pass…mostly.”
Nix’s smile was missing, and he was as cautious as a kicked dog.
“Was I horrible yesterday?”
Nix shrugged and glanced away.“I was wondering if you’d be happy to see me at your door.Or if you meant what you said.”
He could barely remember what he’d said, but his throat still ached from yelling.“Whatever I said, I didn’t mean.”
Nix pressed his lips together and nodded.“Were you really there the night of the slaughter?”
Lance frowned.“Only as a driver.”His heart sank.“What did I say?”
“That you wished you’d been in there to make sure none of us got out alive.”Nix watched him with wary eyes.
“I’m sorry.I don’t remember saying that.Have you been outside my room all week?”
“Only for bits and pieces, but I was there for most of yesterday until they dragged me away.”
Lance looked at the floor.“Why would you want to listen to that?”
“Because some of it, you meant.There’s truth in the rage.I never forgave my mother, and she knew that.”
“Even now?”
“Even now,” Nix said, his voice flat.“Death isn’t an easy thing to get past.”
Lance didn’t know what to say.He didn’t hate Nix for killing him.he’d hated being left alone and not knowing more about what would happen.His family had never shared those details freely, and there’d been no chance to learn.“I forgive you.You needed my blood to heal.”
Nix opened his mouth as though to argue and then closed it.
“Would you rather be dead?”
