Page 116 of The Rogue's Curse

When Danielle touched Anita’s wrist, her eyes went brilliant ruby red. “I feel it,” she murmured. Her head nodded slightly to the rhythm. Then she brought Anita’s wrist to her nose and said, “God, you smell good.” Then she shook her head and dropped the woman’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’m being such a creep.”

Anita laughed and said, “You’re fine, sweetheart. I’ve been told I do smell good.”

“You do,” Paris agreed. “Dani, until you’ve got more experience, you always keep one hand on her wrist. If her pulse gets too fast or starts to skip, you stop immediately.”

For the first time, she looked fearful. “What if I hurt her?”

“I’m going to be here the whole time,” he said with an indulgent smile. “Trust me. I’ll toss you across the room before I let you hurt Anita.”

At that, Dani laughed, and it was strangely appropriate that it was his promise to dropkick her that reassured her, more than gentle words. “Okay,” she said. “Here goes.” She bowed her head and bit gently into the woman’s forearm. She gave a little yelp, likely from the surprising sensation of teeth piercing flesh, and then let out a soft moan as the blood flowed.

Through their bond, he could feel her sudden rush of pleasure and satisfaction. He shifted closer to her, keeping one hand on Anita’s throat to monitor her pulse. The woman’s head lolled, and a dreamy smile tugged at her lips as she sank into euphoria.Dani drank slowly at first, then eagerly.

Both women jolted, and he heard the primal, almost animal sound as Dani bit deeper, clearly searching for more. A bite of adrenaline threaded through the air, and he immediately tapped Dani’s head. “Enough,” he said quietly.

She let out a protesting noise, and he prepared to pull her back by her hair. But she looked up at him with those dreamy red eyes, then slowly withdrew. Blood stained her lips and oozed from Anita’s arm. Without being told, she lightly scraped one of her fangs over her left thumb, then dabbed it onto Anita’s arm. She looked around quickly, and he handed her a towel that he already had waiting for exactly her purpose. As she gently wiped Anita’s arm clean, he was struck with pride at her gentleness, her insistence on making sure the woman was safe.

“Are you okay?” Dani said, her voice rough.“I didn’t take too much?”

“I’m fine,” Anita said, opening her blue eyes. She smiled dreamily. “How about you?”

“So good. You taste amazing,” Dani said, slumping back on the couch next to her.

“Do I? What did you taste?” Anita asked.

He chuckled to himself and said, “I’ll be back. I’m getting you something to drink, Anita.”

As Dani opined about Anita’s blood like she was a fine wine, Paris hurried to the small kitchen on the second floor, where Olivia kept her snacks and Danielle stored drink mixers. After grabbing a carton of orange juice and a glass, he headed downstairs once more.

Halfway down the hall, he realized something was amiss. Nikko stood in the doorway to the lounge, demanding, “Where is he?”

He froze with the glass in hand and called, “Nicolas, what is it?”

Nikko backed out of the door and stared at him with murder in his eyes. “They struck again. You told me to wait, and I did. And I will not wait any more.”

“What happened?” Danielle asked.

Suppressing a growl, Paris headed into the lounge and handed Anita a glass of juice.

“Well?” Nikko said. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make sure this lovely woman doesn’t have a hypoglycemic episode, and then I’ll deal with you,” he said. Before Nikko could make more of a scene, he said quietly in French, “I will deal with this tonight. Just let me take care of her, for the love of God.”

Danielle jumped up and blurted, “I could carry her.”

“I can walk just fine,” Anita said with a laugh, draining the small glass before getting to her feet. “You obviously have things to deal with.”

“Dani, take her to see Rhys and make sure she rests until she feels able to drive. Then call Phoebe to follow her home and make sure she’s safe,” he said.

Dani nodded eagerly. “I can do that.”

His pleasure at seeing Dani take care of Anita evaporated entirely as they disappeared down the hall. With a sigh, Paris turned to Nikko and said, “Show me what happened.”

Ten minutes later, he stood in Nikko’s office staring at another news article like the one Olivia had first shown him. Couple Killer Strikes Again? Another young couple resembling Nikko and Olivia had been killed, and their bodies had been found in a car outside the rubble that had once been 21 East, as if the message wasn’t obvious enough already.

“I also just got this,” he said, laying his phone on the desk.

An eerily familiar feminine voice began to speak from a voicemail. “Mr. Durand, is it? A little bird told me you might know how to get a hold of Nikko Baudelaire. Please tell him I’d be very pleased to see him tonight, back where we first met. Tell him to bring a date, and we’ll call it even. Otherwise, I’ll have to find more party guests to sit in their seats.”

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