Page 48 of Love Bites

“Hello?”

“Hey, Avery.” My voice sounded a little weaker than it should’ve. Whoops.

Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed Damianquiteso hard.

“I did something stupid but necessary,” I said. “Damian locked me in the hospital room because of it, but I really need to go for a swim. Can you swing a rescue without getting any of the other girls involved?”

“Mmhm. Give me a second.”

I heard her call out to one of the other girls that she was going to her room. A minute later, I heard an elevator ding.

“Okay, I’m on my way. I don’t think I want the full story, but I probably need it if I’m going to avoid losing my head when your vampire comes looking.”

“Kara, the doctor, told me he’s been starving himself because he’s afraid of losing control of his bloodlust. She gave me thisinjection to help me recover after he drinks from me. I sort of pushed him into drinking until he was completely sated, while we screwed. He said he was going to kill her afterward, told me to stay in here while I recover, and ran off.” I ran a hand over the top of my blood-crusted hair.

“So he’s coming back for you soon,” she said.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“If he’s worried enough about you that he locked you in a hospital room, it seems safe to say he is.”

“Maybe. But I don’t want to be here when he does. He’s going to be pissed.”

Avery laughed softly. “I’m not swimming with you. I’m going to hide in my room like a coward after your jailbreak. When he’s not on the warpath anymore, text me so I know I can come out.”

The doorknob twisted, and she stepped into the room, lowering her phone from her ear.

I surged to my feet, nearly crashing to the ground when my knees knocked together.

Though I caught myself on the chair, she rushed over to catch me too. There was concern in her eyes.

“How much did he drink from you?”

“Probably enough to kill me without that injection,” I said cheerfully, easing myself away from the chair and pulling her toward the door.

“Blair!” Her eyes were wide with worry. “Youcan’tdo that.”

“It was a one-time thing,” I insisted. “If I can get him to start drinking from me every day, he won’t be starving anymore, and he won’t need to take nearly that much blood. When my magic and the medicine work, I’ll be perfectly fine. I just have to go through with a series of injections—it’s not a big deal.”

As the words left me, I couldn’t believe I was saying them.

I hadn’t even agreed to go through with it yet.

I hadn’t even told Kara I’d let her inject me again.

But some part of me knew that I would anyway, scientific studies I hadn’t read yet be damned.

“That’s literally insane,” Avery protested, as we walked to the elevator together.

“We’re mated permanently. What’s the alternative?”

“Let him starve?”

I scowled at her. “Starving is miserable. I did it too, remember? I couldn’t stand kissing strangers. It’s only been two days—or three, maybe—since I started drinking from him, but the way I feel is so much different. I’m not letting him starve just because he’s afraid of hurting me.”

“If the fear is an actual possibility, it’s reasonable,” she argued.

“I’m his blood mate. It has to work,” I insisted. “Especially with the injections.”

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