Page 39 of Blood Submission

Okay. There was obviously something she was missing here. “I don’t understand—”

Tearing his gaze from her hair and breasts, he finally explained. “There are tales, ancient tales, of how vampires find their fated mates. I have never seen it happen in all of my years, and neither had any of the vampires I knew. We all thought they were myths. However, I recently found out that these tales are very much true. A lot has happened while I was gone. To my friends, and to me.” He searched her face. “I just didn’t realize it until last night.”

He wasn’t with her last night, but that wasn’t the part of his speech that had resonated with her. She was almost afraid to even say the words out loud. “So, you think that I’m your…fatedmate?”

“I don’t have to think about it. You are.” He watched her closely, waiting for her reaction.

“What does that mean? Exactly? And how do you know?” It was important to have all of the facts before freaking the hellout.

Running a hand over his skull, he took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose. “I knew it the moment I drank from you in the desert. Your blood was the best fucking thing I’ve ever had. I just didn’t realize what was going on at the time. I thought you tasted so good because I was in such fucked up shape. I had to have more, and so I tracked you to your home.” He paused and frowned. “In retrospect, I should have known when I offed the asshole who was abusing the dog by the Dumpster. After drinking from you, he tasted like shit. I thought it was drugs in his system.”

Laney held up a hand to stop him from saying anything else. “You killed one of my neighbors? And my roommate?” God, I’m never going to be able to go back to Vegas. Then she almost laughed. Two people were dead, and all she was worried about was herself.

His expression was nonplussed. “He was a fucking asshole. The dog was just hungry. He didn’t deserve to behit.”

So, he’d killed someone else, but he’d done it to save the dog. She could almost understand that. “And my roommate?”

“I had no use for her after she invited me in.” No remorse in his tone for thatone.

It was Laney’s turn to take a deep breath. She wasn’t going to touch that one. “Where is the dog? And Fraidy? Is heokay?”

“They’re fine. They’re upstairs in my apartment. I just took them outside before I came downhere.”

A thrill went through her at the mention of an apartment. An apartment meant a real bathroom. With a shower!

He cocked his head to the side. “I’m not taking you up there, little mouse.”

She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice. “Why not? And stop barging into my head uninvited.”

Getting to his feet with a growl of displeasure, Dante began to pace the small space. Occasionally, he would run both hands over his skull, but he didn’t answer her question.

Laney stood also. “Dante? Why can’t I go upstairs?”

“Because you can’t leave me,” he said without stopping. He was moving so fast the words seemed to come at her from every direction. “If you leave me, I willdie.”

She wanted to make him stop pacing. “What does that mean? For me?” When he didn’t answer, she yelled, “Stop! Stop and answer my goddamn question!”

Surprisingly, he obeyed, coming to an abrupt halt. Scowling down at her, he seemed to come to a decision. “No. I’ve told you enough. There’s nothing else you need to know.” Then he smiled, an evil slash of his beautiful lips that she was quickly learning did not bode well for her. “Get used to it down here in your hole, little mouse.” Spinning on his heel, he made to leave.

Laney ran behind him. “Wait! Dante! Wait! Please!” She grabbed his arm and hung on. “Please,” she begged. “I’m thirsty.” His head whipped around, his eyes flaring with heat as they searched for and found hers. “I need water,” she clarified. “And food. And a shower. And clean clothes. And…I want to hold my cat! You can’t just leave me downhere!”

Those obsidian eyes, cold as the winter sky once more, travelled the length of her. “I’ll bring you something to eat when I get back.” Pulling his arm from her grasp, he leaned over her. “But get this through your pretty head now, little mouse. I don’t care about your comfort. I don’t give a shit about what you want. I only need to keep you alive. You mean nothingtome.”

One second he was there and she was touching him, and the next he was gone as if he’d neverbeen.

* * *

Dante leftthe underground as fast as he could, before he gave in to her and brought her withhim.

She’s only a human. A means to my survival. Nothing more. He would do well to rememberthat.

He’d prowled the wet city of Seattle the previous night, not trusting himself to go back to her after he’d left the meeting at Luukas’s apartment. Disbelief, distrust, denial, anger—he’d experienced all of these things as he’d headed to his favorite hunting grounds. But after the fifth attempt to feed off a different human, he’d finally accepted the truth. The others were right. Laney, the tiny human woman with the balls of steel, was his fatedmate.

It was a good thing he hadn’t killedher.

Of course, from what Luukas had told him, it was impossible for him to seriously harm her now. His own vampire instincts wouldn’t allow him to harm the only thing keeping him alive. For that’s what she was now. Without her blood, he would die, slowly and painfully. Even if he could force himself to drink from another, or from a bag of donated blood, as Nikulas apparently had before he’d finally gone after Emma, it would do nothing but drag out the inevitable. He would still die. It would just take a little longer.

Flinging open the lobby door, he stalked down the street to the nearest store that carried human food. He was thoroughly pissed off, although he couldn’t say if it was because he had to go get her food, or because he’d completely forgotten that she needed it. Following the smells, he found a place that was still open and ordered a few sandwiches, remembering to hold the tomatoes. Laney didn’t like tomatoes. She’d taken them off her burger that first stop on the road. He grabbed some bottled waters, then almost walked out without wiping the memory of the kid behind the counter.

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