Page 29 of The Howl
She looked down at her book again. This time, I was the one to reach out. I could feel the dark energy of her pain. She still grieved for her uncle and the loss of the only family she’d known. Hating to see her suffer, I parted my lips slightly and pulled the darkness into me. Non-sexual energy wouldn’t nourish me, but removing it would help her.
She sighed and squeezed my hand.
“Thank you for being a friend,” she said. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
I thought of Megan and what she meant to me and returned Ashlyn’s squeeze.
“I think I might. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to dance for two seconds so I can go home.”
“Two seconds?” Eugene said from beside me. “We can do better than that.”
I gave Ashlyn a pointed look.
“It was the pool,” I said.
“I’ve got him. You go.” She looked at Eugene as I fled my seat. “Sit down, lover boy. We need to talk.”
I hoped she’d be able to get through to him.
Hurrying away, I joined the fringe of the dancers in the center space, making sure to stay out of Eugene’s direct line of sight and let myself sway to the music. Megan had once teased me that I had killer moves. She couldn’t have been more right. My grace was part of who I was, a lure to pull in prey, which is why I didn’t let the music consume me. But I wished I could. As strong as the way I moved called to others, the music called to me. It wasn’t because of the Siren’s hypnotic song. It was the joy I felt when dancing.
I lifted my arms and turned slowly, swaying as I moved.
A hand closed over mine. Another touched my side.
The scent of lust hit me hard, and I knew my eyes had gone black the moment I opened them.
“Hey, beautiful, I’ve been dreaming of doing this all day.”
The mutt dipped me low, his body arching over mine so close I could feel his breath on my neck.
I trembled in Fenris’s arms, torn between the need to slap the smile from his face and the need to devour him whole.
Chapter Six
“Play along,”Fenris said, close to my ear. “Eugene is watching.”
I wrinkled my nose but kept focused on Fenris as he straightened us then pressed close to me.
“While I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” I said softly, knowing Fenris would hear me over the music, “I don’t think this will help. It will only show him I’m open to having a partner.”
Fenris spun me around while his hand molded to the small of my back.
“Not if I get you out the door first.”
His hips brushed against mine. I trembled harder, feeling like I was dying. The hunger demanded to be fed. It demanded Fenris. A taste. A touch. Him over me, panting in—
“Fenris, let me go,” I begged, panicking.
Suddenly, I was outside and alone. I looked at the door as it closed and almost cried.
Fenris had actually listened.
I kicked off my shoes and slogged through the sidewalk slush to my car. My toes stung with the cold by the time I got in. It was a good distraction, but it didn’t subdue my burning need to turn around and feed from every single person in the Roost.
I drove around for an hour before I stopped shaking. It was another hour before my eyes began to flicker back to brown.
Pulling over to the shoulder, I rested my head against my steering wheel in defeat. I’d thought I’d fed from Mrs. Quill enough to take the edge off my hunger. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I needed more. Yet, if I went to her so soon after the last feeding, she’d tell Adira I wasn’t consuming enough.
