Page 13 of Kentucky Nights
Romeo releases a high-pitched neigh before sliding to a stop near a cliff. The blood is heavier here, weighted with iron, and the perfume of it has my eyes rolling to the back of my head. My fangs lengthen again, wanting nothing more than to feast on her jugular vein.
I’ve never had the pleasure of giving in to the ultimate urge. My mouth waters from the thought of it. Her body against mine, my hand splayed across her stomach to keep her close to me, the other cupping her cheek, while her back is nestled against my front, and my cock is lodged deep inside her while I feed.
I slip from Romeo’s back, my spurs spinning when I land on the wet ground thanks to the storm that just passed through. There’s still a slight mist in the air that clings to my skin. My boots sink into the mud as I follow the scented path.
My body buzzes in a way I’ve never experienced before. I’m thirsty for someone I’ve never met.
Literally.
“Anything?”Romeo’s question infiltrates my mind.
“I smell her.” The mist turns to a heavier pace. Water gathers in the curve of my hat, dripping down the front when I tilt my head down to see inconsistencies in the mud. I squat, tracing the grooves of what looks like a handprint. “She was here.” I stand, my heart pounding in my chest with horror and excitement.
I’m scared of how badly she is hurt, given the amount of blood sticking to the air, even after the rain has washed most of it away.
“Stay here.”
Romeo chews on the weeds, not paying me any mind at all.
My vision stays cloaked in red as I study the tree line, walking slowly to the edge of the cliff where I spot broken twigs and blood swiped against a green bush. The leaves must have been protected by the trees’ full canopies as it rained.
I’m tempted to taste it. The thought has my cock hardening in my jeans, pressing into the zipper. The thirst, the need, the lust to try the simple red swipe almost controls me.
I want to swim in her blood, drench myself in the one thing that’s meant to be mine.
Oh…to indulge in such fantasies will ruin any plans I’ve made for myself.
Damn, I should have brought my lasso just in case she was in the water and trapped. I could pull her free. I wasn’t fucking thinking. All I have is my gun.
A worn path is made from her slipping down the hill, the mud holding the imprint caused by her body. Touching the leaves she touched brings me closer to her somehow. She was here. Right fucking here. So close yet so far.
Anger wells in me, knowing I’ve made peace with wanting to die when I’m meant to, and now…
And now, I don’t know what to do.
All I know is I can’t let her die out here. My heart hasn’t gone that dark and cold.
Crouching, I leap to the bottom, my boots sinking in the soaked clay by the riverbank. My brows furrow when I trace the blood staining the bark on the tree trunk. She tried to hold on.
She’s a fighter.
I like that.
I stare out onto the waves in the river, a new fear clenching my breath as I watch the water rage. It smashes against large rocks, the current swift and unrelenting.
Sniffing the air, a low, aggravated growl rumbles in the back of my throat. I can barely smell her now. The rain, the river, they’ve washed her scent away.
All I can do is follow the current and hope I find her alive. What happens to me if she is dead? Do I die too? I grind my teeth together, growling like the storm above. My breath lulls from between my lips in a slow, cold fog.
I punch the nearest tree, the wood splintering and snapping. The large pine crashes across the river, causing a new makeshift bridge to get to the other side.
The temperature has dropped faster than I expected. It was hot and humid only an hour ago. If she is alive, she won’t be for much longer.
With a snarl, I leap to the top of the cliff. Romeo is soaked. His mane is sticking to his hide, and the end of his tail is dirty with mud. The neon red orbs pierce me through the rain. Blowing a raspberry, he trots his way over to me.
“We need to follow the river. She could be anywhere now that the current has her.”
He shakes his head, the spray of water slinging from his mane.“I’m hungry,”he huffs, not caring at all about my mate.
