Page 57 of Kentucky Nights
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask him, despite the fact that he can’t answer. “Would Lorcan know?” I bet he would. How do I summon him? Is it like “Bloody Mary” where I say his name three times while looking in the mirror with all the lights off?
“Um, Lorcan! Lorcan!” I decide to try, shouting his name into the quiet room. “Lorcan, it is an emergency!”
“You rang,” he sings, appearing in the darkest corner of the room.
“Lorcan, I need you to help me.” I tuck the blanket under Kentucky’s legs, so he stays covered. “Something is wrong with Kentucky.”
Lorcan turns to smoke, drifting closer to us. His torn black cloak drags across the floor. Kneeling, he presses his hand to Kentucky’s forehead, his lips pinching together.
“Well, he isn’t in rodeo shape. The damn thing is Friday. I lose money every year betting on him.”
“Lorcan!” I point to Kentucky. “Do you think I give a shit about a rodeo when he seems to be barely breathing? Also, his heart rate is very low. It’s three beats a minute.”
He waves his bony fingers through the air. “That’s normal for a vampire. Fun fact, every vampire has a different heartbeat.” He sighs, pressing his fingers to his temples as if it could actually relieve his headache. “I can’t tell you what’s wrong because I’d be going against Kentucky.”
With a sneer, I grab him by his cloak and slam him against the wall. “Listen, Bone Boy, I don’t know what fucking games you two are playing, but I’m sick of it. You’re going to tell me what is wrong right now, or I swear, I will start breaking your bones one by one in order for you to tell me what the hell is going on. How can I save him? Why isn’t he healing?”
“Okay, retract the claws. I’ll help, but you have to promise you don’t know anything when he wakes up.”
“Fine. What is going on? Please, Lorcan. I…I care about him more than I understand.”
“I told him to tell you. I told him. He is so damn stubborn, but he wanted you to have the choice, Dru. Choice is very important to him. If I do this, I’m taking that away.”
“If you don’t tell me, can he die?”
“Can you let me go? You’re oddly strong for a human.”
I narrow my gaze at him, debating if letting him go is the right thing to do. He seems to respond best to attitude.
“Right. I thought I did already. Sorry.” I let him go, and he straightens his robe, brushing out the wrinkles even though he clearly needs a new one with how torn and ragged it is.
“Before I talk about him, I need to know how you are doing? How are you feeling? Outside of this moment, you need to tell me everything,” he says, bending down to examine Kentucky’s arm. “He bit himself?”
Tears fill my eyes. “Yes. I offered my wrist to him. He was struggling so bad, Lorcan. He flew from the bed, yelled at me to stay back, and then I offered him my wrist for him to drink, but he bit himself. I tried shaking him awake. He’s out cold.”
“And how do you feel? Not the panic, I mean, how do you feel around him in general? I need to know how far this has gone. I see you gave in to the heat,” he says, pointing to the bed.
I choke on a cough, twisting one of my curls around my finger. “We have been fighting it for the last few days. I don’t know what happened. I feel this need to be close to him at all times, my body is always hot like I have a fever, and when I’m around him, I fall more in love with him. The thought of being away from him kills me. I don’t want to go home if it means leaving him. This feels like my home now, and I don’t understand. We fell into bed, and it was…amazing. It felt right. It felt natural. I don’t know why he wouldn’t take my blood. Is something wrong with me? Will my blood hurt him or something? I’m type AB negative. Does he not like that? Does he prefer another? I can try to go get him some. I’ll break into a blood bank.”
Lorcan smiles at me, wiping away my tears with a rough bone. “No, Dru. Someone else’s blood won’t work.” He groans in frustration. “This isn’t how this is supposed to go.”
“Lorcan! Just tell me!” I sit down next to Kentucky, taking his hand in mine. “Please.”
Lorcan sits down too, joining me on the floor next to Kentucky. “He can’t take any other blood but yours, which is why he bit himself. If he bites you, it seals the bond between you. Forever. He is like this because he needs your blood. Have you felt desperate? Achey? Or feeling like you will die if he doesn’t bite you?”
I nod, bringing Kentucky’s hand to my lips, kissing his palm. “Yes. All those things.”
“You’re his fated mate, Dru. It’s why all this is happening. The heat you’re feeling? It’s called a mating heat, and it won’t get better until you seal the bond. The fever will get worse, you’ll become more desperate for his bite, and he will drive himself outof his mind until he bites you. You’re already half-bonded by the smell of it,” he clears his throat. “Since you know…” He juts his head toward the bed. “I’m assuming you didn’t wear protection.”
I look away, still feeling the warmth of him between my legs. “No, we didn’t.”
“If he bites you, that’s it. You’ll live forever. He will live forever, and that’s another thing he has been struggling with. For as long as I have known him, he has only wanted to die. Meeting his fated mate is the last thing he wanted, until he got to know you, Dru. He told me he wanted the choice to be yours, but know this, if you say no, you will die too. Fated mates can’t live without each other. He didn’t bite you because that would be taking away your will, and with how he was turned, choice is too important to him. He would rather suffer than trap you like he was trapped. It’s a big decision.”
“It’s not,” I admit, holding Kentucky’s hand to my heart. “I want forever with him. I want to be his mate. I want him. Not because of Fate, but because of who he is as a man. I can’t believe he would bite himself to save me from being tied to him. Why wouldn’t he tell me any of this? I deserved to know.”
“He wanted you to love him without knowing you’re his fated mate. He didn’t want you to feel like Fate was forcing your decision. The most important thing to Kentucky is your right to choose. If you’d rather have a life with him, great; if you’d rather die than live forever, he would understand. He has been preparing for death for a very long time. You were not expected. You’ve changed him. In a good way. He seems more…alive than I have ever known him to be.”
“Even with Daphne?”
