Page 36 of Bloody Bargain
“Tessa,” D’abel called through the door, an edge of impatience in his voice.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I called, panting. I shouldn’t have been out of breath, but drying myself with one hand was taking it out of me.
The doorknob shook. I raised my brow at it.
“I’m still naked,” I called back. “Give it up.”
“Come quickly or I’ll show you how ineffective human locks are.”
An exhausted smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. “You mean the lock isn’t iron? It looks cheap.”
“Stannum.Tin and brass. Don’t test me.”
“I thought I was the one in charge.” I wrapped a towel around my middle in an awkward dance. I held one corner in my wounded arm and swooped the other corner over my shoulders. It had to droop so it wouldn’t touch my gaping wound, which still bled in slow rivulets down my spine and between my cheeks.
“Posture all you want,myn chalis.Your hackles rise and my throat goes dry. Except in matters of life and limb.”
You mean in matters of blood.
I rolled my eyes, considered calling his bluff, then checked that all my important bits were covered. I opened the door to the yellow suite with droplets of cold water nestled atop my eyebrows.
D’abel sat at the foot of the bed, still wrapped in the blue towel he’d worn for our ruse. His long tail snaked around my ankle and squeezed before letting go, retreating beneath the bed where I wouldn’t trip on it. So he’d been using his tail to twist the doorknob. Sneaky.
“Come, Tessa,” he said, a deep hiss in his chest. I got the impression that he wasn’t pleased.
I joined him, sitting on the pouf between his legs so we could look at each other. I wasn’t happy with our arrangement, but I didn’t want him to find me combative either. It was a good deal. Areallygood deal. My fingers twitched remembering all those needles in his throat, and I softened in small increments, taking a deep breath.
“If it’s like last time, I’d like to have a couple shots of the whisky downstairs first,” I said. “Would you mind bringing it up?”
“You want to thin the blood?” he asked with confusion.
“Alcohol will dull my senses.” I stretched my arm, uncomfortable that I knew what my own bones, vessels, and tendons looked like. “Last time was… unsettling, and I could barely see then.”
D’abel leaned his elbows on his knees so that when he tilted his head up, he brushed his nose against my chin. His breath fanned my neck and I swallowed hard.
“Simply drink your fill, mine Tessa. The more you take, the faster you will be whole, and I swear to you that you cannot take too much.”
I scrunched back so our faces weren’t so close. D’abel looked up at me through lidded eyes, his garnet gaze turning pink beneath his white lashes.
“Drink my fill?”
“You have lost too much blood,” he interrupted, his elegance cracking as he glanced at my feet and the discolored puddle collecting on the towels. “So much that I might lick the floor you walk on. So do not argue with me. Just once, accept me.”
I clenched my jaw, then let out a twisted-up breath that did nothing to stamp out my fiery nerves. Regardless of if I had actually lost that much blood, the fact that I wasn’t alarmed was concerning. Not just for my health and judgment, but for the room we’d need to clean.
“Alright,” I exhaled. I expected D’abel to smile in victory, but he was too hungry and desperate, Adam’s apple bobbing as he breathed in the scent of my iron-rich injuries. His fingers floated to the deep scratches on my forearm as if he were mesmerized.
I pulled my hand away and his eyes slammed closed, slitted nostrils flaring as he breathed in a deep, controlled breath and twisted his tail over itself like a nest of angry snakes.
Maybe hewasangry.
“This exchange is about sex, isn’t it? The blood… Will it feel good every time?”
The pain and impatience in D’abel’s eyes simmered as I drew him out of my scent and back into our conversation. “Would you prefer it be painful?”
I stared hard at his silky hair as my core clenched. “No.”
“Then turn around.”
