Page 47 of Love Bites
“What are you doing?” I demanded, shocked, even as my eyes fixated on the trickle of red.
"A little trick we use to get newly turned freshlings to drink. I hope this works as well on you as it does on vampires. My blood can't feed you, but it should be enough to whet your appetite."
I had no idea what he was talking about. At least not until he lifted his wrist to my mouth.
My gums itched. I licked my lips, even as my stomach rolled, the scent of blood in my nose equally enticing and revolting.
“Try it.” Talon pressed his wrist to my lips. The moment the first drop of blood touched my tongue, I was gone. Flavor exploded across my tongue. Holy hell, I'd never expected blood to taste this way. I'd thought it would be gross and icky and disgusting, but instead it was warm and wonderful and I couldn't get enough. As much as my conscious mind rebelled against the idea of drinking blood, my lizard brain was all in. I needed this. I moaned, lapping at Talon’s skin to get all of the red liquid, too desperate for blood to care about the image I was presenting. I was starving, and Talon’s blood was the best damn thing I’d ever tasted.
Only it was as he’d said. It didn’t feed me.
It was like biting into a delicious piece of chocolate cake and then chewing on air.
And still I whined as Talon lifted his wrist from my mouth. “It’s okay, love. I know you need something a little more nutritious.” Talon stroked my hair, and then there was another wrist offered to me. I didn’t even think about it; I sank my fangs into it.
Sweet, sweet blood poured into my mouth, and I drank it down greedily. It waslive-giving.Literally. With every drop that passed my throat, I felt my strength return to me.
Until someone ripped Luke’s wrist away. I fought to hold on, because I wasn'tdoneyet, there was still blood left! Someone gripped my hair and tilted my head up.
"That's enough." Talon's voice. "You don't want to suck your brother dry, do you?"
Instantly, I felt myself transported back to reality. Everything came back into focus. Luke, sitting in front of me and holding on to his wrist as if to stop the bleeding. Talon, stopping me from launching myself at him again. I blinked.
Had I really just bitten my brother?
"Oh God, Luke, I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it." He removed his fingers from his skin, revealing that the wound had already closed itself. A dark pink aura swirled around him, which was super weird. Would I always see colors after ingesting blood?
"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to focus on my little brother instead of myself.
"I'm fine." He gave that shaky laugh again. "But that was weird." He looked me over. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah," I said without lying, and then I turned around to Talon who looked a little paler than usual himself. "Thanks for pulling me off him."
"I figured you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't." A small smile graced his lips. "I know what it's like in the beginning."
In the beginning.I hoped that didn't mean I was supposed to make a habit of this. "Next time I'll have bottled, thanks." I shook myself. "How often do you think I'll have to do this?"
"I can't say. I'd rather not see you get this sick again, though."
Yeah, no way. I didn't want that either. "Next time I'll notice sooner."
"You might be lucky," Talon said, nodding at Luke. "If his blood is like yours, it'll sustain you longer than that of regular humans. After I drank from you the first time, I didn't need to refuel for weeks."
Refuel... I snorted. We weren't cars.
"I figured it might be more effective," Talon admitted. "And besides, Luke consented to this. A stranger would not have."
"And that would have mattered to you?" I raised an eyebrow at Talon because I found that hard to believe.
"Not to me," he said simply.
Of course. I would have cared. I just hadn't expected him to take that into consideration. I looked to my brother again. "Thank you." If he hadn't agreed to this, I would have had to sink my teeth into some poor stranger. A thought that made me feel sick again.
"You're welcome." Luke rubbed his wrist, lost in thought. "So I'm really going to be an uncle?"
Talon and I looked at each other, the expression on his face unreadable. For my part, I'd almost forgotten all about the baby while I was focused on getting blood.
