Page 65 of Killer of the Bells
“So…” I began, digging the toe of one shoe into the snow. “What happens when your monster gets out of control?”
“I eat someone.”
“Like literally, or do you drink their blood? You said the monster can be sated with blood. Does it make you fully eat people when you lose control?”
“Is there a difference? Feeding is feeding.”
“There might be a bit of a difference,” I said, trying to work around to what I really wanted to ask. “One has a higher survivability rate.”
“Not for me, it doesn’t.”
“And yet here I sit,” I pointed out. “You’ve lost it and fed from me twice, and I’m perfectly fine.”
“You’re an outlier,” Vale returned gruffly. “My monster seems to like you.”
“Is that so?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
Vale, not being stupid, lifted his head and gave me a measuring look before saying, “No. Absolutely not.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is this a no because you don’t want to, or because you’re afraid of hurting me?”
Vale pursed his lips together and looked away, but his red ears told me what his answer was.
“You said your monster likes me. Does that mean it was hard for you to stop?”
“…No. My monster compelled me to bite you, but it had no interest in killing you. But that doesn’t mean?—”
“You want to, though, don’t you?” I interrupted.
Maybe I should have stopped. A sane person would have dropped the matter entirely, but I couldn’t forget how it felt when Vale fed from me. How I’d felt when he’d threatened to stalk me through the darkness. Even if he’d been fucking with me, he’d been oddly specific with his words. Like he’d actually thought about it.
“You want to chase me down, don’t you? Deep inside, there’s a part of you, Vale, not the monster, who wants to hunt medown, to bite me, toclaimme. You want to do terrible things to me, don’t you?”
Vale sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes glowed once more with an unholy light.
“You’ve healed me before,” I pressed. “You can heal me again, can’t you? If you got a little too rough?”
Vale’s eyes burned as he nodded slowly. The clever mind of the man I was falling in love with seemed to be losing ground fast as something dark inside him took over.
“Tell me you want it,” I said, echoing what he’d said to me when he took me on top of his desk.
Vale snarled, an inhuman sound that had my dick take notice.
I stood up, took a few steps away, and repeated softly, “Tell me you want it.”
“I want it.” Vale’s voice was barely recognizable, and his body language shifted to that of a cat who’d just noticed a mouse.
My eyes darted to the magically lit woods around me. I quickly mapped out a path and said, “Then come and get it.”
Chapter
Sixteen
ECHO
Ididn’t wait for Vale to respond. I was off like a shot, running like my life depended on it. I knew Vale would chase me. He’d tasted my blood and come back for more, and he wasn’t some goody-two-shoes fake monster who was afraid of hurting people.
Vale loved me, and he wanted to bite me. I was going to make it good for both of us.
