Page 58 of A Vampire Bewitched
A small scraping sounded to his left. Nik swung around and dropped into a fighting crouch with a feral hiss, fangs bared.
Knife held shakily in front of her, Emma cautiously side-stepped from her hiding place in the stone. Wide-eyed, she took in the carnage on the ground, and then her gaze skipped up to Nik.
He raised his hands, palms out, and slowly straightened, spitting the blood out of his mouth and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Emma. Em, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” He kept his feet planted where they were for fear she’d flee if he moved.
Her face remained white as a sheet, her freckles standing out in harsh relief. And her eyes had a glazed look to them as they darted from him, to the things on the ground, and back to him.
Then they locked on to his face and stayed there. His jaw dropped open in disbelief as she dropped the knife and ran, not away from him, but straight into his arms. She threw herself against him so hard he had a difficult time staying upright.
“Are you okay?” she cried. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. Most of it isn’t mine. Besides, vampire here, remember?” He hugged her close, surrounding her in the safe shelter of his arms and resting his cheek on the top of her head.
The feel of her subtle curves trembling against him wreaked havoc on his fragile self-control, but he couldn’t bring himself to push her away. Instead, he rubbed comforting circles on her back to soothe her. The smell of her sweet blood and warm skin flooded his nose, and he inhaled deeply, unable to help himself.
Fresh from the fight, his senses were raw and exposed, and like a starving man, his body responded eagerly to the attack upon them. His mouth watered, and his fangs ached to pierce her flesh even as his cock swelled to a painful size. Nik wanted nothing more than to throw her down on the blood-soaked ground and sink his teeth into her flesh and his hardness into the slick softness between her legs.
Before he could stop it, he groaned aloud.
Emma pulled back just far enough to be able to look at him, her hands gripping his forearms. “Am I hurting you? You said you were okay!” she accused.
As she frantically checked him for injuries, Nik felt her brand him everywhere her eyes touched. Her hands touched him, and raging lust tore through his insides. Resisting the urge that came with it required an act of will he didn’t possess at the moment. He needed more distance between them, needed her to back off a bit.
“You’re not hurting me, not like that.” Nik gently, but insistently, pulled away from her. He became aware that his head was still throbbing, and he actually felt almost…tired. How strange. “These are the monsters you were telling me about?” At her stiff nod, he looked around at what remained of them. “I’ve never seen creatures like this before, Em. I have no idea what they are.”
Emma wouldn’t, or couldn’t, look at the things. He wasn’t sure which. And he couldn’t say that he blamed her. “Nik, are you sure you’re okay? You look…not right.”
“Yeah, I’m good. My head just hurts a little, is all.” He nudged one of the creatures with his boot as it rapidly flaked away. “Maybe we should take one of these things back with us. Have Aiden check it out. We’d have to move quick, though.”
She continued to study him like a bug under a microscope. “Are you sure you don’t want to rest a minute?”
He was suddenly, irrationally, angry. Did she think him weak? “I’m fine, Emma. So get that fucking look off your face.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than he was kicking himself in the ass. Where the hell had that come from?
He closed his eyes to avoid the hurt look he knew he would see, and tried to soften the blow he’d just dealt. “I’m sorry. I probably just need to feed, is all.”
Chapter 31
Emma could’ve face-palmed herself. Of course! He was bleeding. He needed to feed.
Fromher.
“Well, why don’t you?” she coaxed.
“Why don’t I what?” Nik straightened up from his examination of the body he’d been prodding.
“Why don’t you feed?” she asked. Then quickly clarified, “From me.”
He froze, but she could almost feel the tightly wound power in him simmering just beneath the surface. It was a palpable thing that both frightened and attracted her. His face was still cold, inhuman. And his blue eyes shone silver in the night with the unholy glow they took on when his emotions ran high.
“I’m not going to do that, Emma.” Glancing around for their bags, he swung them both over one shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
But she stood her ground. He’d bitten her once already. It hadn’t been that bad.
Ha! Who was she trying to kid? It had felt amazing. Much less traumatizing than being ripped apart like a piece of meat.
“You need to feed, Nik. What if we run into more of those things?” She grabbed his arm as he went to walk past her. “You need to be at full strength. Youneedto feed.”
His eyes burned, the conflict he felt plain to see. “Ican’t, Emma.”
