Page 24 of Kiss of Death
“Have you ever stopped feeding on someone based on taste alone?”
“Many times.”
“Oh, interesting.”
He propped one knee up, his elbow resting on it as he continued to stare at the fire.
It was nice to have the reprieve from his stare. He stared at me harder than Callum did sometimes.
The thought of Callum suddenly made me feel sick, because it was the first time I didn’t expect him to appear. I’d started to become so used to his absence that it felt normal for him not to be there, to smother me with his kingly presence. When I traveled with Hawk, Callum always appeared at the campfire or my tent, whisking me away so we could be together on a beautiful island.
Every time I missed him, I felt like I lost him all over again.
Zehemoth took the carcass I left behind and carried it away from the campfire so we wouldn’t have to watch him rip and tear at an animal. The sound of cracking bones was enough to ruin anyone’s appetite.
“I’ve imagined how yours would taste…many times.” Viper’s eyes remained locked on the fire like he hadn’t just said something that would scare anyone. “Sometimes I can smell it when I’m close to you. The way sommeliers detect floral and mineral undertones in their wine, I detect power and majesty in yours.”
Bumps formed over my skin when I felt his intention. He didn’t outright ask to feed on me, but he suggested it in the hope I would invite him. When I’d stayed with him in the cabin in the middle of the snow-covered trees, he’d promised he would never try to bite me. He’d kept his word, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to.
“Are you asking to feed on me?”
He didn’t look at me, still focused on the fire. “Only if your answer is yes.”
A wave of guilt rushed through me because he’d sacrificed his position and his relationship with his brother for me. Had traveled across the world and saved my father before I sacrificed him for everyone else. I should dosomethingfor him. “When you described it in the past, you made it sound like it was…intimate.” Physical and sexual and possessive. He said he only fed on women, mainly his lovers.
“Because it is,” he said simply. “A deadly plague swept through our lands, and my brother’s wife was the only one immune to the disease. He was obsessed with the power in her blood and hunted her until she was his. Became obsessed with her, just on that alone. It eventually grew to something more.”
I immediately became uncomfortable at the proposition because I fully understood he was asking for more than food to sustain his body. He wanted to have me in the ideal way for a vampire. “I will always be grateful to you for what you did. I should drop to my knees and give you whatever you want to show my gratitude. But I just can’t do that.” My heart had been completely claimed by a man I would probably never really have. He was just an idea, a forbidden lover who was more of a ghost than a man.
There was no disappointment or anger voiced. Neither seemed evident in his silence either. His muscles didn’t tighten, and he didn’t draw breath in frustration. Just stared at the fire with lidless eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said simply. “You owe me nothing.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
He fell silent.
To break the awkward silence, I moved to the fire and rotated the food so the side wouldn’t burn. I stared at the flames longer than I should, just to let time pass, let the breeze clear out the subject.
When I turned to move back to the fire, he stared at me again.
Stared at me like he’d give anything to touch me.
In a different time, I would have relished the attention from two gorgeous men with bodies made of stone. But now that I loved one of them with my whole heart, I felt like a traitor. I felt like I betrayed Callum just being in the same space with Viper…alone.
“My life has been filled with a long line of beautiful women. Some mean more to me than others. But despite their beauty and warm company, nothing substantial has ever stemmed from those relationships.”
I stopped when I heard him speak, stuck in place by his pointed stare.
“It’s strange to be on the other side of that,” he said with a weak smile. “To feel something deep for someone who feels nothing in return.”
“I wouldn’t say nothing…”
“Then what do you feel, Lily?” He left the log and rose to his feet, towering over me even when he kept his distance feet away. He cocked his head slightly as he looked at me, examined me like he would hang on every word I spoke. “If I was just hot sex in a winter chill, that’s fine. Just tell me. You can cut me down with your words, but I’ll still regret nothing.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
