Dematerializing, I land in the middle of a very busy blood bank, and everyone stops to turn and stare at me as I walk naked through the building.
I toss some guy out of the room with all the blood bags, and I grab a cooler from the corner before I start loading it until it’s overflowing.
Faces are pressed against the widow, like they don’t know what to do, as I step behind some loud machine and dematerialize before landing in the room with Ella again.
She makes a concentrated effort not to let her gaze dip below my waist. But she fails no less than four times.
I dump all the blood bags onto the bed next to her, running a frustrated hand through my hair. I hate the fact she’s not already drinking them and getting better, and it’s her fault that I’m this upset, because she gave me her motherfucking blood.
“Do you have any idea how terrible it is to have your mate’s blood pumping through your veins, and seeing her pale and lethargic? Drink the fucking blood now!” I snap.
She looks a little surprised, and I swear she’s stifling a grin when she starts drinking one. Finally. Too damn slowly.
“Drink faster,” I say on a growl.
She obliges, but her color isn’t returning yet.
She finishes one bag and picks up another, hesitating.
“Drink,” I prompt, resisting the urge to hold her down and force her to drink it until she’s back to normal.
“You call me your mate, then bitch about having my disgusting blood in your veins. Just didn’t realize how much you enjoy kicking me while I’m down until this moment,” she says, then releases a sad, humorless laugh as she shakes her head.
Turning around, I try counting to ten. Kya constantly suggests that.
I’m not sure why. It’s miserably ineffective, and in fact, the waste of time only proves to further irritate me.
“I never said disgusting, Ella. Don’t be an emotional girl right now,” I bite out. “Think rationally. We’re unfortunately tethered to each other, and right now I have your blood in me. It’s consuming and maddening to see you suffer on my behalf, because my instincts demand I be the one to protect you.”
“How you make destiny’s one warm spot seem like a cold scientific miscalculation is beyond me. Can you call Kya and ask her to come get me?” she asks.
I turn around to look at her incredulously as she slowly sips the next bag, eyeing the label on one and furrowing her brow in confusion.
“Why the hell does Kya need to come get you?” I demand.
“Because I’m not strong enough to dematerialize yet. Hey, this isn’t one of our blood banks. This is a human—”
“You’re not fucking strong enough to do something as unremarkable as dematerialize?” I say in an abnormally, almost animalistic tone.
She shakes her head absently. “Seriously, this is a human facility. You can’t get blood—”
Her words stop short, and she squeals when I rip the top of one of the packs open, then grip her jaw gently but firmly as I start pouring the damn blood into her mouth.
I want to use my own blood—my instincts scream for me to do it like hers probably did to her when she saw me in need. If I do that, we’ll be damn well fucked, because she’ll be as crazy as I am in this moment.
She weakly struggles because she has no strength, so it’s easy to force three more bags down her throat. That’s when she gets enough strength to bury her foot in my middle and send me sailing across the room.
I crash into the wall instead of crashing through it, so she’s not too strong. It just catches me off guard.
My eyes narrow on her as she rolls to her hands and knees to cough up some of the blood, then gasps for air.
“You lunatic!” she shouts, glaring over at me.
The color has returned to her face a little, her eyes look more vibrant, and she’s able to hold herself up. Still on her hands and knees…head canted and back slightly arched to give her flawless body the perfect, seductive lines. Blonde hair stained red. Blood dripping from her mouth…
It’s the start of every dark fucking fantasy I’ve allowed myself to have.
When her breathing staggers and her gaze dips, locking onto the part of my body that can’t be hidden at this moment, the silver in her eyes grows brighter. When her tongue darts out to lick some of the blood from her lips, my frayed thread of control finally snaps.