“My room or yours?” he asks, flashing a deadly grin. “I do have a king-sized bed.”
“Yours,” they both say at the same time, hands stroking the boy between them. I feel the stir of want just watching them walk down the hall. This place is filled with sex and hormones. My sensitive nature has been tuned in to it since we arrived. I thought the Nead was bad with Morgan and the Guardians. This place? Youth amplifies every emotion.
I lean against the wall, prepared for a long night as the hallways quiet and everyone settles. The building shifts to a bone-deep quiet. I must doze off myself, because I wake with a tickle in my belly, my mind wrapped around a faint dream. I blink away pale white skin and the scent of something sweet. A flash of red lips and white teeth linger in my mind, but it only takes a second for me to realize that my pants are tight across the front. This is nothing more than my own hormones taking over. Being perpetually twenty-one has its benefits but the constant boners get old.
I swallow back the need and even when that’s under control, the tug of my power twists in my stomach. Closing my eyes, I try to pinpoint the feeling by slipping fully into the moment.
Fear explodes in my chest, mingled with a fuzzy, aroused warmth. This time the whole images pops in my mind. Hildi and her roommate, Marielle.
The vampiress.
I push off the wall and race across the hallway. I’d been waiting for someone from the outside to mess with Hildi. It didn’t cross my mind to worry about her roommate.
The door is locked, but I twist the knob, using the strength given to me the night I turned Immortal. The lock snaps and I fling open the heavy, wooden door.
“Don’t stop,” Hildi begs, arching my back underneath her. From the doorway I see that Marielle’s tongue lathes her slender neck and Hildi presses her fingers into her hips. Heat burns inside of me—I have no doubt it’s what Hildi is feeling. A mixture of want and fear.
Hildi may not be able to make the right decision, but I can and I lunge forward, wrenching the vampire off her body, flinging her across the room. She hits the door with a slam and Hildi looks up, trying to see through the fog of lust and want.
“Rupert?”
“Get out of here,” I say, balling my fists. The vampire assesses me, trying to decide if Hildi is worth the risk of my fury.
“I don’t want her to go,” Hildi begs. “Please let her stay.”
“Not an option.” I look at Marielle and shake my head. “Thought you’d see what you could come up with?”
She wipes her mouth. “I didn’t mean anything. I-I just wanted to know how she felt about Marshal.”
I frown and glance at Hildi. Confusion adds to her expression.
“Marshal,” Hildi asks, touching the wound on her neck. Her heartbeat thrums and she’s still under the spell of the venom.
“He’s cute and I got a vibe between you when you kissed the other night. I figured if I drank from you I’d get the truth about how you feel about him.”
Rage, my own rage, not Hildi’s, consumes me. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“It’s my room—”
“Now!”
Her eyes pop open wide at the tone in my voice, and she scrambles to her feet. A moment later it’s just me and Hildi.
“Why did you make her go?” She tries to get off the bed, but I push her back down.
“Because she’s a manipulative bitch,” I say. “And you don’t want her. It’s the venom in your system. It messes with you.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the aftermath of a vampire drinking from someone. The Shaman loved to put vampires in the ring. One bite and the whole place turned into an orgy.
My hearing is superior as well as my sense of smell. Hildi is caught in the throes of desire. Her pulse races and hormones waft off her body. If Marshal were here, he’d probably take advantage of it. I’m not Marshal. Not by a long shot.
“Let me check your wound,” I say, sitting next to her. She tilts her head and I inspect the bite marks. “That should heal by morn—"
She lunges at me, planting her mouth on mine. Her lips are hot. I freeze at her action—well, part of me does. The tightening is back in my pants and blood rushes between my legs. She takes my inaction as an opportunity, thrusting her tongue into my mouth. Every particle in my being wants to cave. Every ounce of will bends, but a different sort of nervousness propels me to shift as far away as possible to the end of the bed.
She looks up at me in distress. “Rupert, I’m sorry, I just…Gods, my body is on fire.”
“I-I-I can’t help you.”