“Says who?” He couldn’t keep the snarl from his words. “Him?” He wouldn’t use his name. “The man who changed you?”
She gazed at him as unblinkingly as an owl. Her eyes were too big for her face, and the knowledge in them, so much more than had been there even days ago, shredded his heart. “How do you feel?”
“Sore.” And he didn’t mean from the bite, either. He looked pointedly at his unwavering erection. “Your fault.”
She didn’t follow the direction of his gaze, but turned her head away so that her hair again curtained her face. “I have no control of myself yet. I’m sorry.”
“Did you hear me complaining?”
“You’re not in control of yourself, either.” She dashed at the tears that thankfully appeared to be drying. He couldn’t handle a woman unraveling in front of him. Especially this woman.
“I beg to differ.”
When he would’ve continued, she gave him a strange look. “You revived awfully fast. It’s been less than twelve hours. We gave you blood, but—” She gasped as his lips peeled back. “You already have fangs!”
Duh. Of course I do. Luckily he’d gained enough sense to resist explaining that not only did he have fangs, but that he’d had them for thirty-plus years. But she didn’t know that. To her, he’d been newly changed.
Apparently, his Judases had kept his secret. How charming.
Lucas swallowed and willed both his erection and his fangs to retreat. He seriously doubted he’d have a need for either anytime soon. “Why were you crying?”
She rubbed a hand between her breasts. Only then did he notice her attire, an almost sheer pale pink nightgown with tiny bows on the shoulders and over the nipples.
He’d seen those nipples earlier, when she’d been touching herself. Her small breasts had pressed against her gown, their full outline silhouetted in blush silk. While he’d watched, she’d bared them almost as if they were a gift for his enjoyment, though her eyes had been as blurry as an alcoholic’s during a bender.
He’d been tempted. He was a man, after all, along with being a vampire. But then he’d taken in the whole of the scene in front of him, and the rage had won.
Still, the memory was enough to coax his cock back to brutal attention. Lucas had to cough to smother a laugh at Emily’s alarmed expression.
“Your fault,” he said again, keeping his voice easy. From her perch at the edge of his king-sized bed, she looked like a startled, fragile bird. “You’re the one sitting there almost naked after you started me up.”
“Please, don’t. I know I made a mistake. I thought if I read the literature, I’d be able to get a handle on my—” She seemed completely lost for words. Very unlike her.
“Needs?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve denied yours for awhile. Becoming a vampire—” even the word tasted foul “—will only intensify them.”
“Shouldn’t I be telling you this?” Emily let out a dry laugh. “Since you’ve been a vampire even less time than I have?”
As he understood, he closed his eyes. Apparently she thought Sydney’s bite had been enough to change him, which meant Syd must’ve held on for a while. Emily, better than any of them, knew that it took a matter of minutes and the loss of a lot of blood for a susceptible human to be tainted with vampirism, so his ex-best friend’s woman must have made quite a good show out of gouging his neck and then feeding him her blood after. Something he barely recalled.
Goddamn latent blood. It was worse than cheap vodka.
“Are you sleeping with Kellan?” he asked when he’d regained some hold over of his emotions. “And/or his girlfriend?” he added.
She didn’t answer for so long that he wondered if that was all the answer he needed. Then she rose and walked to the curtains, drawing them back enough that the watery light of dawn haloed her thick dark hair.
“It hurts,” she said, almost to herself. But she didn’t move. “The light burns, just a little.”
“Stay there longer and it’ll hurt more.” Frustration eked through his tone as he tugged at his cuffs. He could break the lock with little more than a thought, but that probably wouldn’t cement his rep as a new vamp. “In time, your skin will toughen up a bit and you’ll be able to walk outside in sunlight for short periods. But it’ll never be like it was. You’ll never be able to tan on a beach unless your preferred look is extra crispy.”
She turned back to him but she didn’t close the curtains. He knew the sun’s contact had to hurt her, but she seemed to welcome the burn. “Why do you care if I sleep with Kellan or Sydney? What does it matter to you?”
“Maybe I’m curious where the mouth—that was just on my cock—was last,” he said with a shrug, but there was nothing lighthearted about the statement.
He wanted to know. Needed to. And if she gave him the wrong answer, he’d rip this goddamned bed apart. Then he’d track down his deceitful friend and finish the job he’d begun last night.