Blood Kiss

And what do you know, he did.

After Rhage left to go back to teach, Dr. Manello took an X-ray, showed her that nothing was broken, numbed the area up, and popped the middle knuckle back into place.

“You won’t have to wear this splint for long,” he said as he encased her finger in a padded metal sheath that he taped up with strips of sticky white cloth. “You guys heal so well—it still amazes me.”

When he stepped back, she looked his work over. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re out of commission for the rest of tonight. You and Peyton can hang out in the gurney section.”

There was a knock on a door over to the left.

“Come on in,” he said as he went over to a red bin and snapped off his bright blue surgical gloves. “I know you’ve met Ehlena, our nurse.” The man frowned at the female’s tight expression. “Is he still refusing?”

The nurse shut the panel behind her before answering. “He sent the Chosen away.”

Dr. Manello muttered a curse. “I’m not releasing him if he doesn’t feed.”

“Is this Craeg?” Paradise asked. “Is it—”

The man smiled and talked over her. “So we’re done here. Why don’t you head back to the gym? You guys must almost be done for the night.”

“I’ll feed him,” she said roughly. “If he needs it, I’ll feed him.”

What. The hell. Was. She. Doing.

As the daughter of a Founding Family, she wasn’t supposed to give anyone her vein. Ever. That was solely for her intended mate. And if she herself ever needed to feed, it had to be in the company of a male relative of hers and several witnesses.

If she did this for him, it was akin to her losing her virginity before her mating night.

“That’s okay,” Dr. Manello said. “We’ll take care of it.”

Paradise was escorted out into the corridor, and as the door shut behind her, she could hear the two of them talking in hushed voices.

Go back to the gym, she told herself. Go on, now. Just head back to class and …

Looking around, she found that she was alone in the corridor, nobody coming or going, no sounds of footfalls or voices.

She really should rejoin the others.

Except as soon as she had the thought, her feet turned her to the left and took her away from where the hand-to-hand was being taught. Going down to the next door, she pressed her ear to the closed panels and listened.

Breathing in deep, she caught the shadow of Craeg’s scent.

He was in there.

Right, she really needed to go back to the—

Her hand pushed the door open a crack and she peered in—and there he was, lying on white sheets on an enormous hospital bed that he nevertheless managed to dwarf. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow. His skin was … not much different from those bleached sheets—except for the incredible bruises on his face, his throat, his … everywhere. And then there was the patch-work of bandages that covered the worst of the blade strikes.

Stepping inside the room, she forced the door to close faster than it wanted, and waited for him to look over.

“What?” he said without opening his eyes.

She went across to the bed—and wondered idly if she was ever going to be around the male without her heart pounding.

“Why aren’t you feeding?” she demanded.

“Why are you bothering me?”

“You turned down a Chosen?”

“Why aren’t you in class?”

“I got hurt. I’m not allowed.”

That brought his head around and his lids up. “Are you okay?”

“I’d show you, but it would mean I’m flipping you off.”

“You kicked me in the balls, remember? You think I’m worried about your finger?”

“And it wouldn’t be the first time, either. I think I flipped you and Peyton off in the corridor.”

“After the nut shot, my memory is fuzzy.”

She wanted to sit on the edge of the bed, but she was scared of what she was proposing. “You can take my vein, you really can.”

Craeg stared at her for a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Please.”

“Were you born to a family of saviors? Is it in your blood or something? Because I have never met a pain in the ass like you before, and this Mother Teresa stuff can’t be learned behavior. The world is too nasty a place for it.”

“They aren’t going to let you go home.”

“They can’t keep me here.”

She laughed. “It’s the Brotherhood. I’m very certain that nobody is getting out of this place without their permission.”

He grunted and fell silent.

“Come on, it’ll make you feel better.” She put up her left wrist. “And it’ll help me feel less guilty about the … um, yeah.”

“I turned down a Chosen, you know.”

Paradise rolled her eyes. “You have the strangest way of being a prick when you feel threatened. Did you come from a family of pricks or did the nasty world just teach you to protect yourself like that?”

“The nasty world killed all of my family. Two of them in front of me. So yeah, you could say it’s learned behavior.”

Paradise dropped her arm and looked down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“And besides, aren’t you afraid that I’ll do something I shouldn’t?”