Once Bitten, Twice Burned

The bartender came back, nervously tucking a long lock of blond hair behind her ears. Her nails, painted a bright red, tapped on the marble bartop. “We thought . . . a lot of us thought you were dead.”

Ryder just stared back at her. “Then I guess word is about to spread that I’m back.”

The blonde looked scared. Of her boss?

Sabine glanced back at Ryder. His handsome face was hard. His fangs were flashing. And his eyes . . . she’d never seen them so cold. Usually, his eyes were bright. Glinting. Not icy.

His grip tightened on the glass, and a faint crack appeared, running up the side.

The blonde’s attention shifted to Sabine. “You don’t want the blood?”

No, actually, the sight of it was making her nauseous. Before she could speak, Ryder snagged her fingers. Brought her hand to his lips. “Sabine drinks from me.”

The chick’s eyes almost doubled then. “Y-you let . . .”

Ryder shoved the glass away. “And I drink from her.” Then he was rising and heading for a narrow, wooden staircase in the back. When Sabine put her foot on the first stair, it gave a long, low groan.

She felt a dozen eyes on her back, but she refused to look over her shoulder. So they had the attention of every vamp in the place. So what? The way she figured it, this was a safe house, of sorts.

She didn’t have to worry about Genesis here. Or about Dante.

The stairs kept creaking as they headed upstairs. Then they entered a small apartment, and Ryder locked the door behind them.

“It won’t be long now,” he said.

She rubbed a hand over her aching forehead. “Until what?”

“Until we see which vamps want to try to kill us.”

Hell. So much for safe.

CHAPTER TWELVE

She hadn’t fed.

Ryder paced the apartment, casting worried glances at Sabine. He’d yanked off his shirt, what was left of it, and tossed the fabric in the trash.

Anger hummed through him, no, rage, but he was doing his best to hold on to his control. For now. For her.

“Promise you won’t leave me again.” The words were an order. He probably should have tried to soften them.

Then she shook her head, and he realized he shouldn’t be going easy at all.

His back teeth snapped together, and he stalked toward her. “You need me.”

She blinked those gorgeous, dark eyes of hers. “How do you know what I need?”

Insane. That was what she wanted him to be.

He put his hands on the wall behind her, caging her between his arms. “You’re a freshly turned vamp, love. You might as well be a newborn.”

Her eyes narrowed at that. “Did you just call me a child?”

No, he’d called her a newborn. Even a child wasn’t totally helpless. “When the bloodlust hits you, you’ll—”

“But the bloodlust hasn’t hit me,” she fired back at him. “It’s been days since my so-called turning, and I’m doing just fine holding on to my control.”

His head tilted as he studied her. He could see the pulse racing at the base of her neck. Drink. He’d been injured, attacked. Lost a lot of blood. Sure, his wounds had closed. He was an ancient vamp, they’d better close, but even though his body had healed, the craving was still within him.

I need her blood.

So he’d lied to her. She wasn’t the one who needed him. He needed her. Without her, the hunger would tear him apart.

He wanted to put his mouth on that racing pulse. Wanted to bite.

But she didn’t?

“You fed when you left me.” The only explanation. Had she killed? Not that it mattered to him.

Sabine shook her head.

And she just confused him more. “You’ve had no blood, no human food at all?” She had to take some kind of sustenance.

She shrugged. “I ate something at a diner.”

He didn’t let the shock show on his face. Vampires weren’t supposed to be able to ingest human food.

“I didn’t eat much,” she muttered. “I just wasn’t hungry.”

What in the hell was happening? He’d felt her fangs before. Once. But he hadn’t seen any sign of them since the moment of her transformation.

He leaned in closer. She tensed.

Ryder let his brows rise. “Are you afraid of me, Sabine?”

Her breath whispered out. “What you said before, it’s true, isn’t it?”

Bite her.

“You do—you want my blood.”

“Love, I’m starving for it.” Other blood just didn’t satisfy him. Other blood made the craving for her even more intense.