She felt his humor and heard him chuckle. But beneath that, Lizzy could also sense the fear he was trying to hide from her. He’d been terrified of what Cain had been doing to her.
“Biting is foreplay in my world, Lizzy.” As he spoke, she felt him poking around in her head.
“What are you doing?” She mentally slapped him away, but he kept prodding. “And why aren’t you freaking out?”
“I’m making sure whatever they did hasn’t affected our bond,” he answered. More warmth filled her mind. She felt hands on her shoulders. They moved down her arms until they linked with her own.
“Is mentally touching me a part of that process?” Her voice sounded breathy and wanton. What the hell? She hoped the question didn’t reach Finn.
“Not necessarily. But it’s nice to know that the bond is still strong enough that you can feel my touch. Do I need to back off?”
Lizzy swore she could practically hear him begging her to say no. “At least make it worth my time and give me a massage or something.”
She felt his hands squeeze her own before once again running up her arms and back to her shoulders. Then his thumbs pressed into the back of her neck and began to rotate. “That’s the good stuff.” She groaned. “Now tell me again why you’re not attempting to bring the building down around you? Because I distinctly remember you flipping your werewolf lid right before I passed out.”
“I would like to, no doubt. But I’m trying not to scare you.” He continually used the bond to work his hands into the sore muscles of her back. “Inside, I’m freaking out.”
“Why would that scare me?”
“A feral wolf is never an easy thing to face. We’re dangerous. And I never want you to be afraid of me.”
Lizzy frowned. She hadn’t been afraid of him before when he’d been losing his crap. Why would she be now? “Did you hurt someone while I was being vampified?”
“No,” he answered immediately. “Though I might have threatened a few of the guards who came to check on me.”
“Would you have hurt them?”
He didn’t answer right away this time. Instead, he seemed to decide what to say or how much to say. “If they’d have come into my cell, my wolf would have killed them.”
She could hear the honesty in his voice. Still, she wasn’t afraid of him. “And you think I would be afraid if you did that?” His psychic hands—that’s the only way she knew how to describe the touch he could give her through their supernatural bond—ran down her spine, and she groaned out loud.
“Please don’t make that sound.” Finn’s voice was a deep growl. “Especially not out loud where other males can hear.”
“Answer my question, wolf.” She ignored the flutter of stupid butterflies that appeared in her stomach as she felt his desire for her.
“You’ve lived your entire life in the human world, unaware of the supernatural one around you. And also unaware of your own supernatural heritage. Your introduction to the supernatural world has been from the king of vampires, one of the most wicked of the supernatural creatures. The better question would be, why wouldn’t you be afraid of a man who just admitted he’s capable of killing someone without a second thought?”
Lizzy shifted her body on the bed and forced herself to focus on his words and not his touch. But dang, this wolf was good at giving massages. “I suppose a normal human would be afraid, but I grew up on the streets, and I’ve lived in some seriously questionable foster homes with humans that would make Cain look like Santa Claus. A few homicidal tendencies aren’t going to scare me away.” Lizzy realized how ridiculous that sounded. Maybe that made her a fool, but she was in too deep to care. It’s not like she could just go back to her old life, or that she’d even want to at this point. She could tell the bond between her and Finn was getting stronger. The injection of blood she received hadn’t affected it. At least, not that she could tell.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Finn murmured into her mind. “Are you really okay? No more pain?”
Lizzy tilted her head from side to side, flexed her toes, and stretched her legs. She took several deep breaths and let them out slowly before answering. “I feel fine. Hungry, but not for blood,” she quickly added. “For some actual food. And even though I just woke up from some weird vamp-changing induced coma, I’m tired.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Why the heck are you knocking when you have the dang key?” she called out.
Alice’s voice came through the door. “Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s rude to barge into a person’s room, even if they are being kept against their will. May I come in?”
Lizzy exhaled heavily and managed to hoist herself into a seated position, one of her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. “Only if you have food,” she answered. “The scientist who’s the healer-thingie-person is coming into my room.”
“Gypsy healer. Don’t do anything that could get yourself hurt.”
She shook her head, and a small smile formed on her face. “I’m not planning to make a daring escape, if that’s what you’re worried about. I think at the moment, considering we don’t really know how I’m going to respond to the vampire virus, this is probably the safest place for me to be for other people. I wouldn’t want to hurt someone because I went into some crazed bloodlust.”
The door opened, and Alice stood on the other side, holding a tray of food. From what Lizzy could see, it did appear to be a burger and fries. “I’m about to stuff my face. Hope that’s not a turnoff for you. Eating is sort of a big deal.”
Warmth flooded the bond. “There is nothing you could do that would be a turnoff. I thought you were worried about the food being poisoned.”
