My breath—mybreath—escapes from me in a whoosh. I realize that, unlike before, I haven’t been automatically starting to breathe before I wanted to speak.
I’ve…beenbreathing.
Reflexively.
Possibly for days, now that I think of it.
When I hold my fingers to my neck…I have a pulse. It’s not me consciously willing my heart to beat, either.
It’s…beating. I no longer can start or stop it at will.
Time to experiment.When I hold my breath deliberately, I find my lungs soon aching, until I suck in gulps of fresh air.
Doing the stupidest thing probably in the history of ever, as my girl might say, I reach out and let the sunlight spill over my hand and arm.
I gasp. My vision blurs, triples, as I stare at the golden light cascading over my body. I turn my hand over and back again, marveling at the sight and the warmth of it on my flesh.
“Dex?”
I can’t speak, can’t move, except to breathe and turn my hand back and forth.
“Dex!” I hear her throw the covers off her and climb out of bed, her hands suddenly on my back.
Her breath against my shoulder.
“Dex,” she whispers.
I can’t take my gaze from my arm. “Look!” I whisper, terrified this is a mirage, an impossible dream.
“I see.”
“Am I awake?”
“You are.”
We stare at it for long, silent minutes with her arms wrapped around me. “What does this mean?” I finally manage.
“Well, I think it means Dad and Zuzu were right, and me marking you worked. My venom was able to neutralize the virus. At least, partially.”
My tongue seeks out my fangs. I feel them slide into place as my stomach grumbles and I realize I haven’t had any blood in over twenty-four hours. “I’m still a vampire. I still need blood.”
“But…this ishuge.”
“I know.” I can’t stop…lookingat it.
The way the light picks up the hairs on my arms.
Her canines lightly rake across the back of my shoulder, instantly giving me a throbbing erection.
Before I even realize I’m doing it, I spin around, grab her, and we land on the bed with me on top and her wrists pinned over her head.
Her violet gaze burns up at me. She hooks a foot around my leg and nearly manages to flip us over, until I lean in and bite down on the side of her throat, piercing her flesh so I can feed. Her fingers flex and curl as she wraps her legs around me and grinds against my thigh.
The thick, sweet scent of her arousal fills the room, my dick aches to be inside her, all while the warm, honeyed taste of her blood fills my mouth. I fill her pussy, shoving in deep and hard until I bottom out.
“Yes!” she gasps.
I chuckle against her flesh and slowly thrust. My sweet, radiant sun.
