“She is!” A man answered, who looked to be in his early thirties. He was tall, slender, and had blond hair so pale it was almost white. He reminded me of a less handsome human Sterling. “That’s my mistress. I’m her personal blood donor, gifted to her by Lord Thorn. We arrived late last night.”
“Go get her, please!”
He gave a dutiful nod and bounded off, leaving the rest of us to lug Vincent up the stairs and into his room. Once we managed to haul him onto the bed, I climbed onto the mattress with him.
When Kenzie ordered the other blood donors out of the room, I lifted my teary eyes to her, blinking those tears away in desperate confusion. “Why did you send them away? He needs blood. His wounds are bad. He’s going to need every drop we can find.”
“Princess. You’re not wearing any clothes. I’m not sure what you’ve been through, but it looks likea lot.You should take some time to collect yourself.”
I blinked and looked down at my bare body. The only thing that covered me was the crusted body paint depicting Vincent’s raven familiar and the fresher smear of his blood. Glancing back at her, I gave a slow, aghast shake of my head. “I don’t need time to collect myself. My mate is dying, Kenz! Now really isn’t the time for fucking modesty.”
The girl flinched, and her gaze dropped to her feet. “He needs more blood than we can give him, Princess.”
I stared at her for a few uncomfortable beats before waving her away and returning my attention to Vin. “So what you’re saying is he’s going to die.”
“He’s badly hurt.”
There were no lies there. He looked like utter shit. His flesh was soggy and flaking off as if he’d been steeped in water for a week.
A bitter taste filled my mouth as I dropped my fangs. “I still have to try. Thank you for your help, Kenzie. Really. But you can go now.”
Kenzie sucked in a breath and tensed up like she wanted to argue some sense into me. At least she knew me enough to know her efforts would be futile because she left without a word more.
“I’m not going to let you die. I fucking promise you, Feral,” I mumbled to my mate, even though I was sure he couldn’t hear me at this point. His eyes were closed, his skin paler than chalk, looking more corpse-like than ever.
I sunk my fangs into the underside of my wrist and tore a gash large enough for my blood to spill out in a steady trickle. With my other hand, I worked my fingers into Vincent’s mouth and pried his jaw open, forcing him to take me.
When my blood hit his tongue, his eyes snapped open with the first drop, making me jump. His orbs were the deepest shade of red, and they sliced into me with an almost palpable force.
“Vin—”
Before I could get out anything else, he flipped on top of me, caging me against the bed with his body. He latched onto me like an angry leech, suckling from my wrist like he hadn’t known the taste of blood in weeks.
Expelling a sigh, I settled into the bed beneath him, enjoying the feel of his weight bearing down on top of my chest. Warm. Carnal. Violent. And very much alive.
It wasn’t long until the door to Vin’s room opened. All I could make out over Vincent’s meaty shoulder was a head of bouncing blonde curls. “You’re a fool, Princess.”
I smiled at Lavinia’s voice. A second later, she approached the bedside and slammed an old-fashioned carpetbag onto the nightstand. “Firstly, you shouldn’t have allowed this hybrid to take you away to Fairie in the first place. They don’t have doctors there. Secondly, you should have waited until nightfall to make your return.”
“We kind of had to leave in a hurry….”
She gave a “harumph” and rustled in the bag. “Thirdly, you should have waited until I got here before you offered him your blood. Since he’s in a survival state, you’ve essentially got what’s a youngblood with the weight class of a troll on top of you.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
Her lips pursed into a frown. “He might. He’ll need more blood than what you’re able to give. So he could very well drain you dry. And then there’s the matter of your vampiric blood. Even though you’re mortal, it’s still very potent and very much an aphrodisiac.”
Her nostrils flared with her inhale. “And it would appear that you’re in heat, Princess.”
My throat constricted. I closed my eyes, trying to steady the roar of my heart. “He won’t. Not without my permission. I trust him.”
Lavinia’s blonde brows wrinkled, emphasizing her obvious doubt. She turned to her bag and began withdrawing bottles and bags of various shapes and sizes. “I have some blood here, but I doubt any of this will be enough to sate him.”
Lavinia opened one of the bottles, the cork topper making a loud pop, and held it out to Vincent. His chest rumbled with a growl, but he didn’t let up from my arm. The doctor tried another, then another.
“We’ll have to get the other princes in here to pry him off before he kills you.”
“I’m fine.” My voice didn’t come out reassuring at all. In truth, I was feeling a bit light-headed, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
