Unfortunately, the answer was no, but they did direct her to a boutique grocery store a couple blocks away that sold a variety of specialty foods, including synthblood.
Normally, she wouldn’t have bothered. Harlan fed the previous night, which typically meant he wouldn’t need anything more for another twenty-four hours. However, the longer he slept, the more she worried that he would need the extra energy when he woke. Who knew what becoming a walking, talking magical filter did to a person’s appetite?
After she finished her breakfast of eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and a side of fresh fruit, all served on a funny little cloth-covered cart, Zia checked on Harlan one more time.
Peering into the dark bedroom, she found that he had moved into her vacated spot to bury his face in her pillow. He was on his stomach, the sheets twisted around his hips, and appeared more or less dead to the world.
Okay, he’ll definitely be hungry when he wakes up,she decided, closing the door once more.
After making another quick call to the front desk to extend their stay, Zia put on her jacket and boots to venture outside. Worried that he would wake up and fly into a frenzy when she was gone, she left him a quickly scribbled note on the hotel stationery explaining that she stepped out to get him something to eat.
She knew that he wouldn’t be happy to hear she had gone out for a bit by herself, but she wasn’t about to ask one of the guards to run a five minute errand for her. Not only was it a holiday — one they werealreadyworking — but it was a task she was happy to do for him. Besides, it wasn’t like she was venturing into a desolate part of the city by herself. It was a five minute trip in the most populated part of San Francisco.
According to the concierge, the little grocery store was only two blocks away. She would be fine.
Tugging her hat over her ears, she shoved her phone in her pocket and slipped out of the suite. A quick scan of the ID chip in her palm would unlock the door on her return. In the meantime, Harlan would be safe and snug as a bug in their suite.
Despite that knowledge, a brittle sense of unease edged into her giddy mood, its presence increasing with every step she took toward the bank of elevators down the hall, but she refused to let it bother her too much.
Ofcourseshe felt uneasy. They had a fresh bond so tightly woven, it made every instinct balk at the idea of leaving his side for even a moment. It felt unnatural to walk away.
But, she sternly reminded herself, it was only five minutes. Ten minutes at the maximum. Soon enough she could change back into her pajamas and tuck herself underneath the covers with him until he finally woke.
The air outside of the hotel was crisp and wet. Around her, people walked by in thick coats and high heels — some nocturnal folk on their way to work, and others perhaps headed to holiday parties. The street was lined with shops and high end bars, every single one of which was decorated in some holiday paraphernalia. Lights were everywhere, and window displays were opulent.
She had been to San Francisco on school trips before, but never as an adult, and not during Burden’s Moon. It seemed like every square inch of the city was decked out for the holiday, and all the people who passed her had somewhere important to be.
The sidewalk was faintly bouncy under boots as she followed the concierge’s directions. Though she wanted to stop and look at everything, Zia tried to hurry. They would come back for a longer, less tense visit.Thenshe could explore.
She found the grocery store easily enough. Lanzo’s Fine Foodswas just across the street from a piano shop and a stationery store, and it was one of those places that clearly tried to capture some European magic in its aesthetic. It was small and seemed to specialize in luxury and imported specialty foods, which suited her just fine. They had Harlan’s preferred synthblood in stock, so she bought a six pack and quickly headed back out, the handles of the paper bag dangling from the tips of her chilled fingers.
On her way back, she stopped for a moment to look in the window of a high end baby supply store. They had gone all out for their window display. Fancy strollers burst out of synthetic snowbanks, and a great silver moon hung behind a cascade of baby booties suspended from the ceiling.
Soon,she thought, biting back a smile.Soon.
Prying herself from the window and the temptation to peek inside the store, just to get a feel for all the itty-bitty baby things, Zia crossed in front of a narrow alley. She didn’t notice the parked SUV there, nor the man who leaned against the wall by the passenger’s side, just out of sight until it was too late.
ChapterTwenty
Harlan wokeup with a splitting migraine.
He groaned as he turned over onto his back. Every muscle ached. Even hisinternal organshurt. It was like he’d been kicked from the inside out. Repeatedly.
Disoriented, he struggled to recall how he’d gotten this way, or even where he was.
The last time he felt this bad, he’d nearly gotten himself killed doing one last favor for Dora. Killing her eldest son was a damn near herculean task. That sociopath had nearly broken every bone in Harlan’s body before he managed to get a bolt through his skull.
The discomfort he felt as he reluctantly swam back to consciousness wasn’t quite as acute as the injuries he sustained four years ago, but it was just as pervasive. Every inch of him hurt..
He was also fuckingstarving.
Hunger cramped his stomach in a rolling wave as instinct took over. He was nothing but raw urges when his claws dug into the silky sheets, pawing the space beside him, searching for a warm body he knew so well.
He needed Zianow.He needed to plunge his fangs into her tender throat and gorge himself as she welcomed him into the tight heat of her cunt. Instinct knew that feeding from his anchor would take the pain away, that it would soothe this awful, pounding ache in head. It knew that she would be soft and pliant under him, and that the more venom he pumped through her precious veins, the sooner she would be fertile.
That deep, animal need to see her sated and flush and bred was a dull roar in his mind, growing louder and louder with every desperate swipe at the tangled sheets.
They were bonded now. They were one in all ways. He could—
