My gag reflex kicked in, not giving me a choice.
I swallowed against my control.
And winced as the full flavour of what he’d given me exploded.
Copper and salt.
Blood.
My eyes flew open, locking onto his.
“More.” The bed dipped as he leaned closer. The shadow of his face hovered over mine like an eclipse. His fingers moved to my nose, pinching off my air.
My eyes widened in panic.
“Another mouthful and then I’ll let you go.” He held his wrist tight against my lips. “Do it.”
I thrashed but was no match.
His blood trickled down my throat—
I swallowed again on reflex.
He let me go.
My stomach churned as I shot upright, leaning over the edge of the bed to retch.
He pushed me back down with an arrogant sniff. “You throw that up and I’ll kill you right now.”
His eyes burned with truth. His voice full of violent certainty.
I gagged and slammed both hands over my mouth. The surge of nausea rose fierce and hot.
“You’ve been warned,” he murmured.
Fresh sweat broke across my skin as I broke out in shudders. The world came back into blaring colour, sharp and detailed. My tongue dragged over my teeth, tasting iron.
He was too close. Far, far too close.
I almost gagged again.
He raised an eyebrow, daring me.
Doing my best to think about anything other than the fact he’d just fed me hisblood, I blurted, “Why did you do that? What the hell were youthinking?”
Holding up his wrist, he revealed the decent cut he’d caused. A long thin line, red and sore sat directly in front of the silver cuff locked tight around him. He smirked at my shock. “Is this you trying to pretend,again, that you don’t know who I am?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not pretending.”
His smirk shifted to a scowl. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t really care what you believe. It’s the truth.”
He leaned back a little, the first flicker of uncertainty in his gaze.
A long moment passed before he muttered, “You truly don’t know?”
A tremble went down my spine that had nothing to do with the fact that he made every part of my body come alive and everything to do with the fact that beneath his hate and fury existed a depth of pain and loneliness so vast, it mirrored my own.
