Nick slammed his eyes shut again, but the image still burned behind his eyelids.
“Wake up,” he pleaded, voice cracking. “Wake the fuck up.”
But his tongue betrayed him, darting out to taste the metallic sweetness before he could stop himself. The flavor exploded across his taste buds. Copper and salt and something intoxicating that made his cock hard.
“No, no, no,” he snarled, but his tongue swept out again, chasing another hit, while every nerve ending fired at once.
Slowly this time, Nick opened his eyes. The blood remained. Reality crashed down.
His clothes felt too tight, too rough against his hypersensitive skin, his erection straining painfully against his zipper.
That scent. That overwhelming scent that had pulled him toward Logan like a starving man to a feast. The fog that had descended, obliterating thought. Logan’s pulse, visibly throbbing beneath delicate skin, had called to him, drowning out everything else.
Nick pressed his palms against his eyes until stars burst behind his lids, but it didn’t block the memory of that vein pulsing, promising, begging to be pierced.
His breath came in ragged gasps. Too much sensation. Too much need. The walls of his room seemed to press inward, the air too thick to breathe, as that same clawing hunger rose again, demanding more.
A soft knock. "Nick?" Logan's voice, steady through the wood. "We need to talk."
Nick's heart jolted at the smell drifting through the crack beneath the door. His nostrils flared involuntarily, his head turning toward it before he caught himself and jerked back.
Logan's blood still stained his face. Nick lunged for his bed, his fingers closing around a T-shirt. He raised it to his face with trembling hands then froze.
His breathing slowed.
Panic receded like a wave pulling back from shore, replaced by something worse.
A deep, tranquil certainty that he would rather die than wipe away a single drop of that precious crimson nectar.
Nick breathed in deeply, pulling the delicious fragrance farther into his lungs. No more chasing scraps on his lips.
In that moment, nothing else mattered except sinking his sharp teeth into soft, giving flesh and satiating his need for blood.
Letting the shirt fall to the floor, Nick walked toward his door then opened it to the most tempting sight imaginable.
Logan’s pulsing vein. The sound of his heartbeat.
Nick took Logan’s hand and tried to draw him deeper into the room, but Logan snatched his hand away, shaking his head.
Why is he being so difficult!
“I can see it in your eyes.” His gaze swept over Nick’s body. “I can smell it. Can practically taste your hunger.”
A soft, taunting laugh escaped Nick. “Then feed me.”
He thought Logan would stiffen, appear offended. He just stood there with an unshakable confidence that pissed Nick off.
“I made two calls while you took your time to process this.” A tight smile pulled at Logan’s lips. “Glad you used the time wisely.”
“Are you going to feed me or talk me to death?” Nick snapped. This wasn’t him. Nick wasn’t a cruel person. He couldn’t even bring himself to kill spiders. Instead, he scooped them onto whatever sturdy surface he could find and set them free outside.
“One was to my alpha.” Logan stepped forward, crowding Nick, but Nick refused to cower.
“Alpha.” That word should hold maybe some kind of significance, but Nick couldn’t think clearly right now. Didn’t want to. Not when what he craved most stood in front of him, taunting him as if he was daring Nick to attack.
“Careful,” he said, matching Logan’s calm, casual tone. “I’m really not feeling myself right now. I wouldn’t suggest goading me.”
Nick’s nose twitched. Under the intoxicating scent of blood was something untamed and earthy. Predator, his mind whispered, though he had no idea what to do with that information.
