It was enough blood. Enough to sate a little of the roaring, aggressive hunger coursing in my body.
And it could never be enough. I wanted more…and it made me feel like a villain.
I’d only taken from her. Taken more than I had any right to.
My gaze dipped below the surface of the water. She was sitting, hugging her arm against her breasts, but I could still see the firm roundness of her lower belly.
“Allow me,” I said, reaching for her wrist when I saw the bloom of red swirling in the water. When she held out her arm, I felt a fierce surge of hunger at the overpowering scent of her blood, but I merely healed the wound before releasing her.
Words escaped me. I only wanted to be near her. I only wanted to force her to cling to me because I’d been lost without her. But if I did that, she might hate me even more than she already did.
Familiar determination began like a tiny seed in my chest before growing, rooting,spreading. It carved itself deep into my bones and flowed through every vein like a racing river.
I would win her back.
I’d had her love once, hadn’t I? Until my ego and my anger had forced her away.
“You’re with child,” I said, trying to soften my rough voice. “My child.”
I felt better than I had in weeks…but seeing her shoot me a wounded look made me feel worse.
“Yes,” she said. “Like I told you in my letter.”
The feeding, however small it had been, was giving me strength and energy like a blast of sunlight when I’d been in darkness for so long. But as such, it was making my wet clothes feel all the more constricting, and so I pulled them from me. Erina looked away, turning her head resolutely to the side, though she should not have been embarrassed by my nakedness—not with her mate.
But she didn’t even know that important fact,I thought, a stab of guilt hitting me.Because I’d hidden it from her knowingly. I’d blindsided her tonight, and that should’ve never happened.
She’d deserved to know. From the very beginning. Instead, I’d hidden my need for her into a contract of all things, meant to keep her close, tied to me like a leash without allowing her the respect of knowing the truth.
“What letter?” I asked, knowing I needed to keep calm.
“I’d rather not have this conversation naked in the bath with you,” she said.
“Tell me,” I said, keeping my tone gentle. “Please,” I added.
She blinked at the word but then, the kind-hearted little human she was, gave in. If our positions were reversed, I would’ve told myself to fuck off. Vehemently.
“I wrote to you when I found out about the pregnancy,” shesaid, meeting my eyes. Warm brown and beautiful, I’d missed them. “I…I’d been scared. I didn’t know what to do.”
Why not ask Luc for help?I couldn’t help but wonder. But that was another conversation for another time.
“So I wrote to you,” she said, her brow furrowing in a tiny glare. “And the letter I got back was dismissive. It said that the validity of the pregnancy couldn’t be proven and that if I tried to contact you again, it would be ignored. Then tenvronlanded in my creditory account as a means of a payoff, I can only assume.”
I kept the rage in check, but only barely. My nostrils flaring was the only sign of the war within me.
“You sent your letter here?” I asked slowly.
“Yes,” she replied, lifting her chin. “It looked like your signature.”
“Do you still have it?” I wanted to know. Though I thought that if I saw it, the mere sight might send me into a rage.
“Yes,” she replied, and I could only imagine the reasons that she’d kept it. Perhaps to remember…
“I didn’t get your letter,” I said, my tone clipped and certain. “And I certainly never sent you that one back.”
“I figured as much,” she replied quietly. “You…you were surprised when you saw me like this. You can’t fake that kind of surprise.”
At least she believed me about that.
