11
Declan
Her eyes widened,and he could hear her heart racing. “Y-you want me to…drink your…blood?”
“Yes,” he said, dropping her hand at the horror in her voice. Pushing to his feet, he started to pace. “Riley, I feel a connection to you, and I do not like the idea of this world without you in it. And I can see it in your eyes. You do not wish to die.”
Riley pressed back against the cushions. “You really think your blood can…fix me.”
“I think it would be folly not to try.”
As the sun rose, painting Declan’s flat screen monitor in the palest of blues and pinks, Riley’s emotions flowed into him like a river. Regrets. Sadness. Longing. She did not wish to leave this life. “Please,acushla.You will not turn into a vampire. The worst that will happen…is nothing at all.”
She started chewing on her lip again, and Declan wanted to brush his thumb over the abused flesh or—even better—kiss her so she would not be able to injure herself further.
“Okay,” she finally whispered, uncertainty, fear, and desire churning in her green eyes.
Declan let his fangs descend and sank them into his wrist. The pain flared up his arm for a split second, but he cared little. His life was full of pain, and he would heal quickly. As the blood welled, he threaded his fingers into her hair, angled her head, and pressed his wrist to her lips.
She stiffened, a hint of her panic skittering along his skin, but as she swallowed, her entire body relaxed into his embrace. “A little more.” Declan concentrated on his heartbeat, willing the blood to flow, and after he thought she’d taken enough, he whispered, “Run your tongue over the wounds, Riley. It will help seal them.”
When he pulled his wrist away to show her, it was unmarked, and her brows lifted, a faint smile touching her lips. “That’s…wow.”
“How do you feel now?” Declan took her hand, watching her nail beds flush a healthy, pink.
“Like…I could run a marathon. Or go hiking for hours.” She gasped as he showed her the change in her skin. “Oh, God. It…worked?”
“For at least a time, yes.” The urge to sleep pulled at him, as it did with the arrival of each sunrise. “I must rest soon. But…will you stay?”
She looked so unsure, and Declan tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then grazed her sweetest vein. She shuddered, almost flinched, and pulled away. “After you fed from me, I could still feel the marks. It was nice. Like…a little tingle or spark. But now…it just hurts.”
He could not abide her pain. Nor the way she seemed to shrink back against the leather cushions. Reaching out his hand, he let his fingertips graze the subtle reddish marks he could still see. To anyone else, her skin would appear perfect, but his enhanced senses picked up the slight swelling. “May I…?”
Riley nodded and held her breath as Declan slid closer. Cupping the back of her head, he kissed all along the vein, dragging his fangs over her skin, but being careful not to draw blood. He would not give her any more unpleasant memories.
The kisses were chaste by any standards, but his cock rocketed to attention, and Riley seemed to melt against him. “Better?” he asked.
His breath ghosted across her skin, and her sweet scent wrapped around him. “Y-yes. How…?”
“My bite can heal,” Declan whispered. “As can my blood. The animals who attacked you could have sealed the wounds in your neck with ease…had they wanted to.”
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Declan willed himself to breathe, to memorize her scent, in case she walked out of his life and he never saw her again. She turned her head, her lips inches from his. But before she kissed him, Declan’s phone rang.
“Fuck,” he muttered as Riley jerked away from him. Striding into his bedroom, he snatched the phone from his coat pocket. “Shannon, choose your next words very carefully, mate.”
“Why is Patrick’s gang after you?”
“Shite. Because Patrick’s time on this earth has ended, and I had a hand in it. But I did not do it alone.”
Riley hovered in his doorway, her lower lip trapped between her teeth again. Declan extended his arm, hoping she would take the hint and let him hold her. When she didn’t move, he angled the phone. If she came closer, she could listen.
With a little huff, she fitted herself to his side and he relished her soft curves against his hard lines. “What do ya’ mean ya’ didn’t do it alone? There isn’t a vampire in Dublin—save me—who doesn’t think yer a feckin’ idjit.”
“Hunters. Three of them. Including a tall, lanky one I’ve seen before. The arse shot me.”
Riley deflated a little, and realization washed over him. She’d been certain he was going to “out” her to Shannon. To tell another vampire about her blood and what it might be able to do. He shook his head and mouthed,“Never,” before turning his attention back to the phone call.
“Well, stay out of Dublin for a while. Patrick’s death left them all fuckin’ feral. Stephen’s gone rabbit, and there be rumors he’s sick. And Mickie’s been on a rampage. He’s killed two women in the past twenty-four hours. I’m not leavin’ me apartment—or lettin’ Mary out of me sight—until this all blows over.
