“And it didn’t make you sick?” I scanned his features, looking for changes. I found only positive ones—the circles under his eyes had all but vanished and the fine lines rumpling his brow were gone. I’d assumed it was the effect of sleep, but perhaps it was the effect of her blood.
“Not only does her blood taste like ours, but it has enhanced properties.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning . . . check this out.” He lifted their linked hands to his mouth, dragged the sharp tips of his canines across both their wrists, then pressed the weeping wounds together.
I hissed, expecting Bea to leap onto him and sink her fangs into his flesh, but only her pupils stirred, distending until a lone ruby rim remained. Nate pulled apart their wrists, then licked his clean, and displayed his wound.
Or the place where his wound should’ve been.
I snapped my eyes to his. “There’s no scar!” I looked at her wrist next. Not even a faint line remained either. “And you can still shift, Nate?”
He pushed his leather jacket sleeves up and coaxed out his fur.
“So her blood isn’t toxic,” I mused.
“It’s magical.” My brother’s smile was back with a vengeance.
“What about her venom?” I asked.
“We haven’t . . .” Her tongue darted out and swiped her upper lip as though hunting for residues of Nate’s blood. “We haven’t experimented with my venom yet.”
“Will you?”
“Yes,” Nate said at the same time as she shook her headno.
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
My brother frowned. “Babe, Lori’s venom was innocuous to shifters.”
I assumed he knew this because she’d fanged him. I wrinkled my nose, still finding it strange that they’d had a thing.
A shadow fell across Bea’s face, and I couldn’t tell if it gathered there because of guilt or jealousy. Perhaps a mixture of both. “We’re still not experimenting. If I took away your ability to shift, I’d never forgive myself.”
Nate sighed. “We’ll discuss it later.”
“There’s nothing to discuss.”
The air simmered between them.
Before an argument could break out, I said, “Your restraint was impressive.”
They both turned their attention to me, moods as tight as their bodies.
I gestured to my brother’s arm. “When Nate bled.”
She crossed her stiff arms. “I drank before you arrived.”
Nate sighed. “As long as she’s sated, she’s in complete control.” He placed a hand on her thigh, and although she didn’t cover his hand with hers, her posture relaxed. But then her shoulders squared. “We’re doing it now?”
I frowned. “Doing what now?”
“The blood pledge. Your boyfriend’s on his way.”
Nate’s eyes sharpened. As much as Niall and Nolan were enthusiastic about my fledgling relationship with our Alpha, Nate and Nash remained cautious.
I wished they’d both come around and accept it, but I supposed only time would soften them up.
