“For godsakes, Shae! What the hell are you doing? Didn’t I tell you to stay put?” He swept her up into his arms and crossed to the livingroom.
“Dagan,” she sighed, curling her arms around his neck. “I want to change and go seeMom.”
“Later, when you’ve rested. You’re not going to be any good to her if you’resick.”
Her loud exhale sounded a lot like a grumble as he set her on the settee. “You know best, ohmaster.”
He popped the soda and handed it to her. “It’s good you knowthat.”
She rolled her eyes. It didn’t deter him. He waited. Once she’d drunk some, he took the can, set it aside, then put the tray on her lap. “Eat.”
“You know I’m not an invalid,right?”
At her argumentative tone, he cut her a dark look. “If you won’t take care of yourself, then Iwill.”
Scrunching her nose at him, she uncovered the plate, picked up the spoon, and paused. “You know what’s weird? I haven’t eaten any Dextrose in the last two days, and I didn’t feel dizzy at all. Actually, all I felt was this energy and heat spiking inside me until you took myblood.”
He stared at her for a second. With her growing powers, it could be possible that parts of her were changing. “No matter, I’m not taking chances with your health.Eat.”
As she made inroads in her meal, Dagan sat on the coffee table, his mind on something else. Hell, he still wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it. “Shae, what did you eat earliertoday?”
Lines puckered her brow. “Hmmm, I had a peanut butter sandwich and a banana.Why?”
His mouth kicked up in the corners. “Because I tasted it in yourblood.”
“What?” Her spoon clattered to her plate, her eyes darkening in worry. “Is that a badthing?”
“No. Just strange after all these millennia. It has just a hint of flavor…” he paused, trying to think of how to explain it to her. And failed. Hell, the only other thing he’d ever consumed was weak black coffee, water, or red wine. He’d completely forgotten the taste of solidfood.
“Like blood-flavored red wine?” sheteased.
Smiling, he kissed her on the pulse point that had given him the blessed relief he’d sought for a hundredlifetimes.
“What about the goddess? Didn’t you taste food with hers?” sheasked.
“No.” He sat back and studied her. Shae was beautiful with that coppery-red hair, porcelain skin, and her gold-gray eyes. More, she completed him on so many levels, and now this. “I don’t know what it is about you. You’re human, yet your blood fulfills me in more ways than Iexpected.”
“Well, I’m your mate,” she said, picking up her spoon again. “And I also have these abilities, maybe that’swhy.”
Perhaps.
After she’d eaten, he scooped her into his arms and put her back on the bed, pulling the covers over her. “I’ll be gone for the remainder of the night. And yourest.”
“All right.” She covered her mouth, smothering a yawn. “But I should check on Momfirst.”
“Your mother’s asleep. Hedori told me. It’s been one helluva night with your new power emerging, then me feeding from you. So try and sleep, Shae-cat, ‘cause when I return, you’ll wish you had.” He kissed her brow. “I’ll see youlater.”
She lifted her hand and stroked his whiskered jaw, her bracelets sliding back. “Okay.”
He pressed his lips to her wrist and saw the—fuck! With everything that had happened, he hadn’t had a chance to speak to her about themarking.
“Shae—” He drew her hand away from his face and sat on the bed. “When did you get thistattoo?”
She glanced at the thing, shrugged. “Probably after my dad died. I don’trecall.”
He had to unclench his jaw to explain what he’d learned. “This isn’t a tattoo. It’s a mating mark. Aza put it on you, and since you have no recollection, he probably blocked your memory of theincident.”
“What?” Her eyes widened in horror, then she glanced at the brand and wentmotionless.
