My throat constricted as I tried to swallow the tears, but I couldn’t; they flowed freely down my cheeks.
Did I hate God?
No. Never. God didn’t lie to me and distort things so that I believed the fabrication. If anything, God was my only source of comfort right now, my guiding light in this darkness.
It was Maz who I now reserved my hatred for.
My entire world had shattered, and she had to be in on it.
I nodded, unable to stop the flow of tears.
This man had saved my life more times than I could remember, and all I’d done was call him horrible things and try to kill him.
The app Izzy showed me could be fake, but I doubted it. Either way, I’d decided to save him. The empty feeling in my chest where he used to be was too lonely. I wanted him back.
“Drink,” I commanded, holding my wrist to his dry, cracked mouth.
His eyes flared orange, almost turning red. “Why?”
I looked down at him, searching myself for that answer. “Because right now I can’t imagine living without you.”
He was a blur of movement as he ignored my wrist and reached up to grab the back of my neck. Pulling me down to him, I felt the pressure of his lips on my neck, and then the addicting sharp pinch of his teeth sliding into my vein. Pleasure rushed through my system as I bit down on my moan. With each slurp, each beat of my heart, my headache eased, my thirst faded, and my bond to Luka opened up like a dam bursting.
Luka’s presence filled me up, enmeshing with the very core of me. It was like I’d gained a window into his soul. I felt him in a way I’d never felt anyone before. There was so much light in him, so much love and kindness, but also … a hidden darkness—a scared little boy who had been through unspeakable things. I gasped as his fingers wound into my hair, pulling me closer to him.
‘I see you, Aspen Rose.’His voice was like a balm to a wound that had been festering inside of me for weeks. I felt him probing at the edges of my mind, my soul, my heart. It was hard to explain, but whatever this was … it was magic. Whether it was good or bad, I didn’t know, but I did know that it had tied me to Luka forever in a way that I wasn’t sure I really would ever understand.
Feeling the blood pour out of me, easing all of my symptoms, Luka started to slow his gulping. This was by far the longest feeding we’d ever had, and I started to feel dizzy. Just then, he pulled away from my neck but didn’t release his hold on the back of my head. I pulled back a few inches until I was face to face with him. My red blood coated his lips, and his honey colored eyes regarded me in a way that I couldn’t explain. He had never looked healthier and more alive; there was a pink to his cheeks, and his chest was plump with rock hard muscle, dewy with a light dusting of sweat. He’d gone from near death to looking like he’d just come out of the gym.
“Aspen?” he whispered and my brain went fuzzy.
“Yes?” I panted, unable to make myself pull away from his light touch. He reached up and traced my cheek with his fingers.
“I think we need to kiss now and get it out of our system,” he stated flatly.
My eyes widened. Kiss him? That was so far against the rules that—
The rules were a lie though, weren’t they?
“I’m sure it will be awful and then I can stop fantasizing about it,” he added, which caused a halfcocked grin to pull at the edges of my mouth.
“I’m awful at many things. Scrabble, drawing, eating with chopsticks. But kissing isn’t one of them,” I said, and his eyes went half-lidded.
He was waiting, waiting for me.
Maybe he was right; there was obvious sexual tension between us, and one kiss could just smash it and get it out of the way.
I licked my lips, wetting them, and decided to just go for it before I could think on it any further. Leaning forward, I brought my lips closer to his.
“Oh good, you’re not dead,” Sawyer’s voice called from behind me, and I snapped my head back, my cheeks reddening.
Luka groaned, and I cleared my throat.
“Oh shit, sorry.” Sawyer seemed to have understood he interrupted something, which was beyond mortifying.
“I better check on Liv.” I stood as Luka sat up next to me. I stepped closer to the male alpha and pinned him with a glare. “Does this mean you won’t be killing everyone I care about?”
He grinned. “I’ve torn up my hit list.”
