“Well, that man kissed me and told me to get back to the hotel,” she reminded him. “My memories of him aren’t overly fond ones.” Though she would forever remember the searing heat of her first kiss and the passion it awakened in her.
“And the man before you is a monster.”
She clasped his hand against her throat and held it there. “The man before me saved my life and can be whatever he chooses to make himself.”
“You don’t know the things I want… the things Ineednow.”
“No, but I know what I can give you to help ease your need. Allow me to do it.”
A stronger man would have stepped away from her; two weeks ago,hewould have stepped away from her, but his gaze remained fastened on her neck as his need to kill became replaced by a compulsion to taste her.
When his hunger beat against her, Simone released his hand and lowered hers. His fingers caressed her skin before sliding around to cup her nape. Those exquisite tiger’s eyes and his touch burned into her flesh until she felt consumed by the power of him. She played with fire by allowing him to do this, but she found herself throwing open her arms and plunging into the blaze.
Her life had been tossed into a tailspin when she was taken and turned; since then, this was the first thing to happen that sheknewwas right.
Simone held her breath when he bent his head, and his warm breath tickled her throat. His fangs scraped her flesh, and she braced herself for the agony to follow, but she would handle the pain, as he’d managed it when she fed on him.
Then his fangs sank into her flesh, and Simone stiffened as she fought her instinct to shove him away.
The first drop of her potent blood hit his tongue when he felt Simone’s resistance building against him and a sliver of her pain teased his mind. He craved the misery of others, but notSimone. Retracting his fangs, he pulled away from her.
“What… what’s wrong?” she stammered.
Killean caressed her nape as he gazed at her pale face and upturned chin. “I won’t hurt you.”
“But it always hurts.”
He mentally kicked himself for being an idiot. Her only experience with having someone take her blood had been a brutal one. Yet, having endured Joseph’s vicious assault on her, she still willingly offered him her throat all while expecting to have to suffer again.
After everything he’d said and done to her, she still wanted to help him. His life had been brutal, what happened to him as a child forever altered him, but she’d experienced her own horror. She’d watched many she loved die, while others were twisted into something else entirely, yet the beauty of her soul remained untarnished. He’d called her a dolly, but he was the one broken by his past, while hers strengthened her.
He’d never hated himself more. Simone washismate, and she deserved so much better than him. He’d never wanted to be a better man before, but he did now, for her.
“I underestimated you,” he murmured as he bent to kiss her forehead then the tip of her nose. “You’re no doll; you’re a warrior and a stronger one than me.”
Simone didn’t know if he was playing with her or not, and if he were playing with her, she would hit him again. “I’m no fighter. I don’t even know how to throw a proper punch.”
His thumb ran over her full bottom lip as he held her gaze. “Not all warriors are fighters,” he murmured. “Some warriors never back down and give much of themselves to help others while making the world a better place. You arethatkind of warrior, Simone. Though Iamgoing to teach you how to protect yourself better.”
“I plan to learn.”
“You deserve better than me as your mate.”
Simone frowned at him. “Give yourself some credit, Killean. Many wouldn’t have come for me; many wouldn’t have been brave enough or strong enough to do what was necessary to get in there and back out again. I’m here because of you, and I’m offering my blood to you. I’ll endure the pain like you did when I fed on you.”
His smile robbed her of her breath as it lit his eyes, and she caught a glimpse of the happier man he might have been if not for that horrific night of his childhood. But she didn’t want him to be a different man; she wanted this dark and twisted soldier.
“I experienced only ecstasy when you fed on me,” he told her. “You’re a young vampire and didn’t allow yourself to open to my feelings, but if you had, you would have discovered that having you drink from me is one of the greatest joys of my life. The other is knowing the honeyed taste of your orgasm.”
Her cheeks burned, but whether it was from his blunt words or the desire they awakened, she didn’t know.
“That day on the beach was the first time I felt desire for a woman in nearly a hundred years,” he continued.
“How is that possible?” she blurted.
“When a purebred vampire reaches maturity, they begin to hunger for something so incessantly it starts to take them over. For me, all I wanted was death. Eventually, it eclipsed my desire for women and anything else, until you. A mate can curb the appetites of a pureblood while bringing that vampire back to life in many ways, which is what you have done for me.”
Simone opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out.
