I swallowed and tried to take a step back, but Ethan snagged me around the waist. “Uh uh,” he said. “You aren’t running away from this one.”
My fingers closed over his arms. “I—there’s nothing to worry about. I declined. Someone else will help me. If I?—”
“Is my blood not good enough for you?” he asked softly.
I exhaled. “That’s not it at all, and you know it.”
“Do I?” he questioned. “You seem adamant about asking another Lord. Anyone except me.”
“Ethan. Things are complicated between us. A vampire bite is an intimate act.”
“I assumed from the blissful look on Cernunnos’s face,” he said dryly.
A surprised laugh bubbled from me. “I can make it pleasurable is all I’m saying, and if I were to take from you, I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’d hurt Caelan or Soren?”
“I don’t care about them as much as I do you. I’d take the steps to mitigate their pain or have them withdraw blood for an IV. There are things I could do to prevent any discomfort.”
“And me?” He brought his palm up to cup my cheek.
I shook my head. “I refused for more than one reason. Cernunnos is curious about you. Too curious. If there’s a blood link between us…”
“Would he know if there was?”
“I don’t really know. If it were anyone else, I’d say no. He has a way of knowing things no one else should.”
Ethan grunted.
“If you were willing, we could use an IV?—”
His arms tightened around my waist. “Darling, if I were to feed you, I’d require a tap straight to the vein and your lovely lips locked around my throat.”
I blinked, desire flooding my veins. I tried one more time to step away. This felt too raw, too intimate for my current situation, but Ethan’s grip was like iron.
“And if I were to feed you, my condition would require I be the only one whose blood you consumed.”
I shook my head. “This is why we can’t, Ethan. There’s too much history between us. You complicate things for me.”
“And Cernunnos is not complicated?” He let out a raw laugh. “He’s a god, Moira. There are few more complicated things than that.”
“He is what I need at this moment in my life,” I said quietly. “Despite what you might think, he is good to me.” With a gentle but firm push, I stepped out of the circle of his arms. “I was wasting away, Ethan. Slowly but surely starving to death without knowing why. He saw me and helped climb out of the hole I had no idea I was digging for myself.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “And you believe you owe him.”
I shook my head. “No. But he deserves my loyalty and fidelity. We made a commitment to each other, and I won’t be the person who goes back on my word.”
His nostrils flared, and I thought he might argue with me. Instead, to my surprise, he slowly nodded. “Fine then. My condition stands, though. If you are feeding from me, you’ll feed from no one else. Tell Cernunnos if he agrees, I will allow this.”
Why did all the men in my life insist on irritating me?
“I could bite you right now and you’d be helpless under my touch,” I snapped.
Ethan’s lips twitched. “You think you’d be so immune to me, Moira?” He took a step forward. “I recall how fast your heart beat when I touched you. How ragged your breath grew.”
I turned around and stomped away. “Forget it. I’ll ask Caelan!”
In a heartbeat, he stood before me. “No. You won’t.”
