Page 55 of Cooper’s Passion

Anita gasped. With horror she stared at Yvette’s fingers that were now topped with sharp barbs. She realized that these deadly tools could kill her in an instant, and the thought that Cooper had the same claws if and when he transformed into a vampire made her shudder. She’d been in bed with him the last two nights, and had let him touch her and make love to her with those hands. She’d even allowed him to handcuff her, not knowing that he could have easily killed her with those sharp claws.

“Mom, you’re scaring her,” Cooper said.

“Well, she should be scared! She hurt you!” Yvette gave her a sideways look then motioned to something behind her. “Get me a bottle of blood from the fridge. He needs to heal.”

Anita followed the command instantly and opened the refrigerator. It was stocked with bottles and bottles of blood. They were all labeled with letters like A, AB and so on, and either a plus or a minus sign: blood type.

She looked over her shoulder. “Which blood type?”

“AB positive is his favorite.”

Anita took a bottle with the label AB+ bottled by Scanguards from the shelf. AB positive was also her blood type. Was that why Cooper had slept with her? Because he was drawn to her blood?

When she turned on her heel, she saw that Yvette was using a sharp knife to cut open Cooper’s chest wound, the one that had most likely pierced his lung. Cooper’s face was a mask of pain.

“Without anesthesia?” Anita rushed to him.

“Doesn’t work on vampires. Give him the blood,” Yvette ordered.

Anita twisted off the cap and handed Cooper the bottle, but noticed that his hand was shaking from the pain, so she held the bottle to his mouth and helped him drink it. As he drank, she saw his fangs elongate and peek past his lips. Fascinated, she watched him swallow, saw how the pain seemed to seep from his features, and how his breathing normalized.

When she swept her gaze up from his lips to his eyes, she realized that Cooper was looking at her. His brown eyes shimmered golden, and she couldn’t tear herself away from the sight. Whoever had coined the phrase that the eyes were the windows to the soul wasn’t wrong, because what she saw in Cooper’s eyes now was more than just his desire for her. She saw a part of Cooper now that he’d hidden from her.

When the bottle was empty, Anita set it down on the kitchen table. Then she suddenly felt Cooper take her hand and lead it to his lips. She held her breath. Would he bite her now that he’d regained his strength?

“This is gonna hurt.” The words came from Yvette and were directed at Cooper.

Anita shot her gaze to Yvette, who had widened the entry point of the gunshot wound and was now pushing pliers into the opening.

“Fuck!” Cooper hissed and dropped her hand.

“Hold still!” Yvette applied more force to the crude make-shift medical tool. “Anita, either hold him down, or distract him.”

It was easier said than done. She wasn’t strong enough to hold down a vampire. Had Cooper been human then she could have managed, but even in his weakened state Cooper was still stronger than a human male. It left her only one other choice: to distract him.

Against her better judgement, she cupped his face with both hands and sank her lips onto his. Cooper gasped and jolted for a brief second, before he swept his tongue into her mouth and kissed her. She felt an instant surge of pleasure charge through her body, heating her as if he was infusing her with hot lava. Her head was spinning again. She was clearly going crazy. Less than a half hour ago, she’d shot Cooper, and now she was making out with him as if they were two teenagers on the backseat of his parents’ car.

“I came as quickly as I could.”

The male voice made her sever the kiss. The man who’d entered looked like a more rugged version of Cooper and couldn’t be more than five or six years older than him.

“Haven, thank God!” Yvette said. “Help me with getting this bullet out.”

“Hey, Son, you okay?”

Cooper nodded.

Haven turned his gaze to her. “So first you shoot him, then you kiss him? Looks like you two have issues.”

Anita didn’t know how to reply. She looked at Cooper for help, but Cooper simply smirked. No help there. When Haven assisted Yvette in digging the bullet out of Cooper’s chest, Anita perused him more thoroughly. So this was Cooper’s father. She would have never believed it before tonight. No wonder his uncle and aunt and their spouses had all looked so young. That was the secret he and Wesley had whispered about: the secret that they were all vampires. But how did Haven already know that she’d been the one to shoot Cooper? Neither Cooper nor Yvette had made any phone calls on the way to the house.

Cooper suddenly let out a loud grunt.

“First one’s out,” Yvette reported and let out a long breath.

“Let me handle the second one, Baby,” Haven offered. Then he looked at his son. “Have you had enough blood?”

“Yes, I’m good, Dad. I can already feel my lung healing. It’s easier to breathe again.”

Anita had to agree with Cooper’s assertion. His voice was stronger again, and he breathed evenly. Was that how quickly vampires healed?

This time, Yvette held Cooper down, while Haven cut into the gunshot wound below his clavicle and proceeded to dig the bullet out. Anita had to look away, feeling queasy, though blood had never before bothered her. But seeing somebody she cared about being operated on without anesthesia was a little too much even for her strong stomach.

She didn’t understand why she wasn’t more disgusted by the fact that Cooper was a vampire. She still had feelings for him, and it was hard to admit that to herself. But right now, when she looked at how vulnerable he was, she regretted that she’d shot him.

“Bullet’s out, Coop,” Haven said.

“Thank God.” Yvette sighed and proceeded to wipe the blood off his chest with a wet towel. “You should rest until you’re fully healed. Sleep for a couple of hours.”

“Mom, I’m fine,” Cooper protested.

Anita caught his gaze on her, before he looked back at his parents. “I think I owe Anita an explanation.”

Anita swallowed hard, anxious about the things she would learn about him now. What if she didn’t like the truth? What if the truth was too difficult to swallow?