Page 55

“Yes.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to be patient. Instinctively, she knew to give him his space if she wanted him to open up to her, strange as that sounded.

“There’s more to it than what I told you earlier.”

She waited for him to elaborate. He didn’t. “Like what?” she prompted.

He stared down at her, and then paced away. Keeping his back to her, he stared out the doorway and down the dark passage. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to tellher.

After a few seconds, he turned around, but still kept his distance. “I told you that I knew the moment I tasted your blood, you were meant forme.”

“Yes.”

“I told you I needed you tolive.”

“Yes, you need to drink blood to live. I get that. I’m familiar with vampires, although you’re the first one I’ve actuallymet.”

“No, little mouse. I need your blood to live. I can no longer drink from another and survive. Once mated, a vampire can only feed from his mate.” He glanced up toward the ceiling. “Well, let me re-phrase that, I could choke down their blood if I was desperate enough, but I would still die. It would just take a little bit longer.”

“So, if something happened to me, it would mean the end ofyou.”

“Yes.” As Laney absorbed the fact that his life was now, literally, tied to hers, he added, “There’smore.”

She couldn’t imagine what more there could be, but she asked anyway. “What?”

“As my mate, you are now as immortal as Iam.”

Her arms fell to her sides. “Would you repeat that, please?”

“You’re immortal now, little mouse. You will stop aging. You won’t get sick. You won’t die of natural causes.”

“How does that happen?” she asked. “Just from you drinking fromme?”

“No. From you drinking fromme.”

Oh. “So, if I don’t drink fromyou—”

“Your body will pick up where it left off and you will start to age naturally again. You will also become susceptible to illness once more. But as you can see, it would behoove me to keep you alive. The longer you live, the longer I can survive.”

“So in a way, my life is as dependent on you as yours is onme.”

“No, for you would continue your natural existence if and when I die. I would not, if anything were to happen toyou.”

A sharp pain shot through her at his words. “Don’t talk like that, Dante.”

His black eyes narrowed on her. “Why not? If I die, you will be free of me. Isn’t that what youwant?”

He was right. The thought should make her happy. Yet, it didn’t. Not at all. It did nothing but cause herpain.

“Little mouse,” he whispered, his expression reflecting the anguish she was feeling. Between one heartbeat and the next he was across the room and right in front of her again. “What are you saying?” His voice was raw to her ears. One hand reached out to touch her, but dropped it before it made contact.

She stepped away and refused to look at him. Not ready to reveal the chaos of her feelings just yet. Besides, it appeared she didn’t really need to. He invaded her feelings just like he invaded everything else. “I don’t think I said anything.”

“Laney—” His cell phone rang again. With a growl of displeasure, he answered it. “I’m coming. No.” His jaw set in a stubborn gesture. “I said no,” he growled. “I need a minute.” Hanging up, he shoved the device back into his pocket. “I have to go upstairs, there’s some shit goingon.”

He sounded worried. The nuance in his voice was slight, but she caught it. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know yet, but they wanted me to bring you upstairs.”

“And you’re not going to.” She didn’t bother trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.