Page 72

“Yeah, he said it was not an accident.”

“I will have to thank him for that.” Then before she worried about the next step, Arman pushed the hair away from Fiona’s neck and she offered it to him like a human who was under a vampire’s charm would do. Only she was a huntress, and she couldn’t be charmed in that manner. Which was just the way he wanted it. Her choice entirely.

He licked, she chuckled, and he extended his canines, not showing them to her for fear of making her afraid of him and sank his teeth into her neck. He drank from her blood and then he sealed the bite marks. He kissed her again, waiting for her canines to extend, stroking her tongue with his until he felt her canines start to grow. He realized since she would have so little control over them to begin with, they would probably extend every time they were kissing.

Levka said telepathically, “What is taking you so long? We’re waiting on you for dinner, Arman. You and Fiona.”

“Coming.” Arman didn’t want to say anything more than that. Not when they were trying to complete the blood bonding. “Do you want to bite my wrist or neck?”

Fiona looked a little dazed. “Hmm.”

“If you’re afraid to bite me, I can bite my own wrist and you can drink my blood that way.” He hoped she didn’t back out on him now, worried about going through with it. Though if she did, they could try later. Maybe her teeth would extend given time.

She licked his neck. That tickled, which was why she probably had laughed earlier when he had done that to her. But she didn’t bite.

“Arman?” Levka persisted. Maybe he was worried about them.

“I don’t mean to rush you, but Levka is worried about us not joining them for dinner.” Arman bit into his arm and offered his blood to her. “My sleeve will cover the teeth marks and then we can keep the secret from everyone. If you bit my neck, everyone would see it.”

She was eyeing his blood.

“You have to hurry, or the wound will heal enough that the blood will be gone, though I’ll still have the puncture marks for a while.”

She took his arm and hesitantly drank his blood, but then really had a taste for it. Though he was glad she was alright with drinking his blood, he finally had to stop her. “Okay, that’s enough for you for now. You can drink some more from a cup when you need more. Let’s join the others. I’ll hold onto you, but you try and take us down to the bottom of the stairs, not to the dining room in case you land in the wrong place.”

“We did it.” She was so bright eyed when she gazed up at him, full of wonder and she appeared happy that they had done it.

“Yes, and Levka will be up here momentarily if we don’t go downstairs.”

She wrapped her arms around Arman. “How do I do it?”

“Imagine you’re at the bottom of the stairs.”

The next thing he knew they were at the bottom of the stairs…in the swimming pool.

“Ohmigod,” she said, both of them standing in warm water up to their waists.

He laughed. He couldn’t help himself. This was going to be interesting. He told Levka, “I turned Fiona. We’re in the swimming pool again. As soon as we get changed again, we’ll be down. You can tell our friends, no one else.”

“Not even Fiona’s parents or brother?”

“Not yet.” Then Arman said to Fiona, “Okay, take us to our bedroom.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. The more practice you have, the better you’ll get at it.”

“Thanks, Arman.” Then she tried this time and got the bedroom right.

They hurried to change, but before they went downstairs, she gave him a hug and a kiss. “Thanks for understanding.”

“I have to admit I hadn’t expected to be standing in the pool.” He chuckled again. But this time, he took hold of her and transported them to the dining room. They took their usual seats while everyone was passing around a casserole dish of lasagna and a platter of garlic toast. Several glanced in their direction and Arman figured they were curious about what was going on.

Arman wondered if Levka had told their friends what had happened.

Then Levka said to Arman, “We’ll tell our friends after dinner, since you don’t want to mention it to the others and we don’t want to accidentally give away the secret.”

“Thanks, Levka.”