Page 26 of Bewitched By a Vampire

“Sleep, Night,” she murmured softly. “Rest easy.”

He nodded and reluctantly turned away from her, hating the moment where her hand fell from his face. He trudged to his room, fighting a yawn, and looked back at her at the threshold. She smiled.

Gods, she was beautiful.

Both inside and out.

Night tore himself away from her and stepped into his room, closing the door behind him.

He stumbled to his bed, a dark wave rolling up on him, and flopped onto the covers on his front.

Sleep swept him up in its arms and he sank into it.

Thinking of Lilian.

Chapter 7

Night didn’t sleep long. His damned body didn’t allow it. Despite how tired he was, the instinct to rise had struck him shortly after nightfall. He had tried livening himself up with a hot shower, but the effect it had was already waning as he took one of his tailored black suit jackets from the wardrobe and slipped it on.

He covered his mouth as he yawned and padded across the room to his mini-fridge. Lack of sleep meant he needed more blood to keep his strength up. He opened the door and took out the canister he had debated drinking earlier that day. He unscrewed the cap and drank a little of the cold blood. Just enough to take the edge off his hunger and give his body the sustenance it needed.

And to stop him from daydreaming about Lilian’s throat beneath his lips.

He wanted to speak with her and he wasn’t sure she would appreciate him staring at her neck the whole time.

Night placed the blood back in the fridge and left his room. He checked her room first, but she wasn’t there, so he focused his heightened senses. They placed her in the wing beyond the staircase, so he headed that way and paused to check again when he reached it. Downstairs.

A female coming towards him bowed her head as he descended the wooden staircase, not lifting it until he had passed. After being so focused on Lilian the past few days, he had almost forgotten how servants were supposed to behave around a pureblood vampire of a noble bloodline. For some reason, the female acting submissive towards him rankled him.

He headed beneath the twin staircases and banked left, walking along the corridor towards the library. Maybe Lilian was there. He tracked her with his senses and frowned as he passed her. Before he could change course, someone knocked on the front door. His frown deepened as he pivoted to face the direction he had come and tried to sense who had come to visit.

A vampire, if he had to guess given the hour.

He started back towards the grand foyer.

Lilian appeared in view, hurrying along the corridor towards him, her dark hair bouncing against the shoulders of her short black dress with each stride.

“Is something wrong?” Adrenaline spiked his blood as he immediately prepared himself for a fight, the desire to protect her seizing him in an instant as her large amber eyes met his and he scented the fear that laced her blood.

She shook her head. “There are two vampires at the door who wish to speak with you.”

“With me?” He frowned and reached out with his senses again. “Is it Laurent and Renard?”

They were the only two vampires he could think of that would want to speak with him.

Lilian gave another shake of her head and swallowed hard. “One is your brother.”

She paled a little.

Night reacted on instinct, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him as the protective streak she roused in him demanded he make her feel safe and shield her from Bastian.

“I won’t let him bind with you against your will, Lilian,” he growled, his blood on fire and muscles clamping down on his bones as he sharpened his mind, readying himself.

Bastian was older and therefore stronger than him, but Night would do all in his power to make his brother see that what he was doing was wrong, even if it came down to a fight.

He frowned at his hand on her arm as he realised what he had done and said. Fool. This was Bastian’s house. His brother wouldn’t knock on his own door.

Which could only mean…