Page 19 of Desired for Her Blood

“Someone go to her,” Axe says, his voice strained. “I can’t…I can’t be around her right now.”

Zuben dives, barely making a splash as his body cuts through the water. He doesn’t surface so he must have gone straight past the waterfall.

Shit. Assuming Ember is still horny from drinking my blood, I’d have liked to be the one to take care of that…But what if the space behind the waterfall is too small, too confined? Perhaps it is best that Zuben has gone to get her.

Panic threatens my chest again, and shaking my head, I turn toward Axe who’s bent over, hands on his knees. He’s trembling.

“You cold?” I ask. “Fire’s going strong.”

His back heaves, changing shape, his spine seeming to expand under his skin, but then it contracts again.

“You planning to go all bear on me, buddy?”

His body undulates again and a strangled groan erupts from inside him.

“Hey, promise not to eat me, okay?” I say.

Whether or not he’s about to shift into a bear, the guy is obviously going through something. “Oh, shit! Is Ember pissed about what Tavi tried to make you do?”

I take a few steps toward him. “Want me to talk to her? What almost happened, it wasn’t your fault. Octavia is a total bitch.”

Axe shakes his head, but then drops down to a crouch, head in his hands.

I approach him slowly. In this position, the angry monster between his legs juts up so far it could hit his chin if he bent his head forward a bit. Can he suck his own rod?

“You okay?” I ask, grateful to have someone else’s breakdown to worry about, instead of my own.

He straightens, shaking his head. “I’m fine.” He draws a deep breath. “Being around her when…it’s very hard for me.”

“I can see that?” Grinning I nod toward his circus-tent-worthy pole.

Much to my relief, he grins too. My joke was a risk. It doesn’t seem smart to anger a dude who can turn into a bear.

“Haven’t had to deal with this thing—” Axe glances down “—for a very long time.”

“Sorry to hear that mate.”

He shrugs, then walks over to the furs by the fire and sits.

I join him, sitting well away.

“Zuben went to her?” he says looking toward the waterfall.

I nod. “He was already stripped down for a swim.”

Axe puts his head in his hands again. “He’s going to think I’m an asshole.”

“For leaving her back there?”

“For leaving her tied up.”

“Tied up?” My eyebrows nearly shoot off my face. “Uh, you’re going to need to give me more info on that one, buddy.”

Raising his hands, he turns toward me. “I didn’t hurt her. Honest. I would never. I just…I needed to keep her hands away from…” He looks down.

“Ah.” That sheds some light on what happened between them, and I guess I don’t need to pry any further. This conversation is clearly making him uncomfortable, so I change the subject.

“Ever try to swim out of here underwater?” I ask.