Page 96 of Desired for Her Blood

“How long do I wait before giving her blood?” Axe asks.

“Feed her now!” Ryker shouts. “Can’t you sense that she’s fading?”

But I’mnotfading. At least I don’t think I am.

Instead, I’m drifting in an ocean of warm liquid, stimulating and soothing all at once. I can’t move, but don’t care. Can’t see, but don’t need to.

Another explosion shakes the cave.

Rocks splash into the pool and smack against the stone floors in an orchestra of quasi-sounds that ripple through my protective cocoon.

The three men bend over me, and it takes a moment to realize that it’s them and not the imaginary liquid that’s sheltering me from the falling debris.

My heart, barely beating, expands with my love for these men, and I wish more than anything that I could take all three in my arms, but my body still refuses to move.

The rock shower ends and they straighten to kneel around me.

I want them bent over me again; I miss being in the cave formed by their bodies. But then the scent of blood fills my mind, and everything inside me lights on fire at once.

Still unable to move, every cell inside of me reaches out, trying to locate the sweet, thick potion my body senses and so desperately craves.

A hot drop of blood hits my lips.

I try to lick it, but my tongue won’t work, nor will my jaw.

My cheeks are pinched, forcing my lips to part and blood drops onto my tongue. With it, a sharp sting invades my body, spreading from my mouth to every last part of me.

As badly as I wanted blood, as badly as I still crave it, it hurts, burning not only where it lands on my tongue but everywhere else inside me.

Axe drops his open wrist to my lips, and my mouth fills with so much blood I’m forced to swallow—or am I doing it on purpose? I can’t even tell, as the pain intensifies, overwhelming everything else.

How can I crave something that hurts so badly? But Idocrave his blood and suck harder as my throat remembers how to swallow.

I’m just barely aware of anything beyond pain, but know that I’m actively sucking, drawing more and more blood into my body even as it feels like a million hot knives are stabbing inside me.

I grab Axe’s thick wrist to hold his open vein against my lips, driven by pain and need, and something else I can’t name.

Voices shout, hands tug on my arm. Fingers pinch my cheeks, trying to force me to release my hold.

I refuse.

The flow of blood has slowed, but still I want more. I want every last drop.

The pain crescendos.

I release my latch over the wrist to scream in agony, and the piercing shriek saturates my senses, removing everything I feel except for the pain that spawned it.

Then that sound fades too, even as I feel it still scraping my raw throat.

Now…now all that is left in its wake is pain—utter pain and complete darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Axe

Ryker pulls backon my shoulder and I fall away from her body, so pale and still as she lies on the furs.

“You fucking killed her!” he shouts.