Page 28 of Donovan

My feet tangled in the underbrush, and I barely caught myself, my breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

The second vampire crouched low, its fingers digging into the dirt, lips curling into something that might have once been a grin. It was playing with me.

I swallowed hard.

Were there more of them in these woods? Was this their territory? The question spiraled in my mind, but I couldn’t afford to waste time.

The first one snarled, its jaw unhinging as it lunged again. I ducked just in time, feeling the sickening brush of its fingernails against my shoulder.

My instincts screamed at me to fight, to run, but the second one was already moving.

It was quicker than I expected.

I twisted to the side, barely avoiding the swipe of its claws, but the first one took advantage of my distraction.

Its hands wrapped around my wrist, vice-like, its grip cold as death.

A searing pain shot up my arm as its nails dug deep into my skin.

I bit back a curse, yanking my arm free, stumbling backward. The wound burned, but there was no time to dwell on it.

The first vampire’s head twitched at an unnatural angle, its nostrils flaring as it scented the air. Its hunger was almost palpable, radiating off of it in waves.

The second one let out a chittering sound, like laughter.

I had no doubt now.

They weren’t just feral. They were starving.

And I was their next meal.

CHAPTER SEVEN

DECLAN

The painin my chest was suffocating, gnawing at me, a hunger deeper than anything I could have imagined.

It was there, always there, a gnawing emptiness that nothing could fill.

It had only been a day since I’d turned, and yet I felt like I’d been carrying this hunger with me for a lifetime.

The wind whispered through the trees, the distant murmur of a creek pounding against my eardrums.

And worse the scent was everywhere in this cabin, overloading my senses. Donovan.

That intoxicating, heady scent of him wrapped around me like a blanket, a feverish desire crawling under my skin, making my muscles twitch, my veins ache.

I could taste him in the air, and my thoughts grew clouded with the need to have him, to sink my fangs into that perfect column of his throat.

To claim him the way my instincts demanded.

I couldn’t do this to him.

I had promised him, promised him I wouldn’t become this thing. I had asked him to end me before I turned, before the monster inside me could take control.

But now, it was too late. The darkness had already consumed me, and every day I would be more and more lost in it. I was a danger to him, to everyone I once knew.

I stumbled away from the cabin, my legs weak beneath me. The hunger twisted in my gut, pulling me, pushing me.