Page 7 of It's in His Bite
It took a long, silent minute for me to absorb what it said. Rhiannon squealed first, and then I shrieked. My laptop fell out of my lap as I leaped to my feet and grabbed my phone. Both of them were laughing and hugging each other.
“You’re going to France!” Rhiannon said excitedly, a grin brightening her face. Tessa’s mirrored hers.
“I’m going to France,” I echoed. My own smile felt like it might split my face, all of the nerves falling away from me in a sudden rush. Not even Landon’s freak out was enough to dampen the moment. “I’m going to freakingFrance.”
Icoasted through the morning, the happy warmth of excitement of getting the internship bolstering me even as the snow continued to come in large, sweeping sheets. It was almost enough to ignore the small part of me that noticed Landon hadn’t returned from wherever he had gone. Tessa, Rhiannon, and I chatted for over an hour, coming up with the best ways to tell my parents. With their promise that they wouldgrab the supplies for the present we came up with, I settled in for a simple lunch in prep for starting all of the paperwork.
And, god, was there a lot of paperwork. By the middle of the afternoon, I was buried in the bureaucracy of it all. Travel plans and visas. Housing and banking. There was a required French language course I hadn’t completed during undergrad that took me nearly a half hour to just sort out when and where it would be possible to complete while there. And then there was all the information and permissions I needed to gather as a dhampir. Agreement from the nearest vampire clan. Acknowledgement from the local coven. Signing all of the secrecy laws and local ethic codes.
By the time the front door opened, my eyes vaguely ached and a headache pulsed just behind my temples. My stomach churned with hunger. The bites itched and almost burned, the anti-itch cream I’d put on after the call with the girls having faded. I looked up from my laptop, shocked to find the sun setting, the snow seemingly endless.
Landon stopped just inside the kitchen, his entire body frozen as our gazes locked. His cheeks were flushed a dark red from the cold, and snow slowly melted off his shoulders and head.
“Get your steps in?” I asked, keeping my voice dry, trying to break the oppressive silence.
He snorted, rolled his eyes, and then crossed to the fridge. He pulled together ingredients and turned on the stove, not saying a word as he made a small batch of spaghetti. I couldn’t help but stare at him, the rest of the paperwork in front of me forgotten. He wore a different sweater than yesterday, this one a deep forest green that was nearly identical to his eyes. Instead of slacks, he wore thick sweats, the kind skaters used to keep warm when not directly on the ice rink.
He looked so damn good. It should be illegal for anyone to be that attractive after doing only God knew what in the blizzard all damn day. That slow, rolling heat flared out from my belly, and I clenched my thighs on instinct.
Without thinking, I scratched the bite marks. One of the scabs ripped open.
“Ah shit,” I muttered.
Landon turned around in an instant, his eyes catching on my hand in a matter of seconds. He scowled, abandoning the half-finished food, and pulled the wound care bin from the cabinet, bringing the entire thing over to me. I didn’t wait for him to help me, though, quickly pulling a pack of gauze and pressing it to the bites, hoping he’d stay that full step and a half away from me for the sake of my sanity. My throat was dry already, and my stomach swirled with new nerves.
Luckily, it only took a few minutes of applying pressure for the bleeding to stop and my skin to scab over again. I carefully poured out two drops of Mom’s healing tonic, wanting something a bit more secure than just a scab. God knew I would manage to forget again and scratch it during the night.
The entire time, Landon didn’t utter a word.
I tried to say something again, tried to keep him from realizing how my body was responding to him just being in the room. “Hovering over me is just as bad as snarling, by the way.”
He still didn’t say anything. Finally, I risked looking at him. He stood across from me, his hands clutching the island, his knuckles white. His eyes were locked on the bites, his eyes slowly flicking between the bright red and jewel green. Even as his jaw clenched, there was a small flash of his fang against his lower lip.
Understanding hit me like a freight train.
Of course vampires needed blood daily if their hosts were purely human. Had he not found a single host while gone today?
“You’re thirsty.” It was a statement, but my voice was breathy enough it came across a bit unsure.
He sucked in a breath, his eyes staying red for an entire minute before flicking back and forth again. His nails lengthened, the telltale claws sharpening and pressing into the stone surface of the counter. And still, his eyes didn’t drift from where the bites on my neck no longer bled.
“Landon?” I asked, trying to keep from making him feel defensive.
I was used to vampires and their hungers, yes, but I’d also seen what that unchecked power could do—not including dumbass cafe dude. Tessa hadn’t lost control often, but the moments I’d seen were enough to leave a permanent etching on my mind. My brother’s moments were even worse.
His chest rose, and then his eyes did, too, locking with mine. “Yes.”
“You need to feed.” Again, a statement a bit too breathy to come across as confident. My thighs clenched at the idea of his lips pressing against my throat, of his fangs sinking into my skin. I’d never let a vampire with a beard feed from me. Would it scratch me?
“Yes.” It was a guttural, primal groan.
Lightning shot straight down my spine and tightened my nipples, but I tried to breathe through it. He wouldn’t want anything more than my blood, but I couldn’t seem to care at the moment. I knew I only ever offered my vein if I would get pleasured, if it would lead to something carnal. But I didn’t dare entertain that thought now. Just knowing the feel of his bite would be enough to fantasize about for years, a memory I would hold close in the quiet, dark moments.
Without a word, I held out my wrist in invitation.
His fangs grew even longer, cutting into his bottom lip.
“Joshua will kill me.”