Page 11 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 11

SUMMER

My heart thundered in my chest as my rooftop garden reappeared around us, and I quickly shifted out of my wolf form.

I was torn between relief we’d escaped, annoyance and anger that Max had vanished us out of there, fear that we’d nearly died or been kidnapped or whatever Grigor had intended with us, and exhilaration from all the adrenaline.

And possibly the tiniest bit intrigued at seeing Max go all hardcore like that?

No, nope.

Hands on my hips, I settled on annoyance and whirled on Max, who practically choked at the sight of me. Naked.

I ignored the way his blood-spattered cheeks reddened as he struggled not to gape at me. “Seriously? After everything we just witnessed at the den, you’re a prude?”

Then he collapsed to one knee, gripping his arm, and my annoyance evaporated as I rushed forward.

“What’s wrong?”

Lifting his hand, I saw the stake sticking out of his arm, blood dripping down it, and my hand rose to my mouth.

“Oh, shit. Will that kill you?”

Through gritted teeth, Max panted, “It’s fine. I just need to get it out.”

“Okay, okay. Crisis mode. Down in the kitchen, I’m sure I have something we can use —”

With an agonized grunt, Max yanked the stake out of his own arm. It clattered to the ground, and he slumped to the floor, rolling onto his back and panting hard.

I gave him a minute to collect himself, pulling a throw blanket off my patio set and wrapping it around my shoulders.

“What the hell was that?”

I lowered onto a patio chair, watching his chest carefully for his breathing and listening for his heartbeat. It was slowing to a more regular beat, and eventually he pushed up off the ground with another groan. Lowering into the chair across from me, he ran a hand through his sweat-slicked hair. Voice hoarser than usual, he said, “ That was exactly what I was talking about and why I told you we can’t do this. It’s way too fucking dangerous.”

“We barely spent ten minutes there! All you two did was debate whether Quentin and I were property to be claimed, and by whom. And why are we back here?” I gestured to the Rocky Mountains around us, and my blanket slipped, still covering my nipples but just barely. “Half my wardrobe is in Boston!”

Max’s gaze snapped down to the table, his hands clasped as he drew in a deep breath. “I can get your stuff later. Right now, we need to let the heat die down in the city. Every vamp in the city is going to be on the alert for us after I staked one of them and you broke their duke’s leg .”

I couldn’t help it. A tiny smile broke out from the corner of my mouth. “That part was kind of badass.”

“Unbelievable,” Max muttered as he stood and then staggered, his hand shooting out to grip the top of the table. He stiffly paced up and down the rows of vining plants along my rooftop, unaffected by the crisp bite in the spring night air. Rubbing a hand over his face, he spun back towards where I sat. “Not everyone can just be won over with a smile and a joke and a spinach croissant, Summer.”

My chest twinged, but I only said, “Okay, but we didn’t even try the croissant, so how do we know? Riddle me that.”

Max glared at me. “Do you have any idea the trouble we were just in? If we hadn’t managed to get out of there, and Grigor kept you as a pet like he threatened? Or worse, Turned you?”

My smile dimmed, remembering Grigor’s words. That part had shaken me up. Hearing the way they talked about their Sources as pets — and referring to me that way — had thrown me off, and I’d blind reacted. Just followed my gut and spoken up impulsively. And truthfully, I didn’t know enough about vampires to know if I even could be Turned. Not exactly a question I wanted to ask West over family dinner, if he’d even know himself.

Maybe my mouth had moved a little faster than my brain.

Still, now I had a better idea of what a den entailed, and I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. For all my flaws, I knew for damn sure my strengths too — I was a fast learner.

“But he didn’t,” I reminded Max, whose scowl deepened. “And we got out of there, no harm no foul.”

Anger seemed to shimmer around Max at my words as he paused his pacing, his shadow powers darkening the night sky behind him. But even with how little time we’d spent together, I could tell they seemed dimmer than before, weakened.

“No harm, no foul, huh?” he seethed, his eyes locking onto the now-dried blood trailing down my neck. His tongue darted out, licking his lips, then he wrenched his gaze away.

I rubbed at it, brushing the blood off my already healed wound. “Just a scratch. A flesh-wound.”

He put his hands on the table, leaning down over me with a growl. “ No . Spilled blood is not acceptable, especially not in a den. Do you understand what the scent of fresh blood does to a vampire? It’s like a drug, a tempting high that’s almost impossible to ignore. Add in that you’re not human, and you’re that much more tempting. You’re done.”

Squinting, I leaned into his space, our faces mere inches apart. “I’ll be done when I say I’m done. Like you just said, I’m not some damsel human. I’m a full-blooded wolf shifter, and I heal exceptionally fast. That wound was closed and gone almost as soon as it happened.”

He shook his head, stepping back, visibly frustrated which only seemed to egg me on. No way would I let him go back into a den alone — he kept talking about how dangerous it was for me, but what about him? He hadn’t exactly received a warm welcome as Dante , whatever that was about, and the thought of him walking into danger alone had me clenching my jaw.

“Why can’t you understand this is too dangerous? Even now —” He broke off, jaw working.

I threw my hands up, tired of him leaving out information. “Even now, what ?”

Max met my eye again, his face hard and unreadable as he contemplated answering. His gaze dropped to my lips, then my neck. “Even now, you’re in too much danger.”

I almost laughed, but stifled it. “From you?”

“Yes,” he gritted out, gesturing to his arm. “I was injured back there — fucking staked — and it makes it harder to” — a flicker of shadow danced across his skin, lacing up his arms — “control myself. With you.”

I frowned, gripping the blanket in one hand as I stood and reached towards his arm. I figured once he got the stake out, he’d be healing quickly, like a shifter would, but the wound still oozed blood. “Are you okay? How fast do you heal?”

“I’ll be fine,” he snapped, pulling back out of my reach, and I dropped my hand back down to my side.

“Are you always this bad a liar? Because if so, I can’t fathom how you ever managed to be undercover.” That was a lie — the man literally walked in shadows, only revealing himself when and where he wanted to. And whatever the rumors were in the vampire world about this Dante were enough to have even vampires recoiling from him. Add in the angel powers I’d never seen him use, and I could only imagine how deadly Max really was. A shiver ran through me, and I pulled the blanket tighter around me.

“It might take a little longer for me to recover,” he ground out. “Staking affects our magic, even if it isn’t through the heart. Add in the vanishing with the stake and…” He sighed.

I took a tentative step forward, but didn’t reach for him this time. “Do you need blood?”

His eyes blazed red, then blue again. “ No .”

“Very convincing.” I nodded, puckering my lips in a sarcastic frown. “Look, I had yours, you can have some of mine. It’s only fair.”

“ Fair? ” he snarled.

I took another step, but stopped when he stepped back. “You’re clearly in distress. I can help. It’s no big deal.”

Max closed his eyes, letting out a heavy breath. “Summer, no. We cannot go down that road.”

“Worried you won’t be able to get enough?” I tried to lighten the mood, flicking my hair over my shoulder with a smirk. He didn’t so much as blink, his gaze intent on mine, then falling to my neck. The air tightened between us, the silence of the night deafening as suddenly I could only hear the pounding of my heart.

In an instant, he disappeared from in front of me, and his fingers wrapped around my jaw, the warmth of his body pressing against my back.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about, fiore.” My breathing hitched as he tilted my head, exposing my neck further to him. “Do you know how sweet you smell to me?”

My pulse thundered, but despite everything I’d seen Max do tonight, everything I’d heard about him, I wasn’t afraid of him. He wouldn’t hurt me. “I want to help you.”

A low, pained growl rumbled against my back, and I couldn’t help it. I leaned back, my body melting against his.

His next words came out in a gravelly murmur. “Oh, Sweet Summer.” His lips ghosted my neck, a shiver skittering down my spine as my core clenched. “How could a shadow resist your light?”

Fangs sank into my neck, cool and sharp, and I gasped. I sagged back against him even further, and his arms wrapped around me in an unyielding grasp.

My nerves burst like fireworks. With every passing moment, my body caught fire, craving his like I’d never experienced with anyone before. Suddenly, the orgy of the Boston den made a whole lot of sense, since the only thing I could think about was his body filling mine, taking mine, in every way he could. A whimper escaped me as his arm around my torso brushed my nipples, my blanket long since puddled at my feet.

“Max —” I breathed, rocking back against him, reaching for him —

But in a heartbeat, his fangs yanked from my neck with an audible gasp on his end. I whirled around, fully ready to launch myself at him, but he took one look at me, his eyes red and wide, and he vanished.

Alone and aroused on my roof, I blinked hard, pulling fresh air into my lungs in gasps. My shaking fingers traced his bite mark on my neck, already healing, as my heart raced.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?