Page 27 of The Fang Arrangement (Celestial Witches #2)

I t all happens so fast. One moment I’m staring at Warin, ready for him to come clean and finally explain everything to me, and then the window shatters in front of us and Warin is manhandling me under the table.

Endorphins are rushing through me, and my heart is raging in my chest as Warin groans. It’s taking my mind a few moments to realize what’s going on.

“Samantha!” Warin’s voice roars.

His hand is on my back, and he’s arched on the floor. I can’t see his face.

Warin is hissing and panting when I finally see the stake protruding a few inches from where I was sitting. With trembling hands, I touch my face, deep-red blood drips on my fingertips and my hands tremble.

The pain finally radiates through me. There’s definitely a shard of glass from the window in my thigh and I whimper.

“Are you hurt?” Warin’s voice says, his hand on my hip, but he doesn’t look at me. His voice sounds garbled, like he’s wearing a mask.

“Some glass, and I think maybe the stake sliced my face,” I say. “What about you?”

He shakes his head, still looking toward the floor.

“Warin?” I question, grabbing his shoulder.

“Samantha will be here soon. You go with her, she’ll keep you safe.”

“Warin, what’s wrong?” I slide my hand further up his shoulder.

When he turns to face me, I gasp. He’s no longer the charming vampire I was having brunch with. His face is nearly unrecognizable. It’s almost like his face was pressed into a bonfire, and unlike the other time I saw him injured, he isn’t healing.

I swallow thickly, my first instinct to reach out for him. “Warin, what do I do?”

He pulls away from me, looking back down at the ground.

“Just go with Samantha. I can’t. I can’t be around you right now.”

“What? Warin, we have to get you somewhere safe. We need to get you healed. Is there a reason you aren’t healing?”

“Yeah, the dumb motherfucker hasn’t fed and has sustained two serious injuries,” Samantha’s voice says behind me.

She’s covered head to toe in black, not a single inch of skin in sight as the sun beams behind her.

“Leave me. I’ll figure it out. Take her to safety,” Warin says.

“Mmm, the sire bond is feeling a little weak. Just so you know, this wasn’t the Slayer,” Samantha says.

That information has him turning, and I can’t help but to wince when I see his burned face.

“Conner. That’s why the aim was so shit,” Samantha says, pointing a knife at me. “Now, are you done being difficult?”

“No,” Warin grumbles, nearly falling to the floor.

Samantha sighs.

“Here,” she says, handing me the umbrella. “I need you to guard him from the sun with this and take up his right side. I’ll carry most of his left. Achille is dealing with Conner. We just need to get him to the car.”

“I said leave me. Take her to safety.”

Even with Samantha’s eyes covered, I can sense her eye roll. “If I leave you here, will you feed?” she asks.

Warin is silent, and I glance over at Samantha.

“You’re such a pain in my fucking ass. Just tell her, Warin, tell her or I fucking will,” she seethes.

He doesn’t move and I decide maybe a softer approach.

“Warin, please come with us. My healing magic is just okay, but I’d feel a lot better knowing how you were doing. I’m not leaving without you.”

He looks over at me. His pretty eyes are hard to see.

“Are you manipulating me, witch?” he asks, and it sounds like he’s trying to laugh, but it sounds more like a gargle.

“Maybe I am,” I say proudly, popping open the umbrella. “Now, we’re getting the hell out of here—together.”

“My lot in life was to be surrounded by women who boss me around.”

“Aren’t you lucky then,” I say.

He groans as Samantha picks up his one side, and she truly carries most of his weight. I’m mostly here to make sure I block out the sun with the umbrella.

Warin is stiff next to me and I think back to the time I pulled the stake out of him. He seemed perfectly fine the next time I saw him. Joyce also healed super quickly when he staked her with the coffee table leg.

“Blood will help?” I ask, mostly to Samantha.

“It will more than help. It’s exactly what he needs. The stupid fuck hasn’t fed since?—”

“Enough,” Warin interrupts, even though it takes all of his strength.

I hold on to his waist, making sure that no more of the sun’s rays touch his skin. I glance back, realizing exactly where the stake is embedded in the booth. If Warin didn’t move me as fast as he did, if he didn’t risk the sun exposure, I’d be dead right about now.

I hold him closer, and he moans, but I’m not sure if it’s from the pain he’s in or something else.

“You’ll be okay, just keep moving,” I say gently.

“Seriously, War, when did you get so fucking heavy? Take some bigger steps, fuck,” Samantha complains.

Mostly because of her strength, we make it through the kitchen. The staff is somehow emptied out, no one in our way as we make it to the backdoor.

“Okay, it’s a tight squeeze. Be super cautious with the umbrella,” Samantha reminds me.

I give her a sharp nod. “I’ve got you, Warin. It’s going to be okay.”

With the utmost care, I make sure that the umbrella covers his skin as Samantha all but hefts his larger form into the backseat. He grumbles and makes pained sounds as he lies on the backseat. I have to basically crawl over him to take a seat next to him, placing his face on my lap.

“You torture me,” he rasps out.

“You don’t have to talk,” I tell him, not knowing where to put my hands. I don’t want to cause him any more pain.

Samantha gets in the driver’s seat, pulling the balaclava off her face, her dark hair falling around her.

“Fuck this. He has the restraint of a fucking saint, you can’t risk going into bloodlust with her bleeding like that. I’m barely holding it together.”

“Samantha,” he growls out her name.

“No. This is enough. He won’t drink from anyone else but you. It’s why he’s weak, why he isn’t healing. He’s been starving himself. Maybe if he hadn’t already taken a stake to the stomach he’d be fine, but he won’t heal, not unless he drinks blood.”

Samantha drops that bomb and turns to face the steering wheel, backing out of the alleyway like a bat out of hell.

“Is that true?” I ask softly to Warin.

“It’s not your problem,” he says plainly.

“You saved my life back there. I’m the reason you got burned,” I say softly.

Without him, I wouldn’t be here. If it’s my blood he needs, that’s an easy sacrifice. It’s more than guilt over him saving me and being injured, there’s this pull to him I’ve been denying myself and seeing him hurt is sending an ache through my chest.

“I can help you, I want to help you,” I say, looking down at his poor face.

“Take us to the bunker,” Warin whispers so softly, I’m almost positive I didn’t hear him right.

“You’ll need to be back before nightfall,” Samantha says from the driver’s seat.

Warin doesn’t answer, and he noticeably doesn’t respond to my offer or look at me. Not knowing what else to do, I place a hand on his chest, knowing that hasn’t been burned. There’s no heartbeat, no movement. But when his gloved hand covers mine, a sense of relief fills me.

My plan today was to run away from him, and instead I had to convince him to let us leave together. I’m not sure what’s happening, why I feel this way, or why I can’t stop it.

But as Warin holds my hand, as he sits there in pain, I’m starting to realize that there’s no way I’m ever truly escaping Warin. What’s more confusing is I don’t think I want to.

The drive isn’t long, the road is unpaved, rocks hitting the side of the vehicle as Samantha zooms down the dirt road. Warin is clearly in pain, but doesn’t complain about Samantha’s reckless driving.

We finally reach the end of the road. All I can see is a large hill. It would be easily climbable. Samantha puts her balaclava back on, and glances back at us, casting a worried glance.

“Ready to hold the umbrella again?” she asks, and I nod, grabbing it, popping it open in the car as Samantha opens the door.

Moving Warin is harder, and it has my stomach filled with lead. I have my own injuries, but I don’t even feel them as we round the hill. Samantha leans Warin against the grassy mound, opening up a panel.

She inputs a code and the mechanism whirls as a door slides open.

I was expecting a military bunker, but the space is actually relatively cozy. A red and brown Turkish rug takes up the majority of the space, along with a queen bed and a small kitchen area.

Samantha hefts Warin up on the bed, lying him down.

“I’ll be just outside,” she says, more to me than him.

She doesn’t linger, rushing out the door, the harsh metal clanging in her wake.

I sit on the bed, pushing all my pinkish hair to the side of my neck. I’m sure he can hear how wild my heart rate is. I’m really about to do this, aren’t I?

I’m offering myself on a platter for the vampire who’s tricked me, lied to me, and stalked me. But he’s also taught me, protected me, and saved me.

While I’m not sure those things completely cancel each other out, it feels significant.

“Drink, Warin,” I tell him.

He doesn’t stir, and I look down at him, trying not to have a reaction to how he looks.

“Is this the equivalent of a pity fuck?” he grates out and I can’t help but to laugh.

“We’re friends, right?”

“Mmm. Do friends let friends drink their sweet, magical blood?”

At least he seems to be getting a bit of himself back. Though he attempts to hide his burned face from me.

“In the same way, friends don’t let friends get staked in the face.”

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” Warin whispers.

“Might be a little difficult if you aren’t at full strength, wouldn’t it?” I say, exposing my neck even further.

“You don’t know what you’re asking, angel.”

“Warin. Drink,” I say more sternly.

He leans forward and I look away, taking a deep breath. His gloved hand tenderly holds my hair as the heat of his face radiates against my neck.

“Where’s your wand?” he asks.

“Here,” I whisper, holding it in my hand with a white knuckle grip.

“If I go too far, if you feel faint, you stun the fuck out of me. It’s…it’s been a long time since I’ve fed from someone and I’m weak. I don’t trust myself.”

“I’ve been bleeding since the incident. If you were truly out of control, you would have lost it by now. I trust you.”

The words feel right and wrong at the same time.

I do trust Warin with my safety. As far as other things go, I’m not sure. But deep in my bones, I know that Warin would never hurt me, never intentionally.

“You’re so fucking perfect,” he says, right before he sinks his teeth into my neck.

I expect pain, a sharp bite into my neck that stings. Instead, it’s a tantalizing mix of pleasure and pain as he drinks from me. I’m writhing on the bed, but not from pain, only pleasure.

Never in my life have I been this aroused. No fantasy, no man, nothing has ever made me feel like this.

Every nerve ending feels like it’s on fire, a flaming inferno that I don’t want to be put out.

I can’t help myself as I lean into Warin, his strong arm wrapping around my waist, as he holds me against his chest.

Masculine moans fall out of his mouth as he drinks me down, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so powerful.

It’s like this sexual need and desire that I’ve never felt is finally blooming to life and I might just be addicted, I want more.

I’m consumed with greed and want.

No man has ever made me come, but something tells me I might just be able to finish from this alone.

Warin grips me harder, his thumb grazing the underside of my breast, and I can’t help but to moan.

I want more, so much fucking more with this vampire and in this moment I don’t feel shame. All I feel is unadulterated desire.