Page 80 of Trapped for Her Blood

“Feelings?” Discomfort squirms inside me. “That is accurate. Yes.” Of course I havefeelings,I reason with myself. That term is broad. I have not confessed anything.

“You sure?” he asks. “Because I would…Iwillkill anyone who tries to hurt her.”

“I would do the same.”

“Then…if you don’t mind me asking.” Stopping, he turns his head to look at me from the side. “When you were fucking her…”

My stomach tightens with shame.

“You seemed…detached. Like maybe youdidn’tgive a shit about her.” He frowns.

Relief floods through me. The bear did not detect the nature or depth of my feelings—feelings I am not yet ready to accept myself.

“She is human,” I reply, keeping my tone as cool as I can. “She is fragile. And I did not want to risk injuring her. What you interpreted as indifference was restraint.” On safer ground now, I feel my tight muscles unfurl. And what I said was truthful, if not the entire truth.

“Is thatallit was?” the bear asks.

Discomfort snakes inside me. I do not want to reveal the reasons I could not fuck her the way she deserves.

“You are correct to observe there was another reason for my detachment,” I tell him. “It is imperative that I remain objective with Ember. Her blood and its distinct attributes are the key to my life’s research. As such I cannot allow personal feelings to obscure my judgment.”

“Buddy.” Axel claps me on the back. “Don’t kid yourself. You’re way past that.”

Looking him in the eye, I’m about to object, but discover I have no major drive to do so. The idea that this man has recognized the nature of my emotional connection to Ember, even before I accept it myself, gives me comfort instead of the discomfort I expect.

And here, alone in this dark tunnel, it is like a cloak of kinship has wrapped around us both. Like this man could become something I have not had in centuries—a friend.

I know that it is too soon for that strength of connection, but it seems as if my emotional capacity has been exposed to some kind of accelerant. More effects of Ember, no doubt.

“Let’s get these clothes,” Axel says. “You’re clearly uncomfortable with nudity.” He grins. “We need food too.”

“Yes,” I reply as we pick up speed. “Ember requires food. Do you?”

He shrugs. “Only when I shift. The vampire needs only blood, but the bear…”

“Ember told me you were trapped as a bear for a very long time?”

“I was.”

“How did you survive?”

“Hibernation,” he says. “But now, even in vampire form, I could eat.”

We turn into the corridor that leads to the storage closet.

I stop. “Has the sun set?” I glance at the timepiece on my wrist to answer my question. It has.

“Why?” the bear asks.

“Psycho told me the gates here are guarded after sunset. Will we be able to access the storage room?”

Axe nods. “We don’t bother the guards, they shouldn’t bother us.”

“Best we refrain from any mention…”

“Agreed.”

We walk in silence, and as we turn the final corner, only a hint of twilight is evident, reflected down from whatever high portal the light comes through.