Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(32)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

Her brows snapped together at his possessive tone. “Does it matter?”

His eyes shimmered with a pure bronze in the moonlight. “Yes, it damned well matters.”

“Why?”

“I don’t intend to be stuck with that miniature pain in the ass.” He pointed toward Levet, who was busy sniffing a bush. “Besides, how do I know you’re not going for reinforcements to force me to the Oracles?”

She snorted. “As if I need reinforcements.”

“Then tell me where you’re going.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “My errand has nothing to do with you.”

“Shit, Jaelyn,” he growled. “Does everything have to be a fight?”

Her lips thinned as she squashed the urge to continue with their petty squabbling.

“Fine. I must feed,” she grudgingly confessed. “Satisfied?”

Expecting the aggravating fairy to step aside, Jaelyn wasn’t prepared when he instead reached out to grab her upper arms and yanked her hard against his body.

“No, I’m not satisfied.”

She glared at him in astonishment. Had he lost his mind?

Nobody manhandled a vampire.

Not unless they had a death wish.

“Well, that’s too bad,” she hissed, telling herself it was only her duty to the Addonexus that kept her from ripping out Ariyal’s throat.

Instead she planted her hands against his chest and shoved just hard enough to give her the necessary space to continue down the pathway.

“Wait.” He was once again standing in front of her, his expression set in stubborn lines.

“What?”

“Use me.”

“You?”

“I have blood.” He deliberately angled his head to expose the tempting length of his throat. “Drink.”

A piercing yearning shot through her, the vivid image of her fangs buried deep in his throat as he held her pressed tight against his body searing through her mind.

Oh … hell.

She was in trouble.

The sort of trouble that could get her killed if she wasn’t careful.

“No,” she muttered, wrenching her gaze from his neck to meet the fierce glitter in his eyes. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not the kind I need.”

“Liar.” His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb teasing at her lower lip. “Vampires find Sylvermyst blood intoxicating. I’ve had to kill more than one to keep them off my neck.”

She shuddered, her fangs aching.

“Hunters have a specific nutritional need.”

There was enough truth in her words to make him scowl in frustration.

“And where do you expect to find these nutritional needs?”

“There’s a town not far from here.”

“Will you hunt?”

She studied him in confusion. She’d been so shocked by her barbaric reaction to his offer of a vein that she hadn’t considered why the arrogant, highly distrustful fey would share his royal blood.

Now she studied him in confusion. “What are you asking?”

“Will you sink your fangs into another man’s vein?”

She blinked. Holy shit. Was he jealous?

“That’s none of your …”

“I made it my business when I took you as my lover,” he snapped, his head swooping down like a bird of prey.

She braced herself as his mouth branded her lips in a kiss that she felt to the tips of her toes.

For a crazed minute she simply savored the intoxicating pleasure that threatened to consume her. There was no logical explanation for why this man’s touch could overcome decades of brutal training, but the urge to rip off her clothes and beg for him to ease her throbbing desire was undeniable.

And why shouldn’t I?

A quickie in the cornfield might take the edge off and allow her to regain the icy control that was annoyingly elusive.

“No.” She shook her head, ruthlessly crushing the wicked temptation. She was in this stupid mess because she’d been weak. It wouldn’t happen again. “Last night … it was …”

The heat of his fey magic filled the air, as enticing as it was lethal.

“Try to claim that it was a mistake and I’ll prove you wrong, regardless of our audience,” he snarled, his expression warning that he wasn’t bluffing.

“Barbarian,” she accused, even as a deep, primitive part of her wanted him to make good on his threat.

To simply toss her on the ground and have his evil way with her.

Over and over and over.

“You’d better believe it, poppet,” he agreed without apology.

Appalled by her arousal, which was scenting the air, she yanked free of his arms and pointed a finger in his too-handsome face.

“Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking you own me.”

Her warning delivered, she shrouded herself in shadows and moved with lightning speed down the pathway.

There was no way she was going to risk being stopped again. Not when she couldn’t be trusted not to take the blood she so desperately craved.

She skirted several farmhouses where the humans were nestled in front of their televisions or finishing up the last of their chores. Not one would ever suspect how closely death had brushed past them.

Maintaining the thick shadows that kept her hidden from even the most perceptive demons, Jaelyn angled through a field of soybeans and then slowed her pace as she reached the outskirts of town.

It was set up in the typical Midwest style.

A few brick, colonial-style homes discreetly hidden behind massive oak trees that eventually gave way to the convenience stores and local hotels. Along the main street was a line of small shops that were shuttered for the night, and farther down a cluster of chain restaurants that glowed with neon invitation to the residents.

The side streets led to tidy, well-manicured neighborhoods where the humans covertly kept track of their neighbors while attempting to hide their own naughty secrets. And of course, on the fringes were a few of the more shabby neighborhoods where the residents were too busy surviving to give a crap what anyone else was doing.

Jaelyn ignored both as she instead crossed the parking lot that was shared between the junior college and the small hospital. She slipped through a side door, choosing the back staircase despite the fact she could have easily moved down the brightly lit hallways without attracting the attention of the medical staff.

Why tempt fate?

Bounding up the steps five at a time, she reached the upper floor in a matter of seconds and was shoving open the door to the closed lab. Just as quickly she was searching the refrigerator units that lined the back wall, pulling out three bags of blood and taking them to the high-powered microscopes that were set on the long table in the center of the room.