Once Bitten, Twice Burned (Phoenix Fire #2)(48)
Author: Cynthia Eden

The blonde looked scared. Of her boss?

Sabine glanced back at Ryder. His handsome face was hard. His fangs were flashing. And his eyes . . . she’d never seen them so cold. Usually, his eyes were bright. Glinting. Not icy.

His grip tightened on the glass, and a faint crack appeared, running up the side.

The blonde’s attention shifted to Sabine. “You don’t want the blood?”

No, actually, the sight of it was making her nauseous. Before she could speak, Ryder snagged her fingers. Brought her hand to his lips. “Sabine drinks from me.”

The chick’s eyes almost doubled then. “Y-you let . . .”

Ryder shoved the glass away. “And I drink from her.” Then he was rising and heading for a narrow, wooden staircase in the back. When Sabine put her foot on the first stair, it gave a long, low groan.

She felt a dozen eyes on her back, but she refused to look over her shoulder. So they had the attention of every vamp in the place. So what? The way she figured it, this was a safe house, of sorts.

She didn’t have to worry about Genesis here. Or about Dante.

The stairs kept creaking as they headed upstairs. Then they entered a small apartment, and Ryder locked the door behind them.

“It won’t be long now,” he said.

She rubbed a hand over her aching forehead. “Until what?”

“Until we see which vamps want to try to kill us.”

Hell. So much for safe.

CHAPTER TWELVE

She hadn’t fed.

Ryder paced the apartment, casting worried glances at Sabine. He’d yanked off his shirt, what was left of it, and tossed the fabric in the trash.

Anger hummed through him, no, rage, but he was doing his best to hold on to his control. For now. For her.

“Promise you won’t leave me again.” The words were an order. He probably should have tried to soften them.

Then she shook her head, and he realized he shouldn’t be going easy at all.

His back teeth snapped together, and he stalked toward her. “You need me.”

She blinked those gorgeous, dark eyes of hers. “How do you know what I need?”

Insane. That was what she wanted him to be.

He put his hands on the wall behind her, caging her between his arms. “You’re a freshly turned vamp, love. You might as well be a newborn.”

Her eyes narrowed at that. “Did you just call me a child?”

No, he’d called her a newborn. Even a child wasn’t totally helpless. “When the bloodlust hits you, you’ll—”

“But the bloodlust hasn’t hit me,” she fired back at him. “It’s been days since my so-called turning, and I’m doing just fine holding on to my control.”

His head tilted as he studied her. He could see the pulse racing at the base of her neck. Drink. He’d been injured, attacked. Lost a lot of blood. Sure, his wounds had closed. He was an ancient vamp, they’d better close, but even though his body had healed, the craving was still within him.

I need her blood.

So he’d lied to her. She wasn’t the one who needed him. He needed her. Without her, the hunger would tear him apart.

He wanted to put his mouth on that racing pulse. Wanted to bite.

But she didn’t?

“You fed when you left me.” The only explanation. Had she killed? Not that it mattered to him.

Sabine shook her head.

And she just confused him more. “You’ve had no blood, no human food at all?” She had to take some kind of sustenance.

She shrugged. “I ate something at a diner.”

He didn’t let the shock show on his face. Vampires weren’t supposed to be able to ingest human food.

“I didn’t eat much,” she muttered. “I just wasn’t hungry.”

What in the hell was happening? He’d felt her fangs before. Once. But he hadn’t seen any sign of them since the moment of her transformation.

He leaned in closer. She tensed.

Ryder let his brows rise. “Are you afraid of me, Sabine?”

Her breath whispered out. “What you said before, it’s true, isn’t it?”

Bite her.

“You do—you want my blood.”

“Love, I’m starving for it.” Other blood just didn’t satisfy him. Other blood made the craving for her even more intense.

Her hands rose and pressed lightly against his chest. Not pushing him away, not yet. “If I let you drink from me, then I want you to help me make sure that Rhett’s all right. I have to know that my family’s safe.”

Trying to make another bargain with him? Fine. But he would have checked on her brother with or without the promise of her delicious blood. Those who mattered to Sabine, well, they mattered to him, too. “What is it that you want me to do?”

Her gaze held his. “I want you to make sure . . . anyone after them . . . I want you to stop anyone who tries to hurt them.”

Easy enough. Death was always easy for him. “And you’re so sure I can?”

“You’re the strongest paranormal I know. Even a phoenix’s fire couldn’t hurt you.” Her eyes searched his. “How was that even possible?”

Because of you. He knew that truth, even if she didn’t. He’d taken her blood, again and again, and somehow that blood had given him immunity against a phoenix’s fire. Perhaps it had even been like taking inoculations.

Maybe Wyatt had planned for him to develop that immunity. Maybe that had been the reason Wyatt first brought Sabine to his cell.

The man had created a vampire impervious to the fire. Transformation, not birth.

The reason didn’t really matter to Ryder. Fire had been one of the few means of killing him.

Cross that one off the list.

Now his enemies would have an even harder time forcing him from this earth.

“Why doesn’t the fire hurt you?” Sabine pressed.

“Because maybe I like the burn.” And instead of putting his mouth on her throat, he took her lips. Her sensual lips were parted slightly, open just enough for his tongue to push inside and taste her.

Mine.

Every muscle in his body tightened at that first taste. Not sweet, but rich. Decadent. Drugging.

Her tongue slid over his and a small moan built in her throat. The sound was sexy as all hell.

Yeah, he’d tracked her across four states. Gone nearly mad on that hunt.

She obsessed him. Every moment, he thought of her. A dangerous situation, for them both.

Her lips opened wider. The kiss grew harder. More demanding. Her body was soft and lush against his. She made a faint moan in the back of her throat, a sound that increased his wild desire.