Scarlet Heat Read online

  I felt stupid asking it. What kind of doctor treated vampires? And what kind of medicine could they take? They didn’t drink anything but blood.

  Right! Blood! A light bulb went off in my head. What an idiot I was not to see it right away—blood, she needed blood!

  I started to offer her my right wrist as I had the night before, but it was still sore from her last feeding. The left wrist was out of the question too—it was tender as hell from the fucking trap I’d walked into as the wolf. The only option left was my throat, but she had been scared to death when I’d offered it to her the night before—possibly because I was looming over her, making her feel vulnerable.

  I thought about it for a minute but I could only see one solution. Sitting down beside her on the couch, I gathered her into my arms again.

  “What…what are you doing?” She looked at me with eyes filled with mistrust and hurt. My heart twisted painfully—I didn’t want her afraid of me.

  “It’s okay, baby,” I murmured, shifting until I was lying back on the long sectional with my head and neck propped on the arm of the couch. “I’m just giving you what you need.”

  “Don’t need…anything,” she protested when I settled her more firmly against me.

  “Yes, you do. You need blood.” When I got where I was going, I was lying on the couch with her soft little body draped over my chest and thighs. Her scent filled my senses and a strong feeling of protective possessiveness washed over me again.

  It was too strong to deny—the instinct of a wolf to protect its mate.

  She’s not really my mate, I tried to tell myself. We’re married in name only. I’m not even supposed to be touching her, let alone lying half naked on the couch with her draped all over me.

  But there we were, all the same. And though I had sworn to myself just the night before I would never do it again, I turned my head and offered her my throat—giving her the sign of submission no Alpha should extend to anyone.

  I heard Taylor catch her breath and when I cut my eyes to the right to look at her, I saw the hungry, helpless look on her face. The tiny, sharp, delicate points of her fangs were peaking out from under her lush upper lip.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart,” I murmured, tilting my head a little more. “Come on.”

  She looked up at me, uncertainly. “You mean it? I…I’m so thirsty. The sun…”

  “Take what you need,” I told her and really meant it. I wanted her to feed on me, wanted to know that I was nourishing her, healing her with my blood. I supposed I would have thought feelings like that were sick and twisted even a few days ago. But now they just seemed natural and right. Taylor was mine to nourish and protect and heal—I had to do right by her. “Come on,” I urged her again.

  She finally accepted my offer. Lifting her face to my neck, she struck quickly, her sharp little points sinking into my throat and piercing the vein neatly.

  I had been braced for the pain but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had the night before. Either she was getting better at biting me or I was getting used to it.

  And then the pleasure started.

  It was the same as the night before—a warm tingling that started in the pit of my stomach and seemed to spread to every part of my body at once. My hard-on had gone down when I was so concerned about her but now it came to life again and I could feel myself standing at complete attention, tenting the baggy material of my sweatpants embarrassingly.

  God…I shifted under her and felt her stop sucking. Oh, she must think I was upset.

  “It’s okay,” I told her, hoping my voice didn’t sound too strangled. Hesitantly, I put a hand to her back to urge her on. Feeling her silky, bare skin under the soft cotton of the t-shirt didn’t help the situation between my legs any, but I wanted her to know everything was all right. “Take as much as you want,” I told her, stroking her back lightly. “I don’t mind, really.”

  Taylor tensed for a moment under my touch and then seemed to relax into it. With a little moan of contentment, she went back to sucking my neck, drawing deep to get everything she needed.

  I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the little sounds of pleasure she was making in the back of her throat, trying not to feel her warm, soft body pressed against mine. Her scent was getting hotter all the time—the ribbon of scarlet heat widening to a stream…a river of fire, teasing my senses, telling me things I knew couldn’t possibly be true.

  Or could they?

  Chapter Six—Taylor

  When I finally had enough of his warm, delicious blood and withdrew my fangs, I thought I heard Victor breathe a sigh of relief. No doubt he was getting really tired of me biting him but there was one more thing I needed to do—something I hadn’t tried last night because I didn’t think I could do it. But I felt stronger now—more able to access my natural abilities. Leaning down again, I lapped gently at the twin puncture marks I had made on his neck, willing the skin to close, trying to heal him from my bite.

  “Taylor honey,” he said, his deep voice tight. “What…uh, what are you doing?”

  “Trying to seal the wound.” I looked up at him, worried. “I should have at least tried to do it the night before when I drank from your wrist, but you seemed like you were in such a hurry to go…”

  “Oh.” He shifted under me and I could feel the tension in his big, muscular body. At last he said, “Well, is it going to take much longer?”

  “Not much.” I gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry—you’re probably sick of me sucking your neck, huh?”

  He shifted again. “I’m just in kind of a, uh, uncomfortable position here.”

  “Oh, sorry!” I pulled back and hopped up at once. The place on his throat where I had bitten looked pretty good, actually. Maybe after six years I was finally beginning to get the hang of some of this vampire stuff. Or maybe the lessons Corbin had given me were kicking in—either way, it appeared that I was now able to heal wounds—at least small ones. It made me feel proud—like I was finally becoming a proper vampire.

  Victor sat up too and grabbed a throw pillow, holding it casually in his lap. I wondered briefly if he had gotten hard again and tried to push the thought away. It was embarrassing enough to be sitting here on the couch with him, wearing only a thin white t-shirt while he was bare chested and only wearing sweats. We didn’t need to bring anything else into our weird little pseudo-marriage to complicate it.

  “Are you feeling better now?” he asked, looking at me seriously. “I mean really better?”

  “Yes, I am.” I nodded and gave him a grateful smile.

  Victor smiled back. Our eyes met for a minute and I looked away quickly, my cheeks heating. Damn it, why did he have to look so good, sitting there with his broad, muscular chest and those dark, intense eyes? They had gone back to brown, I noticed—maybe they only turned gold when his wolf wanted out.

  “And the burn is all healed?” he reached for my hand and extended my arm, searching for the angry red blisters that had popped up during my brief exposure to the sun—there were none.

  My cheeks got even hotter and I pulled back my hand.

  “I’m fine,” I murmured, nodding. “Your blood is amazing—it even healed the marks I had left from this morning.”

  “This morning?” He frowned.

  “You know—when I was trying to coax you into the house? Your wolf, I mean.”

  “That’s right.” He frowned at me. “I remember what happened—you actually risked going out into the sunlight to bring me in, didn’t you?”

  “I had to go out,” I protested. “You seemed so afraid of me.”

  “Goddamn it, Taylor!” he growled and I flinched at the deep, angry sound. “You shouldn’t have done that—you could have been killed.”

  I lifted my chin and glared up into his eyes.

  “What was I supposed to do? Leave you outside with that awful trap clamped on your poor paw? Besides, the sun was just coming up—it wasn’t even really over the horizon yet. It wasn’t nearly as stro