Cursed Read online

  “Uh-huh. Well, thanks I guess,” Charlie muttered. “Although I wish you hadn’t dragged me up here to the Mother Ship. This is the one place I’ve been trying to avoid for years and here I am.”

  “I though you were ill,” he protested. “How could I know such agonizing pain was normal for you? It shouldn’t be, you know. You ought to let Commander Sylvan examine you. Maybe he can do something to help ease your pain during your next monthly cycle.”

  “Maybe,” Charlie said neutrally. “Right now the only thing that hurts is my tongue where you bit me.”

  She wished at once that she hadn’t brought it up. She could have gone all day without talking about the passionate kiss they had shared when she was hopped up on muscle relaxers but no, she had to mention it and here they were.

  “Forgive me,” he said, looking as uncomfortable as she felt. “It was unpardonable of me to take advantage of you when you were in an altered mental state.”

  “No, it was my fault too,” Charlie said quickly. “I was, uh, kind of asking for it. Though I would never act that way if I wasn’t high on pain killers, I swear.”

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t. You strike me as a very…controlled kind of person,” he said.

  Charlie gave a short, unhappy laugh. “That’s what my sister Missy used to say. She…never mind.”

  He looked at her. “You have a sister?”

  “Had a sister. I don’t want to talk about her,” Charlie snapped. “I—” She had to stop because the throbbing in her cut tongue was becoming unbearable. She cupped a hand over her mouth. “Ouch. I’m sorry, I just…”

  “You have pain where I bit you.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “Not pain exactly.” Charlie dropped her hand and looked away. “It’s just…uncomfortable.”

  “It is pain. I can feel it.” He sighed. “I fear this is my fault. I think I must have injected you with my essence when we kissed.”

  “What? You injected me with your what?” She had a sudden fear. “Hey, this isn’t how you Kindred make babies is it? I noticed that my cramps are all gone—that isn’t because you made me pregnant is it?”

  “Certainly not,” he said dryly. “We procreate in much the same way you humans do. It would take something much more…intimate than a kiss for me to make you pregnant.”

  “Okay, good.” Charlie felt a cautious sense of relief. “But then what was it you injected me with?”

  “My essence. It comes from my fangs—see?” He opened his mouth and pointed out two sets of long, curving double fangs on either side of his upper teeth. They looked wickedly sharp and a small bluish droplet was clinging to the point of one set.

  “That blue stuff? Is that it?” she asked, trying not to shudder.

  He nodded. “Blood Kindred use it to heal their mates of any obvious wounds. But in this case, you received an incomplete dose of it when I kissed you and accidentally cut your mouth—your tongue. Instead of healing a wound, it caused the one I gave you to remain unhealed. It may even be worse than when it was first made.”

  “It does feel worse,” Charlie admitted. “But what can you do about it? Is there some kind of medicine or—”

  “The only medicine—the only thing that can heal the wound—is more essence.”

  Unconsciously, Charlie had been leaning towards him. Now she drew back.

  “Wait---you’re saying you want to bite me again? Huh-uh—no way!”

  “Not bite you,” he protested quickly. “I simply have to bathe the wound with more essence. When you receive a complete dose, you should heal almost immediately with no problem.”

  “So you want to what…kiss me again?” Charlie raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Well…” He shifted uncomfortably. “Not a kiss exactly. But I would need to lick the wounded area in order to spread my essence there. It shouldn’t actually take very long.”

  “The ‘wounded area’ is my tongue,” Charlie pointed out. “You’re asking to lick me there—that’s a kiss.”

  He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling with the motion. “Call it what you like. I made the wound and my essence is the only thing that can heal it. You can ask Commander Sylvan if you like—he is also a Blood Kindred and can tell you I am telling the truth.”

  “I don’t think you’re lying, exactly,” Charlie said slowly. She got the feeling that Stavros was one of those excruciatingly truthful types. “I’m just saying it sounds damn awkward—that’s all.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” he promised quickly. “If you’ll let me, I can heal you in less than a minute, I promise.”

  “Well…” She looked at him uncertainly. But then the throbbing in her tongue got even worse. If he really was telling the truth—and she thought he was—this pain wasn’t going away and the wound wasn’t going to heal. She could just imagine how it would feel the next time she tried to drink a glass of cold lemonade or eat anything with tomatoes in it. “All right,” she said at last. “But I want to brush my teeth first—my mouth tastes like blood.”

  “There are bathing and oral hygiene facilities in the fresher,” he said, pointing to a door she assumed led to a bathroom. “I will wait for you.”

  “Fine. Thank you.”

  God, had she really just agreed to kiss him again? What was wrong with her? She didn’t have an answer.

  With as much dignity as she could, Charlie climbed out of the high hospital bed and went into the bathroom, holding the hem of her hospital Johnny tightly closed behind her. She would worry about it later.

  Chapter Eight

  Stav waited impatiently for her to finish in the fresher. When he heard the water running loudly, he realized that she must have decided to take a shower as well as cleaning her teeth. A glance at the chronometer strapped to his wrist told him the special briefing was still forty minutes away so he had time to wait. But he didn’t want to. Didn’t want to wait to taste those sweet lips again.

  It’s not a kiss—you’re just healing her, he reminded himself sternly. But his aching shaft and throbbing fangs didn’t want to listen. Over and over he kept reliving the feel of her in his arms, the warm, sweet taste of her mouth. The way her lush breasts had pressed against him and the way she’d kissed him back so passionately.

  It wouldn’t be like that this time, he knew. It would be cold—clinical. He would taste her for only the briefest possible time in order to heal the cut his fangs had made. Then he would release her and leave her room and probably never see her again since the Kindred High Council was sending him on some kind of secret mission.

  But still, how he wanted to taste her mouth just once before he went.

  You’re being an idiot, a little voice whispered fiercely in his head. She doesn’t like Kindred and even if she did, even if she wanted you, you couldn’t have her. You can’t claim a bride and form a soul bond with anyone—remember?

  He did remember—how could he forget?

  But that didn’t stop him from wishing.

  * * * * *

  Charlie stepped out of the shower and dried herself on the weird blue bath towel hanging on the rack. It didn’t seem to be made of terrycloth or any other material she’d ever seen and when she wrapped it around herself, it dried her instantly, sucking away every drop of moisture from her skin. It didn’t dry her hair completely but she didn’t mind. She put it up in a ponytail again, using the small pack of hair scrunchies someone had thoughtfully provided.

  The same someone had also washed and folded her clothes and provided a brand new toothbrush and toothpaste as well. Charlie felt a hundred percent better as she got dressed in the clean pink t-shirt and black yoga pants. Even the little black ballet flat slippers she’d been wearing were clean.

  She would have looked around to see if there were any tampons available as well, but she had noticed in the shower that she didn’t need them. It appeared that her period was finished almost before it had started. Though she was glad to have it over, she couldn’t help wondering if Stavros’s in