"Shhh, Danni," Caine said as he pressed a kiss against her forehead. "You need to calm down."

"I am calm!" she snapped, feeling anxious, stressed and helpless. She hated feeling helpless.

He chuckled as he shook his head. "No, you're tense. If you want to master control over your eyes and teeth then you're going to have to relax."

"I am relaxed," she bit out even as her muscles tightened even further.

Caine sighed heavily as he walked over to the large glass encased standalone shower and turned it on. He adjusted the temperature before he reached behind him to grab his shirt and pulled it off, giving her a mouthwatering view.

She'd never seen a more perfect body than his, but then again the monster inside of him would have it no other way, she realized with a start. Had her body changed at all? she wondered as she ignored Caine's questioning look and searched the large bathroom for a mirror. When she spotted the floor length mirror on the wall she didn't hesitate in taking her clothes off and flinging them to the side.

"What are you doing?" Caine asked, stepping up behind her.

"Nothing," she mumbled as she ran her eyes over her br**sts, noting that they looked a little fuller and firmer. Her stomach looked a little toner, but then again they had starved her for a few days, she reminded herself which could also explain her br**sts. Would this make her ass look bigger? she wondered, twisting to get a good look and sighed. It looked fine, tone, but fine.

"Are you quite done?" Caine asked, sounding amused and for the first time she noticed that he also sounded relaxed. He sounded almost like the Caine who used to make her feel loved, she realized. "Because if you are, I think we should focus on teaching you how to stay in control," he said, placing a large warm hand on her bare hip.

"Oh? And how do we do that?" she asked, her voice breathless as she struggled not to get her hopes up.

She missed the old Caine. The one who used to smile easily with her, tease her and allowed her to be herself. A year or two before he cut off their friendship it had matured to the point where he treated her like an adult with a valuable opinion and a good friend. He'd stopped babying her and trying to fill in for her parents. She loved that time with him and apparently missed it more than she realized. She'd give anything to have that Caine back and have what they used to have.

"Well, first we need your fangs to come down so that you can feed. You'll learn how to control this faster if you're fed and at full strength," he explained as he held a bag in front of her.

"If it was that simple I wouldn't need your help getting my teeth down," she said as aggravation quickly replaced nostalgia.

How exactly was she supposed to feed if she couldn't get her teeth down? She could cut the bag, she supposed as she took it from him. Then all she'd have to do was chug it down until she couldn't drink anymore. That was her game plan, at least for now. She was going to overfeed every chance that she got just to make sure that what happened in the woods never happened again. Then she would-

She gasped as Caine's hand left her hip to slide up her stomach and palmed one of her br**sts.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded even as her stomach tightened with need and her br**sts swelled, hardening the ni**les as if preparing itself for Caine's touch.

"Getting your teeth to drop," he murmured as he bent his head to press a kiss against her neck.

"How exactly is feeling me up going to accomplish that?" she asked as she absently noted the tingle in her gums.

"Your teeth and eyes will change when you're close to bloodlust, angry or.....," he said, letting his words trail off as he gave her breast a gentle squeeze and her neck a sexy little nip.

"Or?" she asked, breathlessly.

He licked the spot he just nipped. "Sex."

Chapter 30

"Sex?" she repeated in a daze.

"Mmmhmm," he said, pressing one last kiss against her neck before he stepped away from her. "Eat," he said, gesturing to the bag of blood in her hands.

"What?" she asked, absently licking her lips as her eyes trailed over his chest, making him chuckle. She was so damn responsive to the simplest touch. That knowledge had him biting back a groan. This was going to be one lesson he fully planned on enjoying.

"Eat, Danni," he said, once again gesturing to the bag.

She shook her head as if to clear it. "But, my teeth-"

"Are down. Drink so that we can move on with this lesson," he said, reaching for the button of his jeans and noting the way her eyes followed the movement.

"Drink, Danni," he said in a soft seductive whisper as he undid the button.

"Drink, right," she said with a small nod as she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

He watched as she reached up and ran her finger over the tips of her fangs and sighed. "Sex," she mumbled to herself. "Gonna have to remember that," she said as she brought the bag to her mouth.

"What are you going to have to remember?" he asked absently as he reached out and helped her by taking the bag from her and giving it a light squeeze to force the blood to the top of the bag to make it easier for her to puncture it without making a huge mess.

"To be careful when I'm going to have sex," she said, frowning down at the bag as if she still wasn't sure how she should go about it.

He had to chuckle at that. "I'm not going to care if your fangs are down during sex." In fact, it would probably turn him on even more, especially if bit him while she-

She snorted as she carefully took the bag away from him. "I'm not talking about you, Caine."

"Then who the hell are you talking about?" he demanded, doing his best to keep his temper at bay. He was mistaken. She wasn't talking about ha**ng s*x with another guy. He'd obviously misheard her.

"If I ended up seeing a man, a human," she clarified, further pissing him off, "then I don't want to scare him off and I really don't want to lose control. So I'm going to have to learn how to control this thing," she said, absentmindedly gesturing to her face as she continued to study the bag of blood, "so that I don't hurt him."

"I see," he said through clenched teeth as he watched her sink her teeth into the bag. He watched impassively as she took her first swallow and gagged.

"Keep drinking," he said, reaching out and forcing the bag to remain where it was while she glared at him, but she didn't drink, he noted.

Did she really think that he was going to stand by why she allowed other men to touch her? He'd kill any male that touched her and really she should know that by now. Maybe this connection wasn't as strong on her end yet, something he hadn't considered. Perhaps he should test it out.

"Then you have no problem if I have sex with other women," he mused as he noted as her eyes turned red, glowing with intensity before the last word left his mouth. They narrowed on him as a cute little growl escaped her.

"Don't like that idea?" he asked, feeling somewhat comforted by her reaction, but he wouldn't be completely satisfied until she realized that she was his mate, his to touch, to protect and to f**k. Once she realized that she wouldn't want another man, never mind allow one to touch her.