Dragon Blood

Chapter 16

Words could not describe how good and right Rhia felt waking up in Nolan's bed. She was using his bicep and shoulder as a pillow, and the soft sheet was tangled around their hips. Her back was pressed into his side, feeling his deep, even breathing. Just under her fingertips she could feel his strong pulse at the base of his wrist about once per minute. She stared at the spot. He had been a dragonkin once. A wyvern. He had been meant for so much more than playing politics for the infamous vampire king. He deserved so much more.

Rhia tried as quietly as she could to slip out of the bed without waking Nolan, but his arm flexed and dragged her back against his chest, nuzzling his face into her neck. "Where do you think you're going?" he murmured, kissing her neck tenderly.

"I have to start heading home." She groaned. His mouth felt amazing against her skin. She was still plagued by the intense desire for him to bite her, to feed from her, to feel that incredible pleasure she knew he could give her. She kept shoving it further and further to the back of her head. Nolan was having a hard enough time controlling his blood lust without her confessing her literal dreams to him. "My car is still at the station, so I have to get all the way across town before going home."

"I'll drive you."

His hand trailed down her stomach to between her legs. A moan made it past her lips, and she arched into him. Nolan froze, his whole body going stiff. She looked around at him and shivers rushed through her. His eyes were blazing red, staring at her throat. His mouth was slightly open, both sets of fangs extended. "Nolan," her voice trembled, from excitement or fear, she wasn't sure. "Hey, look at me."

Slowly his eyes moved up to stare into hers. Those were not the eyes of her lover. They were the eyes of a predator. And she was his prey. He stared at her for several minutes before blinking rapidly and releasing her. He rolled away out of the bed and walked to the liquor cabinet. "You should wait downstairs." He said hoarsely.

"Are you alright?" she sat up to stare at his back.

He shook his head. "I need to feed. I don't want you to watch. Please... just go downstairs."

She stepped out of the bed and got dressed without another word. She didn't want to watch him feed either. It wasn't a social thing like with humans or some of the other races. Vampires fed in private.

Rhia loaded up the coffee maker and leaned against the counter to look through the new phone. She hadn't even turned it on the night before, being so tired she'd left her purse at the bottom of the stairs before going for her bath. She tapped through the initial setup, managed to lock herself out of it somehow, and gave up and shoving it back into her pocket. She would have to get Maddox to help her again. She made a mental note to watch him a little closer, so she didn't end up with another bad ring tone.

The floor creaked behind her, and she pulled a second cup down from the cupboard. "Feeling better?"

She turned, expecting to see Nolan's smiling face. That was not who stood in front of her. The coffee pot slipped from her hands and exploded in a shower of glass and hot coffee. She was frozen in place from the look of the stranger barely a foot away from her. He wasn't that much taller than she was, maybe five-nine or ten. It wasn't his height she noticed first. It was his eyes. They were blood red with a cruel, empty depth to them. His skin and shoulder-length hair were both paper white. Faded black lines around his eyes made them looked like cracked porcelain. His eyes flicked down to her neck and his mouth quirked open, revealing elongated fangs.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck...

The male moved towards her slowly, bracing his hands on the counter behind her and leaning in uncomfortably close towards her throat. Rhia reacted before her mind could catch up with what the hell was happening. Her hand curled into a fist and swung up towards the man and hit him square in the jaw. A sickening cracking sound filled the kitchen and the male stumbled back a step.