Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
“Takes one to know one, maybe? I’ve been around sick people for a lot of years.” She picked at a thread on the thin blanket and shrugged.
He returned to the foot of her bed, his gaze penetrating into the very heart of her. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight with urgent grief. “Unlike you, I have no name for it. And there are no medicines to keep it from getting worse. It shouldn’t even be possible, but that doesn’t make it any less real.”
She nodded, butterflies whipping up a whirlwind in her belly. Suspicion of another sort bloomed. “And you need me because…”
“Because yours is the first blood in years that has actually provided me any sustenance, and I think you can save my life.”
Chapter 7
Kaira’s lovely face paled. She swallowed, hard. “Is my blood why your eyes turned bright blue last night?”
“I believe so,” he said quietly, watching her every movement, her every reaction.
“And they’re pale again today because…?”
Henrik tilted his head, hating that he’d put this on her while she lay recovering in a hospital bed. He hadn’t intended to just come out and tell her, but learning she was sick… He was as struck by the similarity of their situations as he was panicked by the idea that he’d found his salvation only to learn that she might be taken away.
He couldn’t let that happen. At least, not until he knew more about what her blood might be able to do for him.
“Because it wasn’t enough. I’ve been afflicted with whatever this is for a very long time.” Sinking into the chair by her bed, he pressed the call button hanging over the railing.
Jakob pushed through the door almost immediately and bowed his head in a gesture of respect. “My lord?”
Henrik turned his gaze to Kaira, intrigued by the expression on her face as she observed Jakob. The male was handsome, he supposed. At least, he’d never had a problem finding a woman to bed. No doubt she found him more attractive, and how could he blame her?
Still, a sharp wave of jealousy sloshed through his gut. He shoved it away. “Kaira, do you have the medicines you need wherever you were staying in Tromsø?”
Her face fell, as if she were disappointed by this solution to her problem of getting the care she needed. She worried her tongue over a scab on her bottom lip. “Yes. I’m at the Nordic Hotel. Or, was, I guess.”
Henrik had to look away. Her sadness and resignation made it hard to breathe. And the wet sheen her pink tongue dragged over her lip made his jeans suddenly snug. “Jakob, go to Miss Sorensen’s hotel, pack her belongings and bring everything back here.”
Kaira sat up. “I have two cameras and lenses in the room safe. The code is 5-2-9-3. Please be careful with them.”
Jakob nodded. “Of course. Anything else?” His gaze was full of questions Henrik couldn’t yet answer.
“No, go while you still have the night. It’s going to be tight to get back in time.”
He smirked. “I’ll make it.”
The door hadn’t closed behind Jakob when Kaira spoke. “So, what? You want to drink my blood again?” She drew her knees up under the blanket.
At least her directness saved him the trouble of figuring out how to tell her what needed to happen here. “Yes.” He dragged a hand through his hair. Suddenly, an idea took shape in his mind. As much of a monster as this probably made him, he had to find out how feeding from her fully would impact his malady. But perhaps he could do something for her in return.
What if she fed from him, too?
His body snapped to attention, heartbeat pulsing in his fangs, cock hard and aching. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had elicited these reactions. Blood lust and physical lust usually went hand in hand for a vampire, so he hadn’t craved the tight heat of a woman’s body in a very long time.
Too long.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Because, you know, I’m kinda using this blood over here.”
The angered heat behind her words did nothing to rein in his physical reactions. He swallowed hard, forcing down his hunger for her blood. And her body. “I know how this sounds, Kaira, and I am sorry. If there was another way…well, there isn’t. I’ve tried everything. I wouldn’t take more than you could afford to lose at one time. I don’t know if your blood will definitively cure me, but I do know without it...I’ve no chance at all.”
He shook his head, still grappling with his thought of offering her his vein in return.
Usually, such a privilege was reserved for a vampire’s mate, especially given his rank and station. Not that he’d ever been successful at finding a blood match that might’ve led to his joining with a mate.