Chapter 23: Greer

Chapter Twenty-Three

Greer

N ot being able to see Novak doesn’t change that I can feel his eyes on me. Seiran tenderly drops my dress over my head as we prepare to leave the stage. It’s bizarre because Reign magicked their clothes back on, but I had to physically be put into my dress.

“Are you okay? You’re a little trembly,” Reign says, running his hands down my arms.

I smile, nodding. “So good. Maybe a little blissed out, but great.”

Seiran chuckles from behind me. “That’s what the bond is projecting. It’s crazy to be able to pick up on your emotions so easily.”

Reign’s nostrils flare as his eyes glow. “Well, now he’s just bragging.”

My head whips up, tilting toward the steps as Novak zips up them. Without my enhanced eyesight, there’s no way I would be able to track his movements, but things are totally different since my change. He comes to a stop two feet away, rocking on his boots.

Some emotion I can’t quite place spills through the maker connection. It seems like he’s agitated or upset, and my stomach tightens. Everything inside me aches to soothe his annoyance, and my forehead wrinkles.

Holy shit.

The random urge to go to him and nuzzle my face to his hits me out of nowhere. I owe him a thank you or several hundred very heartfelt verbal displays of gratitude, but I was unprepared for my skin to ache with the urge to touch him.

Novak’s head tilts. “You look much better. How are you feeling?”

I turn to face him fully, shoving my sweaty hair behind my ear. “I feel lucky to be alive in whatever capacity this is. Thank you.”

The long, straight hair on top of his head falls over his forehead as he appraises me from my head to my toes. “Reign, if you wouldn’t mind, Greer needs shoes.”

My gaze falls just in time to see a pair of nude-colored flats appear on my feet.

I glance back at Reign and over to Seiran, who shrugs.

“There are many things you’ll need to learn about your new existence,” Seiran says without a hint of malice to his tone. Last night is hazy, but I remember enough to know there’s tension between him and Novak.

I nod, swallowing thickly.

Seiran is right.

Cole didn’t teach me anything, and if I plan to survive on my own, then I need to gain knowledge from Novak while he’s available.

A shiver runs down my spine as I turn back to my maker. He might be the second one to try to change me, but every cell in my body seems to recognize him as the only one who counts.

“Ready?” His dark eyebrow rises, and he extends a hand.

Having his unobstructed focus on me is intense, but I finally manage to nod and force myself to take a step forward, placing my fingers in his.

“I planned to bring you to the feeding rooms, but you still buzz with Seiran’s magic.” Novak smirks, tugging out his phone and typing as we walk down what I think is an employee-only hallway. “Someone would try to fuck you, and then I would have no choice but to avail them of their head.”

“I’m sorry.” My head tilts. “Did you say feeding rooms?” I asked Seiran if Black Cove had a blood delivery service, which could be my fault for phrasing it in that way. If I had known the club had a place for vampires to feed, then maybe I wouldn’t have nearly turned into a ghoul.

“They’re a relatively new addition,” Novak says, shoving his phone into his back pocket. “They’re very basic, making cleanup easy for the staff. We used to have a no-biting-on-club-property rule, but everyone, including me, kept breaking it.”

I nod as he continues to lead me along. There’s a certain relief in knowing Seiran didn’t lie or omit information. “This might be a silly question, but will I still need to eat human blood regularly? Seiran and I bonded, which I’m sure you know. I guess I’m just wondering if I’ll be able to survive off his blood or if I’ll need to seek out humans.”

“That’s not a dumb question. Not at all.” Novak stops in front of a door in the middle of the hallway. He scans his finger on the door handle, and it clicks like it’s in the process of unlocking. “The short answer is, you’ll still need human blood on occasion.” He pushes open the door and waves me through. “The more complicated answer is that I can’t tell you exactly how often that will be. Not yet, anyway. We’ll have to watch your cravings and see how it goes.”

Novak’s office is spacious, with a desk and a bar on one side of the room and a couch with two club chairs on the other. Once fully inside the room, I turn to face him.

He steps in, allowing the door to close behind him. “Let’s have a seat over here.” He gestures to the same area where he questioned me last night.

My chest rises and falls, even though I don’t need to breathe to live. Maybe it’s a habit of baby vampires, or maybe I suck at being a vampire. I don’t know, but the memories of the agony I experienced come back in full force.

A whimper escapes as I spot the place on the sofa where Seiran held me in his arms. “It, uh, smells much nicer in here now. Sorry about last night.”

“No more of that, pet.” Novak’s hand lands on my lower back, and his touch is strangely reassuring, considering we barely know each other. “Come sit with me, and we can have our first lesson on your new undead eternal existence.” Something about the way he purrs the words makes my entire body feel melty.

Holy shit.

Do all vampires ache to please their maker? The feelings are so intense, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to fight them.

“Thankfully, we had a few of these left from last night.” Novak shakes out a plain white towel, placing it down on the leather sofa. “Reign grabbed so many that there ended up being leftovers.”

My jaw falls as I realize why he wants me to sit on the towel. I’m genuinely surprised I don’t melt into a puddle of embarrassment, but I am dripping in Reign’s and Seiran’s cum.

“Have a seat,” Novak prods.

I scramble forward, tugging at the hem of the dress Reign provided. The length is questionable, but it should be long enough to cover my ass when I sit. Or my pussy, for that matter.

Novak chuckles and takes a seat on the cushion next to mine. He’s wearing a white button-down long-sleeve shirt, and I’m a little too enamored with watching him roll up the cuffs, one by one.

“Much like with any species, lore is passed down from one generation to the next,” he says in an even tone. “And I do know enough that we don’t need to worry, but had I planned to take on a progeny of my own one day, I might have paid a bit better attention. Most of my lessons from my maker consisted of how not to anger him to the point he attempted to remove my head.”

“I appreciate you trying to teach me,” I say, shoving my hair behind my ear.

“That’s quite literally what I’m here for.” He brings his bare forearm closer as he makes a fist and releases it, causing his veins to pop out.

I just ate from Reign and Seiran. I’m not hungry, not truly, but something inside me aches to drink Novak’s blood.

My baby fangs pop, and my face heats.

Dammit.

It’s hard to play it cool when those things pop out at any moment.