15. Leia

Chapter 15

I woke in an instant. Nothing the like the groggy time it usually took me to drag myself from sleep before I'd exchanged blood with Nic. One minute I'd known nothing, the next my eyes were open, and it felt like I knew everything.

I instinctively knew where the sun was in the sky, where Nic was—he vibrated along some sort of bond that hadn't been there before—how many others were in the house, and… Holy crap. There was a human somewhere outside the house.

The colors in the room were the brightest I'd ever seen, like they existed on a spectrum I'd never had any knowledge of. I glanced around Nic's bedroom, but I could have lain there with my eyes closed and known I was alone. I swore I could hear Mrs. Ames breathing in one of the rooms on the first floor.

A sense of purpose flooded me as I got out of bed. Shit, I'd never felt so alive…so fucking strong. There wasn't another word to describe it. I was strong. The me reflected in the mirror in Nic's closet was like the super-amped version of me. I was leaner, the lines of my body fierce now, like excess fat had burned away during my transition.

I tried out my bond to Nic again. It was like tweaking on a wire that existed between us. I brushed against it tentatively with my mind and the vibrations traveled up and back letting me know Nic was nearby. I concentrated harder. There was something else. He was distracted, focused on a task. I concentrated harder but couldn't figure out what. Maybe that would come later, or maybe I was never supposed to have that kind of insight.

I shrugged. I'd ask him later.

Actual mind reading sounded cool, but it would be pretty invasive, especially if it went both ways. I probably wasn't ready for that kind of deep connection. There was still too much crap in my head that no one else needed to know about.

Aimée didn't seem to be anywhere in the house, but her scent lingered in this room as though she'd spent a lot of time with me. I breathed in deeply, missing my friend.

But a second aroma caught at the back of my throat. Something more delicious than I'd ever smelled in my entire life.

Food.

My stomach gurgled and growled, and I took off, out of Nic's bedroom, following the delicious, tantalizing aroma as it led down the hall. My speed was off the charts but still not fast enough.

My prey would get away.

I reached out and pressed my hand to the bannister that ran along the top of the stairs, overlooking the entrance hall below, and I sprang over it, landing in a light-footed crouch on the hardwood floor.

Mr. Baldwin's eyes widened in an unfamiliar look of surprise on the butler's face as he walked by. "Miss Leia—"

But that was all I heard as I raced off to chase my first meal.

Kitchen… kitchen… My target repeated itself in my mind, and I burst through the door to find a delivery driver unloading boxes into the center of the room. He took one look at me and ran from the room, shouting his fear to anyone who'd listen.

But we were in the middle of nowhere, and I was fast. And strong. Oh, so very strong.

I leaped after him then eased off, allowing him to think he'd escaped. The laugh that burbled from me didn't sound a whole lot like me, but this was fun. In a world where I'd once been the lowest of the low, dragging myself from day to day, in basic survival mode, I was now an apex predator.

Unstoppable.

As I increased my speed again, about to catch him this time, my fingernails became claws, and my gums ached with a ferocity that momentarily halted my movement as I covered my mouth with my hand and looked around.

I swiped toward the man, but I'd misjudged the distance between us, and my claws caught the nylon fabric of his uniform, leaving it hanging in shreds.

He screeched again, and his heart thundered, filling the air between us with the most seductive sound I'd ever heard. I almost wanted to sway in time with each beat.

The guy scrambled away as I stepped toward him, falling to the ground. His gaze never left my face as he began to scuttle along like a bug.

"Help me," he yelled. "Help!"

I crouched low, ready to make my move, and my fangs descended, slicing through my gums with a faint snick. Then I growled, startling myself, but even that sounded cool.

"Leia! Leia, no!"

I made the mistake of looking behind me to see Nic racing toward me, his arms out like he was about to grab me. I snarled and jumped closer to the delivery guy on the ground. Nic couldn't have this blood. It was mine. The delivery guy squealed as I touched him, but before I could lower my mouth to his neck, I was scooped into strong arms.

"Baldwin," Nic barked over my head. "Move the courier. I'll come back and deal with him when I've secured Leia."

"Yes, sir."

I glanced over Nic's shoulder as he sped me away to see Baldwin helping up a very shocked man from the driveway.

"What are you doing?" Nic glanced down at me. "It's good to see you awake, by the way. I didn't expect our first encounter for you to be naked on the driveway, though." An amused smile captured his lips.

Bloodlust still rocketed through me, and I struggled against his strong arms, growling a little as I did. What the hell did a little unplanned nudity matter when I needed… I swallowed. I couldn't even find it in me to care about being naked. I needed blood.

Nic chuckled. "Hungry?"

We entered Nic's blood room after a brief stop to grab Mom's robe from the back of the bathroom door in my room, but I took one smell of it and rejected it. It smelled too much like human. I shook my head, and Nic shrugged his shoulders.

"You need to wear one of mine, then. I can't have you running around the house and grounds without a stitch of clothing on… Unless we're playing a very private game of hide and seek." He winked. "Maybe we can book that in sometime soon. Our more immediate issue, though, is my very hungry mate." He kissed the side of my head then lowered his voice. "I'm sorry you woke alone. I should have been there to prevent this."

"I felt you." I slipped on the robe he handed me from his closet, folding back the sleeves where they hung below my hands. My voice was still thick around descended fangs.

"Hm?" He looked back at me as he led the way to his blood room. Then he grinned, partly shy, partly proud. "That's our bond. I was on my way to you, but you were faster at getting to that delivery guy, unfortunately. Never mind. We have days to train you to the bagged blood."

"Days? But I thought you said you needed to deal with the delivery guy I almost ate?" Because, shit, I would absolutely have eaten him if Nic hadn't intervened. As my fangs receded into my gums, my remorse grew at the way I'd behaved. I gasped. "I almost ate a guy. I could have killed him. Holy shit. I terrified him." I probably traumatized the guy for life—and that was the best-case outcome. I'd never known such hunger or been so uncontrolled. Heat flooded my cheeks. "Is he okay?"

Nic nodded, but the heat didn't recede. Shame at my behavior kept it there.

A second memory slammed through me. I covered my face with my hands. "Oh, God, and I was running around naked."

As I peered between my fingers, Nic chuckled.

"Baldwin has seen far stranger, believe me." He walked over to the first fridge and opened the door. "Take a seat in the chair over there." He pointed to the one easy chair in the room. "I'll provide your beverage, house red, madam?"

He swept a low bow, and I laughed, glad of the sudden levity.

I watched his almost familiar ritual of emptying the warmed contents of a blood bag into his mug, only this time that blood was for me. I swallowed nervously, the convulsive movement painful.

"Here you are." He handed the mug to me. "Sip slowly."

I lifted it to my lips and sniffed the contents. This blood didn't smell half as good as the delivery guy had, and I glanced at the door.

"Uh uh." Nic shook his head. "You don't have the self-control to start on humans. You're a fledgling. It's this for now."

I grimaced then took a slow swallow. It didn't feel too bad going down. Smooth, almost. I lifted the mug to take a second sip, but my stomach rolled, and I jumped up from the chair to stand over the sink before red sprayed from my lips and splashed onto the stainless steel.

"Okay." Nic held my hair back. "Okay. We can work on this."

Fatigue crashed over me. "I'm tired."

"Okay." He nodded. "We can try again after you've had a nap. I'll take you back to my room and call for Aimée while I go chat to the courier who was almost your first meal."

I slept in Nic's bed, Aimée by my side, until Nic jostled my shoulder. I was instantly alert again, looking around the room, absorbing the colors and the sights and the smells.

Aimée wasn't there anymore.

"You ready to try some more blood?"

"How long was I out?" My stomach grumbled.

Nic shrugged. "About a day."

"A day?" I sat up and climbed from the bed. "No wonder I'm hungry."

He shrugged again. "Babies sleep," he teased.

I nudged him in the ribs and he clutched his hand where I'd bumped against him. "Careful. I bruise." Then he laughed again. "We're going to need to train you to use your strength after we get you eating properly, too."

"But first, the eating." I almost rubbed my hands together at the idea of more blood. Even that almost tasteless stuff in Nic's fridges. "Lead the way."

Nic took my hand, wrapping his strong fingers around mine. "We'll try another bag, but I've got a surprise for you, too."

"Okay." A shiver of anticipation whispered across my skin, lifting the fine hairs there, and Nic pressed a kiss to the back of my hand.

In the blood room, he fed me some more blood, and I held more of it down.

"That was better." Nic released my hair and handed me a Kleenex. "It takes a while to get used to the bagged blood, is all. But it teaches control as well."

I pulled the corners of my mouth down. "So the rest of my life exists in these little baggies, now?" The fridges no longer looked as harmless as they once had. They were my immortal future.

Nick moved his head side to side consideringly. "Not quite." He rinsed out the mug, swilling away the last dregs of the blood.

My stomach gnawed again as I watched the last dregs of the blood circle the drain. "Feels like a waste," I muttered.

Nic drew a small knife from his pocket and flicked it open before making a small slash in his wrist and holding his dripping arm over the cup. He watched the blood level rise in the mug before he pressed his wrist to his mouth and licked the wound until it closed. Then he handed me the mug.

"Special of the day," he murmured.

The tantalizing scent drifting toward me made me lightheaded. I closed my eyes as I inhaled, drawing it deep into my chest. I'd never expected Nic's blood to be attractive or turn me on, but it was both of those things.

I pressed the mug to my lips and tilted it, savoring the warmth of Nic's blood fresh from his body. The texture and taste awoke every one of my instincts, and my fangs descended.

I tried to cover my mouth. "Oh, shit. Sorry," I mumbled, but when Nic looked at me, his eyes glowed red, and his cock formed a bulge in his pants.

"Watching you drink my blood is such a turn-on."

His fangs descended as I watched, and heat pooled between my thighs as he stepped closer.

"Leia." My name was smooth and soft and velvety, and his fingers touched his neck. "Bite me."

He was up against me before I could make another sound, and I drifted my lips over his neck like he'd done to me so many times before.

"Fuck me, Nic," I whispered as my mouth touched his skin.

He groaned, and his belt buckle clinked as he undid it. Then my robe loosened as he tugged the knot free, and cold air tickled my bare skin.

I was immediately wet for him, and the sound of his zipper only made me more so.

"Nic," I whispered again.

He lifted me and sat me on the counter as his cock nudged at my opening.

There was no time for touches or caresses. This was urgent and fast and, fuck, I wanted him.

"Bite me," he gasped out as he plunged into my body and began to thrust against me.

I didn't need any more urging. My fangs were ready and his pulse beat swiftly just beneath his skin. I rested my fangs there, hesitant now.

"Do it, Leia," he urged, and as I pressed harder, my fangs slid in swiftly, exactly where he needed to be, and his blood flowed into my mouth immediately.

He gasped then groaned out my name and sped up his thrusting, his cock drawing in and out of me as his pulse sent spurts of blood into my mouth. I swallowed in huge reflexive movements, drawing his essence right into me as he worked his hand between us and rolled my clit beneath his finger.

I swallowed then lifted my head away and gasped before sucking strongly on him again. He cried out and arched, pausing all of his movement as his cock thickened inside me.

"Fuck, Leia," he ground out. "You're amazing." As he spoke, he stroked his finger over my clit again, and I came hard and fast, tightening around his cock until he inhaled sharply. "Never before."

I grinned as I swept my tongue over the puncture marks I'd made, satisfaction welling in my chest that I was able to heal him now. "So," I said, "my future is baggies and you?"

He glanced at me. "Oh, yes."

I laughed and kissed him, letting my tongue linger in his mouth. He began to harden again inside me, and I wriggled my hips encouragingly, but he chuckled and withdrew.

"I shouldn't overtire you."

I pouted. "But this is the best I've felt in days. I feel so alive like I could…like I could really kick some ass, you know?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes." I nodded. "I've never felt so much energy. Like it's going to explode out of me."

It sounded like an exaggeration, and I sounded like a kid on Christmas, but it was the craziest thing. Like the excitement was about to burst from me in a ball of energy I couldn't control.

"Well, I didn't intend for Jason to get his hands on you today, but maybe you need a focus." He nodded like he'd decided something as he refastened his pants. "Come on, let's get you dressed." He slid his cell phone into his hand as we left the blood room, and the next person he spoke to was Jason. "I've got Leia with me and she's got some excess energy I thought you could put to good use?"

He hung up the phone after a few more seconds and looked at me appraisingly. "We need to put some clothes on you. Have you got anything you can work out in? Move freely in?"

I checked the closet in Nic's room first. He'd brought me every type of clothing I could possibly imagine. Far more styles than I could ever wear.

I selected a workout outfit in soft heather gray and took the opportunity to admire myself in the mirror again. I was definitely sleeker, and my muscles had greater definition.

"I didn't expect this." I turned to Nic as I indicated my new shape.

"You've always been beautiful," he murmured as he held my hand above my head and twirled me so he could see my whole body.

Then we left the room and his wing, and my cheeks heated as I remembered the last time I'd ventured downstairs. I hadn't even bothered with the stairs, and I'd been naked, launching myself over the balustrade like something feral.

I walked quietly down the staircase, hopeful we wouldn't meet anyone before we reached the basement, but Mr. Baldwin slid silently into view in the entrance hall.

"Sir," he murmured. Then he nodded at me. "Miss Leia."

I offered him a small wave, but looked down at the woodgrain on the floor as we walked past him.

I hadn't been in the gym in Nic's basement before, and I glanced at the theater on the way past. That would have been a far more pleasant way to spend my afternoon but so much had changed since I'd spent afternoons in there, first with Jason and then with Aimée.

Nic pushed open a door and we entered a large space with machines and equipment to one side and a large open space to the other.

Jason stood in the middle of the open space. "Welcome to the first lesson of your vampire training."

He spread his arms wide and grinned, a hint of fang touching his lower lip.