After a particular awkward scene when one of the other donors had tried to attack him, Danny had taken to staying in his room. He had no idea what he had done to upset the man other than to say hello to him.
Dominic tried to explain that he had used the man in the past as a donor but stopped when he became sick. The other donor obviously didn’t have pure blood like Danny, and he was jealous of Danny’s position. Bully for him. He could have it. Danny didn’t want it, not anymore. He had learned exactly what life was like being the blood donor for a vampire, and Sully couldn’t have been more right.
He was cattle.
Moo!
Danny turned on the shower and climbed in. His skin ached as the water hit him. He inhaled slowly, trying to push the little pinpricks of pain out of his head. Danny didn’t know if it was a side effect of donating blood or not, but his skin had become ultra sensitive lately.
Sometimes it even hurt to breathe.
Danny stayed in the shower until the water ran cold then turned it off and climbed out. He grabbed a towel and gave a halfhearted effort to dry himself off before tossing the towel in the dirty clothes hamper and walking back into his bedroom.
He stopped and stared at the tray of food sitting on the small table by the window. The thought of food made his stomach threaten to
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rebel again. He had barely been able to keep things down in days, but the stomach cramps were the worst. Danny didn’t know if the cramps had anything to do with how ashamed he was at enjoying being bitten but he was leaning in that direction. The cramps only came when Dominic drank from him.
Danny grabbed a soft pair of lounging pants and a simple cotton shirt, pulling them on. When he shivered from the cold that seemed to be hanging in the air, he decided to add a sweatshirt. He was freezing.
Danny walked over to the table and took his vitamins, thankful when they stayed down after several swallows of water. Even if he couldn’t keep any food down, he still needed to get some sort of vitamins in his system. He needed to keep his body producing that fabulous grade-A pure blood. What else was he good for besides being a cow?
Danny sighed deeply and walked over to his bed. He stacked the pillows at one end and curled into them, pulling the covers up to his shoulders. He was tired, so very damn tired. It seemed that he was tired all of the time lately. His schedule basically consisted of feeding Dominic then feeding himself, then sleeping until the next time Dominic called on him.
And that’s exactly what he would do now—sleep until his master called on him again.
* * * *
“Hey, Dominic, can I speak to you for a moment.”
Dominic glanced up from the papers he was working on to see Sully standing in the doorway to his office. He nodded and went back to his papers. “What can I do for you, Sully?”
“I’m worried about Danny. One of the kitchen staff came to me and said that Danny isn’t eating.”
Dominic frowned as he looked up again. “What do you mean he’s not eating?” Worry filled him instantly.
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“Just what I said. He’s not eating. His food trays keep coming back with more and more food left on them. Over the last two days, the only thing that has been missing from Danny’s food trays when they were returned to the kitchen is the vitamins.”
Dominic lowered his head as he gritted his teeth. His first instinct was to run upstairs and check on Danny, except that neither Danny nor Sully wanted him to do that. Sully would lecture him on the rules governing a blood donor, and Danny would just fall silent and fade off somewhere Dominic wasn’t allowed to go.
It drove him insane.
He was the fucking prince of the coven here, and he couldn’t even get his wants met. Oh sure, his skin had a nice healthy glow to it now, and he was back on his feet, feeling better than he had in years. It was just too bad his heart was breaking in the process.
And Dominic had enough time to think about it to know that’s exactly what was going on. He wanted Danny. He wanted the man to stay in his life on a permanent basis, to keep him at his side for the rest of their lives. Dominic couldn’t kid himself anymore. He was in love with Danny Erickson.
And Danny didn’t want anything to do with him.
Dominic had seen the shame in Danny’s eyes every time he drank from the man. He knew Danny enjoyed their times together physically, but his heart was no longer in it. As soon as they were done, Danny would turn away and hurry back to his room.
Dominic sighed when Sully cleared his throat. Sully was just as big an issue as Danny, just for different reasons. Every time Dominic expressed the least bit of concern for Danny, Sully was quick to remind him that Danny was simply a blood donor. Which made Dominic incredibly confused about why Sully was coming to him now.