Bound by Night(91)

The kid had been too far gone with protective instinct, like a dog standing near the body of its owner, defending even against the paramedics who had come to help.
Myne just hoped he could help. The silver fl ecks forming in Nicole’s eyes were a clear sign that she was in the middle of the change from human to vampire, but he’d never seen it happen so suddenly, and defi - nitely not after a full week of no symptoms. Usually, humans showed signs within hours after being introduced to the virus, and they were sick for weeks as their bodies changed over. Hell, it could take up to a month for the full transition.
Nicole appeared to be halfway there, and as far as he knew, she’d only been sick for hours. This could be bad. Real fucking bad.
His first instinct was to deliver her to Hunter, but before Riker had offered himself up to ShadowSpawn’s leader, he’d asked Myne to take care of Nicole. Myne would have refused, but how could he refuse a guy who had saved his life?
And who was on his way to certain death.
Shit.
He headed toward his quarters, but when he reached the door, he changed his mind. She needed the best shot at survival he could give her, and keeping her someplace strange was a piss-poor idea. Right now, she needed Riker, so he’d give her the next best thing.
He burst into Riker’s apartment and laid her carefully on the bed. She groaned and rolled onto her side, curling into a fetal position. She was burning up, her skin so hot that she wasn’t even sweating.#p#分页标题#e#
Sinking down onto the bed, he thumbed her upper lip and exposed her canines. Gently, he touched the tip of his finger to one. It jiggled under his touch, loosening as the vampire fang behind it grew in to replace the human tooth.
“Nicole? Can you hear me?”
She let out another groan, and her eyes flickered open. The green irises had clouded over, and the whites had turned red as the blood vessels inside them burst.
It was at this point that infected humans would, if left on their own, either die or rally enough to attack anything that moved in order to drink its blood. Few would survive if they found only animals. More would survive if they drank from humans. The best chance at survival was to drink from a vampire, and best of all was a born vampire’s powerful platelets.
This wasn’t something Myne was comfortable with. If Nicole survived, he’d forever be linked to her, when he’d never been linked to anyone but his brother. If she died, he’d have failed Riker, the only person he’d ever considered a friend.
Exhaling on a curse, he stripped her down to her bra and underwear, partly to help cool her down and partly because her body would change, and the clothing could restrict blood flow. Naked would be best, but he figured he could go that route later if needed.
He just hoped it wouldn’t come to that. If Nicole survived, she didn’t need to spend the rest of her life knowing he’d seen her naked. Although he wasn’t sure seeing her like this was any better. Her black bra cupped breasts made to fit into a male’s palm, and her blue panties, while not the sexiest things he’d ever seen, covered a rounded bottom he’d admit to admiring every time he saw her in the jeans with the hole under the back pocket.
He’d always been an ass man, and Nicole had a spectacular one.
Myne tore his gaze away with another foul curse.
He wasn’t especially noble, didn’t even have to pretend to respect her modesty, but Riker was his friend, and Myne wasn’t going to ogle his only friend’s helpless female.
“Riker, you lucky bastard,” he muttered, as he put his wrist to his mouth and then ripped open the vein with his titanium teeth, cradled Nicole’s head in one hand, and put the wound to her mouth.
She reared back, swatting at him.
“Come on,” he urged her, but her struggles only got fiercer. She kneed him in the groin, and son of a bitch, that hurt.
He was done trying to be hands-off. No more Mr. Gentleman. He’d never been good at it anyway.
With a grunt, he fell on top of her and rolled them both so he was behind her, his legs clamped around her thighs, his arms pinning hers securely while he forced his wrist against her mouth.
Suddenly, she jerked and stopped fighting. Thank the spirit-gods. Her lips closed on his wrist, and she began to take dainty draws.
Excellent. Now he had to stay with her, feeding her when she needed blood, holding her when she went through agonizing changes. He just had to hope she wouldn’t demand his body as well as his blood. She was beautiful, passionate, intelligent . . . everything he’d ever wanted in a female.
She was also Riker’s. It didn’t matter that Riker wasn’t here. It wouldn’t matter if they never saw him again.