She hadn’t. The woman had given him one hell of a rush with her mouth and then the tight clasp of her creamy sex had driven him close to begging.
“What can I do?”
He looked up at her. Standing over him, blond hair mussed, always mussed, eyes so steady and…afraid? Dee? Since when did that woman fear anything? She’d stared straight at death with her eyes wide open and never flinched.
While he’d been so scared he’d almost bitten her. Because what if the witch had been wrong? Losing Dee hadn’t been an option for him. The woman wasn’t a pawn anymore. Hadn’t been, maybe from that first night.
She was…everything.
Not that she’d believe him. Not when she found out the secrets he’d kept.
His eyes began to drift closed.
“Simon!”
The crack in her voice had his lashes lifting. So beautiful. Had he seen the beauty the first moment? Or the strength?
“What do you need?” She asked again.
The last part of the puzzle. Careful. Had to be so careful here. “Blood.”
Her delicate jaw worked.
He let his shoulders slump. Not really hard with the weakness spreading through him, weighing down his limbs.
“You drink, then you explain, got me? Everything, everything.” She held out her arm, turned it, and exposed her wrist with the thin line of blue veins visible just beneath the surface.
He’d be her first.
His hands shook when he reached for her wrist. The shaking was from the blood loss, of course, just that. His fingers curled around her flesh and brought her offering close. Eyes on her, he opened his mouth and sank his teeth deep.
Fuck. His tongue slid along her wrist and the blood flowed into his mouth. Sweet, so damn sweet. A wild rush poured through him at her taste. His cock jerked, his muscles strained, and power, wild, rich power, heated his body.
Nothing like a Born’s blood. That was the whisper. The rumor. Blood straight from a Born was power. Pure power.
Her breath caught and her eyes began to darken once again. The scent of blood hung in the air between them, but Simon’s nostrils widened and he caught the heavier aroma of her slick cream.
“Enough.” Her whisper.
One more swipe of his tongue, then a press of his lips, and Simon pulled back.
Her chest rose and fell quickly. “What the hell am I doing?”
Getting ready to change the world.
Simon rose, too easily this time. He righted his clothes, hard that, with his dick bobbing toward her. But he’d promised Dee answers, and from here on out, he’d be keeping his word to her.
“I didn’t change you in that alley.” Her chin tipped back as she stared up at him. His neck throbbed from her bite and his body burned for her. Always, for her. “And I damn well didn’t let any of those other bastards touch you.”
The understanding was in her eyes, but Dee shook her head.
Time for some brutal truth. “Do you know how long it’s been since a new Born came into the world?”
Her lips trembled. “Borns are ancient. There haven’t been any for thousands of years. They were some kind of genetic mutation. A messed-up mutation that gave rise to the vamps.”
To us. “What all do you know about Borns?”
The fingers of her right hand rubbed the wrist he’d bitten. Slow, steady strokes that she didn’t even seem to be aware of making. “I hunt vampires. I know everything there is to know—both about the Born and the Taken.”
“Not everything,” he said, voice soft.
Eyes narrowing, she snapped, “They’re young. I mean the Born change young. They’re strong. Stronger physically and psychically than the Taken. They can—they can control other vampires. Summon those in the line they create.”
Points for her. Time for hell. “Those vampires came to your home all those years ago for a reason, Dee. It wasn’t some random attack.”
“No, they wanted blood. They didn’t care who they hurt—”
“They came for you.”
She paled. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that about sixteen years ago, a level-nine demon made a prediction.” She’d been the strongest precognitive alive. Of course, after her prediction, the demon’s body had been found, minus her head.
One less precog demon around.
“The demon said a new Born was in the world, and that one day, she’d change, just like the others had changed so long ago.” Not so subtle emphasis on the she.
Dee’s lips parted. “No.”
No sympathy. No remorse. “The vampires came to your home because you were the predicted Born. They had to kill you while you were young, before you could change.”
“No.”
The air seemed to thicken around him. “They were under orders not to drain you. They were supposed to cut your head off.” No chance of her changing that way. “They weren’t sure when you’d transform, and the bastard leading them didn’t want to take any chances.”