Kissed by a Dark Prince(53)

He stared at his empty hand, reeling from what he had seen and the knowledge of what he had done.

“Olivia, I...” He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say to her, or whether she would even listen to him. He met her eyes, losing himself in their rich dark depths and cursing himself as he noticed the tears that lined her lashes. He had hurt her. “I am sorry... I bit you against your will... I did not know—”

“You couldn’t have known,” she interjected softly and cast her gaze down at the pale blue bedclothes beside her.

“That is why you fought me so... because you thought I would kill you. Like this vampire tried to kill you?”

She refused to look at him but she nodded.

Loren reached over and settled his palm against her cheek, hoping to reassure her. She didn’t flinch away from his touch and he took it as a good sign.

“I would not have killed you, Olivia. I was hungry, but I was in control. I knew how much to take without hurting you... but it is no excuse for what I did. It is no wonder that you despise me. I am no better than the vampire who attacked you.” He lowered his hand away from her face and she surprised him by catching it before he could fully withdraw.

“I don’t despise you, Loren... and I don’t hate the vampire who did this to me.”

He frowned. “Why ever not?”

She looked up at him, her soulful brown eyes filled with tears and sorrow. “Because he was my brother.”

Gods. Her brother had turned vampire and had attacked her. He couldn’t stop himself from clutching her hand, holding it tightly in his, needing to feel her and needing her to feel him, and know that he would never let anything bad happen to her ever again.

“You want to save your brother, Loren... I wanted to save mine... and I couldn’t... and I have to live with that every day.”

Was this confession what Sable had anticipated when she had told him to ask Olivia about the scars? Her friend knew her history and had known that it would bring him closer to her somehow, but he still didn’t understand how. They shared a common desire, and Olivia had failed to save her brother. Loren couldn’t see how it would help him win Olivia’s heart and understand her recent behaviour.

Unless the two scars on her arm weren’t related. What other terrible things had Olivia endured in her short life?

He pushed aside his curiosity about the other scar and focused on the one she seemed willing to talk about.

“What happened to your brother?” Loren said, keeping his tone soft and gentle, hoping to soothe the hurt he could feel building within her. “Is he the reason you joined Archangel?”

Olivia nodded and toyed with Loren’s fingers, her focus fixed on them.

“I went through med school before joining a local hospital in London. I used to see my brother all the time, even when I was really busy with studying.” She ran her fingertip along the length of his index finger and pressed it against the tip. A distraction. Not just for her from her dark memories, but for him. If she kept toying with his fingers, he was going to have trouble focusing on her and shutting out the desire she stirred with each caress.

“It sounds as though you have always worked yourself too hard,” Loren said and she shrugged.

“He would come by and force me to take a break, dragging me out to dinner somewhere close to the hospital.” She glanced up at him. “It seems you both have a tendency to interrupt my work.”

Loren didn’t like her comparing him to her brother, who had attacked her, but he let it go, knowing she didn’t mean it in a bad way. “You were sleeping, not working.”

She shrugged again, released his hand and unbuttoned her white coat. She slipped her arms out of it and let it pool behind her on the bed. Her dark blue t-shirt hugged her breasts, another distraction he didn’t need. He tried not to stare at them, because his body was already getting the wrong idea, and it was impossible to conceal the effect she had on him when he was wearing his armour. If she noticed, she was liable to demand he leave and then he wouldn’t know what had happened with her brother.

Olivia turned her right arm around and held it out to him, so he could see the scars.

“Daniel didn’t contact me for weeks and I was worried about him, so I went to see him. I found him in his flat, sitting in a corner, rocking. I thought it was a medical problem... drugs or something. He looked so gaunt and pale. Sick.”

“Starving.” Loren had seen enough starving vampires to know what they looked like when their bodies began to fade away and they lost their mind to their hunger.

She nodded. “I tried to help him... and he...”

“He bit you.” Loren curled his fingers around her wrist and brushed his thumb over the scars. “Savagely.”