“You will?” She didn’t look too happy about the idea.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle and low, although every instinct I had was screaming for me to get her out of that room. It was like I had walked in on her holding a ticking bomb in her hand—I had to get her out now. “I’ll never hurt you, Taylor,” I said again.
She looked at me, as though trying to read my face. Then, slowly, she nodded.
“All right,” she whispered. “But please—let’s hurry.”
“As fast as we can,” I promised. “You stay right with me and I’ll keep the sun off you until we get out of this room.”
Carefully, I edged up right behind her until her back was to my front. I could feel her shaking as I wrapped my arms around her, trying not to hurt her burned skin. I looked down, making sure that she was completely protected, completely hidden by my body. Feeling her lush ass pressed back against my shaft was distracting but I pushed my desire for her out of my mind and made sure her legs were perfectly lined up with mine.
“Okay,” I murmured in her ear. “We’re going to move. Left foot first, then right, keep going until we’re out of the kitchen and into the living room. There aren’t as many windows in there and they all have drapes on them.”
“Okay,” she whispered back and we began to move.
As we made our way out of the kitchen, I could feel how tense she was against me. It was the exact opposite of how she’d been in bed, when she was still asleep and thought I was the wolf. I wondered if she hated this, being so close to me. Or if she was just afraid of the sunlight. I really hoped it was the latter.
Finally, we were clear of the kitchen and into the dim hallway leading to the living room. I kicked the kitchen door closed with my foot, shutting out the brilliant flood of sunlight to my intense relief.
As soon as we were free of the sunlight, Taylor jumped away from me—or tried to, anyway. She started out well but fell to her knees on the second step with a little moan of pain.
Instantly, I felt a surge of protective concern. Was she all right? Had the sunlight just weakened her or was she hurt worse than I had thought?
“Taylor?” I bent down to look at her but she had curled herself into a little ball and wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, I scooped her gently into my arms and lifted her off the floor. God, she was light—too light. It worried me. She made a small sound of protest but didn’t try to fight me as I carried her into the living room and laid her gently on the couch. Her lack of struggle made me even more concerned—what if she was even more injured than I had thought? What if she was dying? I didn’t know how much sun a young vamp like her could take and still survive—what if she was checking out on me right now?
“Hey,” I said, trying to control the intense worry I was feeling. “Hey, baby—you okay?”
Taylor took a ragged breath, her eyelashes fluttering on her pale cheeks as though she was about to pass out.
“I’m fine,” she said at last, in a voice so faint I could barely hear her. “Really…fine.”
I frowned. “No, you’re not. You just sustained fucking third degree sunburns and collapsed. You’re not fine. So tell me the truth—are you injured? Do you need a doctor? Medicine?”
I felt stupid asking it. What kind of doctor treated vampires? And what kind of medicine could they take? They didn’t drink anything but blood.
Right! Blood! A light bulb went off in my head. What an idiot I was not to see it right away—blood, she needed blood!
I started to offer her my right wrist as I had the night before, but it was still sore from her last feeding. The left wrist was out of the question too—it was tender as hell from the fucking trap I’d walked into as the wolf. The only option left was my throat, but she had been scared to death when I’d offered it to her the night before—possibly because I was looming over her, making her feel vulnerable.
I thought about it for a minute but I could only see one solution. Sitting down beside her on the couch, I gathered her into my arms again.
“What…what are you doing?” She looked at me with eyes filled with mistrust and hurt. My heart twisted painfully—I didn’t want her afraid of me.
“It’s okay, baby,” I murmured, shifting until I was lying back on the long sectional with my head and neck propped on the arm of the couch. “I’m just giving you what you need.”
“Don’t need…anything,” she protested when I settled her more firmly against me.
“Yes, you do. You need blood.” When I got where I was going, I was lying on the couch with her soft little body draped over my chest and thighs. Her scent filled my senses and a strong feeling of protective possessiveness washed over me again.