She was a kept thing. A beautiful, exotic animal, delicate and rare. She had awakened his power, would be the mother of a long-dead race, and she had no idea how important she was to all of them.
The scent of her blood filled the enclosed space of his bedroom with a sweetness that made his mouth water. Michael’s fangs throbbed in his gums, and fiery heat scorched a path up his throat. He’d fed from her just hours ago, and yet he hungered for her with the intensity of the newly turned. His heart beat with a vigorous rhythm in his chest, and at his core power surged within him. He felt invigorated. Alive. And still it wasn’t enough. He wanted more, to glut himself on her blood. As long as she was human, the greatest danger to her life was Michael himself.
He jerked upright, only now realizing that he was bent over her, his mouth sealed over her throat. The bloodlust had seized him with a totality that weakened not only his mind but also his will. He would have taken her. Sunk his fangs into her neck and ravished her while she slept soundly under the influence of his command. Gods, not even twenty-four hours had passed and already he found himself helpless to resist her siren song. The hold she had over him was instant. Powerful.
And dangerous.
“Mikhail?” Ronan’s voice filtered up the stairway from the bottom floor. “Are you going to make me wait all day? Put Sleeping Beauty to bed and let’s get on with it!”
Michael pushed himself away from Claire, every inch of him trembling. He balled his hands into fists as he strode toward the doorway, all the while his body screaming for him to turn around and do what he’d yearned to do. Though he resented the other male’s constant presence, as Michael eased the door shut behind him he realized that Ronan might be all that stood between him and utter ruin. Perhaps it wasn’t just the Sortiari Claire needed protection from. Michael was beginning to think that someone ought to protect her from him as well.#p#分页标题#e#
Ronan paced the confines of the study, looking a bit like a caged animal himself when Michael walked through the open doors. His hair sat atop his head in a wild tangle as he gnawed on his thumbnail like it might be his last meal. “What happened between the two of you while I slept?”
Ronan turned to face him, his expression that of a disappointed parent. “Really, Mikhail? Not even a full day with your mate and you’re already jealous.”
“What happened?” That Ronan was deflecting caused Michael’s ire to mount, jealous or not. Something had woken him from his sleep. A feat that had never been accomplished in all of the many centuries of his existence. He’d felt a sense of urgency upon waking. Panic. Had Ronan scared Claire? Threatened her? Made an unwanted advance? Michael’s bloodlust raged. It wouldn’t matter at this point whose blood he feasted upon. If Ronan had offended Claire in some way, Michael would sate his thirst right here and now.
“If becoming a tethered vampire turns one into a mindless animal ruled by his base emotions, perhaps I should reconsider accepting your generous gift.” Ronan took a seat at Michael’s desk, opened an old leather-bound book, and focused his attention on whatever was written there. Michael knew that book. He’d seen it somewhere before … many years ago.
“Where did you get that codex?” His jealousy took a backseat to his curiosity. Many of the vampire race’s relics had been scattered to the winds after the Sortiari attacks. He’d recovered a few of them over the past decades, but this particular tome he’d thought lost.
“You’re not the only one with connections,” Ronan replied. “Or influence.”
Smug. Michael had time enough to grill Ronan on just how and from whom he got the book, but the appearance of the relic was currently the least of his worries. “What does the book have to do with Claire?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” As he continued to flip through the pages, Ronan cast a sidelong glance Michael’s way. “I haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for yet, but if my assumptions are correct, I think I’ve saved you a lifetime’s worth of worry, my friend.”
Michael quirked a brow. “How so?”
“I think that Claire is a Vessel.”
He let out a disbelieving bark of laughter. “And here I thought you’d come to me with something that wasn’t founded on myth and legend.” Michael paced the room, his brain buzzing with need. Until Claire, he’d kept his thirst at bay for months at a time without even a hint of mindless bloodlust. But now taking her vein had become his obsession, the thirst mounting to the point that only an act of violence would keep him from her. Claire, a Vessel. Michael let out a derisive snort. She might as well be a unicorn.