Free Rush of Darkness by Rhyannon Byrd Page B

Raine. If you need blood, you can have more of mine.” She flinched in reaction, but he didn’t notice, his attention already focused on the knife he’d pulled from his back pocket. She knew exactly what he was going to do, this same scenario playing out time and again while they’d made their way across the Wasteland. The human had made it more than clear that he would never give her his vein. Instead, he lowered his window and emptied out the water bottle he’d pulled from his pack, then made a shallow cut in his strong, corded forearm and collected the blood in the empty container.
    Christ, that smells good, she thought, as the rich, drugging scent reached her nostrils, making her head spin. And so unforgivably wrong.
    But it wouldn’t stop her from taking what he offered. She couldn’t. Once that mouthwatering scent hit her nose, she was hooked. Now she needed it too badly.
    He scowled as he handed the bottle into her trembling hand, those green eyes shadowed with grim, angry emotion. Part of her wanted to throw the blood in his judgmental face, but she greedily clutched the bottle in her cold fingers. Just before the rim touched her lips, her eyes flicked to the knife he still gripped in his handand she smirked. “You’d rather die than do this the easy way, wouldn’t you?”
    “I’m sure the knife hurts a helluva lot less than your teeth.”
    “It’s too bad you’ll never know for sure,” she murmured, and she could feel him watching her with piercing intensity as she lowered her lashes and drank deeply, letting the warm, succulent liquid flow down her throat, spreading through her body, slipping deeper…and deeper….
    And all the while, she tried not to think about the past or the future…or how badly she wanted to sink her fangs into Seth McConnell’s masculine throat.

CHAPTER SIX
    Saarbrücken, Germany
4:00 a.m.
    I F HELL EXISTED on earth, then Seth had no doubt that he’d found it. They’d checked into their hotel a half hour ago, and all that’d been available was a room with a king-size bed, which meant he’d be cramping it on the love seat for the remainder of the night. But that wasn’t the hellish part. No, the part that had him twisted into knots, pacing the room from one side to the other, was the fact that he was alone with the vamp.
    Strange, that in all the time he’d known her, they’d never once been behind a locked door together. Always before, there had been friends nearby. Watching. Listening. Ready to be there if she needed them.
    Knowing damn well that he made her nervous, Seth was relieved, if not a little annoyed, when she sat down in the middle of the bed with her backpack, pulled the wavy mass of her long hair over one shoulder, whipped out her laptop and began typing away, doing God only knew what—and completely ignoring his presence. Of course, it gave him the opportunity to simply watch her, his gaze never wavering from the delicate angles of herface as he paced…and paced, the carpet no doubt wearing thin beneath the soles of his boots.
    Though he hated to admit it, she looked better for the blood he’d given her, color blooming in her cheeks with a soft, youthful glow. A glow he couldn’t help but feel strangely proud for putting there. He’d used the first-aid kit he always traveled with—in his line of work, the thing was constantly needed—and wrapped a bandage around his arm, but the shallow cut still throbbed, reminding him of those quiet, intense moments in the back of the taxi. As he’d watched her drinking his blood, it’d been impossible to control his body’s reactions. His heart had hammered like a bitch, his cock hardening to the point he felt light-headed. Though his mind obviously had trouble coming to terms with her “liquid” diet, his body had no trouble reacting to the provocative idea of her taking sustenance from him.
    Or was he simply experiencing relief at the fact that he’d been able to keep her from going out and finding her