Free Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) by Jennifer James Page A

This was not the time to get all groiny. I ignored the urge to whip my borrowed clothes off and climb him like a deranged, sex-starved, spider monkey.
    He cleared his throat. “Yes, vampires are tougher to dispose of.”
    When I was brave enough to chance a peek at him, he was using a rotary cutter on our meal.
    He set a plate of pizza in front of me, and I took a big bite, burning the roof of my mouth. I savored it anyway. Whatever spices he had added along with the bacon transformed leftover delivery pizza into one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted.
    He sat opposite of me and began cutting his pizza into pieces and eating them with impeccable manners. It was funny and cute to watch. Here we were: him in gym shorts, and me in my massive oversize T-shirt and sweats, and he ate pizza like we were in an uber-fancy restaurant with a snooty waiter and five-hundred-dollar wine.
    Damn, he looked too relaxed and yet hoity-toity all at the same time. My freezing feet stretched toward the proximity of his knees under the table, searching for the warmth radiating from his body. I bet he’d jump pretty high if I stuck my poor Popsicle of a foot on him. “You didn’t answer me about the biting. Or the transforming.” I stuck my foot out cautiously and watched to see if he realized I had shifted in my seat. Nope. Quick as a rattler my foot connected with his bare knee, and he jerked in the chair and yipped.
    “Holy shi—why didn’t you tell me your feet were cold?” He stood up from the table and left the room at a jog.
    I laughed. “Don’t worry about it, T.T.B. Seeing you jump out of your chair like that was worth the cold toes.” I took another bite of pizza and tapped my foot on the floor. It had been a long time since I had shared a meal with anyone but Anna. It was kind of nice, even if I suspected he was buttering me up for something.
    He reappeared holding a pair of massive wooly socks and descended to one knee in front of me, chafing my right foot with his palms. I giggled and squirmed trying to get away; it tickled like crazy.
    “I think you’ve earned some tickle torture for freezing me, but I’m going to save it for later.” Daniel put a sock on my foot and looked at me from under his eyelashes until I brought my other leg around to the front of the chair. He scratched the sole of my foot once, just enough to make me jerk and sniggered before putting the other sock on. I wiggled my toes, grateful for the socks, even if they were so large the heel was halfway up the back of my ankle. It was an improvement over naked feet.
    We stared at each other until he cleared his throat and sat back down on his side of the table. I leaned in. “Thanks for the socks.”
    “You’re welcome.” He picked his utensils up. “Transforming. Most humans die if we try to change them into vampires. It’s a DNA thing. The answer to the transformation into an animal question is as I said before. Variations among a population.” He chewed a bite of pizza and looked at me from under the sweep of hair that kept falling into his eyes. “Are you going to answer my last question?”
    I cleared my nose with a hard exhale and picked up the bottle of water. I took another bite of pizza, chewed slowly, and closed my eyes when I swallowed. The leftover crust was suddenly fascinating.
    The urge to move somewhere—anywhere—overtook me. I made a beeline for the stove. “Want another piece?” The triangle of dough and toppings sagged from my fingertips.
    He took the offered slice and looked at me pointedly with one arched, blond brow. “Your mark. The chalice. When did you see it last?”
    “The night I lost my virginity. I make it a point not to look at it actually. I have enough reminders of my weirdness.” I practically shoved the pizza in my mouth and chewed like it was the most important thing I had ever done. Shame colored my cheeks and tears burned my eyes. Tommy’s face flashed across my mind, smiling and handsome