Free Bite Me if You Can by Lynsay Sands Page B

Lucian, and in all that time you’ve—”
    Her rant was cut off as Lucian finally succeeded in finding the button to end the call. Leigh was almost sorry he’d succeeded. She would have liked to hear more. Marguerite had known Lucian for seven hundred years? She must have misheard her, Leigh thought. She’d probably said seven hungry years or something, though that didn’t make any sense either. Anyway, she had a feeling that whatever followed would have been interesting.
    Relaxing as silence drifted through the room, Lucian straightened his shoulders and turned to Leigh. He stared at her for a while, then gestured to the tray. “I made you something to eat if you’re hungry.”
    Leigh peered at the steaming pile on the plate on the tray, then asked uncertainly. “What is it?”
    “Prime cuts in gravy.”
    “Prime cuts in gravy?” she echoed slowly. “Did you cook it?”
    “I opened the can and heated it up in the microwave for one minute. Someone named Alpo cooked it.”
    Leigh stiffened, her head shooting up, eyes wide with disbelief. “Alpo?”
    He shrugged. “That’s what the can said.”
    Leigh shook her head with bewilderment. “You can use a microwave, but not a phone, and don’t know that Alpo isn’t the chef, but the brand name for dog food?” There was something seriously wrong here.
    “I can use a phone,” he snapped. “I’m not an idiot. It’s just Marguerite has these stupid fancy phones with more buttons than a plane cockpit and... ” He paused and seemed to regain his temper, then added, “As for a microwave, I have one of my own. I occasionally like to warm... beverages before I drink them.” He scowled, then added, “And what’s wrong with dog food? Food is food, and it smells pretty good.”
    Leigh stared at him as the vague, dreamlike recollection of stumbling into the kitchen returned to her. Her eyes narrowed on Lucian as she wondered if he’d been the blond with Morty and Bricker in the kitchen, the one who’d covered her mouth and pulled her out of the door and against his chest. Had that really happened? Was Lucian that man?
    Leigh supposed he could be, but it was hard to tell without seeing his face.
    “Do you want it or not?” Lucian asked, and she turned to him with disbelief.
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    He shrugged and repeated, “Food is food, and I didn’t find anything else in the kitchen.”
    Leigh shook her head. She wasn’t that hungry and hoped to God she never was. “No, thank you.”
    Shrugging again, he picked up the plate and set it on the bed in front of Julius. The dog immediately began to lap it up.
    “See. He likes it,” Lucian said, and Leigh bit her lip against the rude comments that sprang to mind as she watched him bend to the bedside table and open the door.
    Curious, she leaned forward and found that it wasn’t a bedside table at all. It was actually a small refrigerator and it was presently stacked half full with bags of blood.
    “Open your mouth.”
    “What?” Leigh asked. It was such an unexpected order, and his head was in the refrigerator and half-muffled. She was quite sure she’d misheard him.
    “I said open your mouth.” Lucian straightened from the refrigerator with a bag of blood in hand.
    Leigh eyed it with confusion. “Why?”
    Apparently not the most patient of men, rather than repeat himself again, he reached out, clasped her face in one hand and dug his fingers into her cheeks. She was forced to open her mouth to avoid pain. Lucian paused and frowned as he peered at her teeth.
    “Of course not.” Shaking his head, he glanced around, then back to her, his gaze pausing on her blouse. “Right.”
    Leigh frowned, wondering what on earth he was thinking, then gasped in surprise as Lucian caught the bloody front of her blouse and raised it to her nose. She tried to pull her face away from the crusty cloth, but he simply followed with the stiff material, and she stilled as she breathed in the scent of her own