Free Once Bitten by Kalayna Price Page A

the computers that had been working on her blood samples. He looked thoughtfully at the results on the computer screen. "Looks good from here, though I’d recommend a regular dose of adaptogen over the next few months to make certain there’s no relapse."
    Bali saw Icki’s head whip up, and he stared at the back of Skye’s head penetratingly.
    As if sensing the stare, Skye turned and met his gaze. His voice was curiously neutral. "What do you think, Dr. Icki?"
    Icki held his stare for long moments. "You might be right."
    Bali’s gaze darted between the two of them. The looked like lawyers haggling over a tough case. Her heart sank as their diagnosis sank in. "You can’t be serious!"
    They turned twin, unblinking gazes her way, but it was Skye who answered. "You don’t want to regress, do you? Give the adaptogen some time to take hold."
    She couldn’t believe it. "Icki?"
    "I think it might be best," he said slowly, looking grave.
    She darted a wild look at Domino. "But he can’t! I was going to...."
    Domino smiled and slouched against the examining table next to her. As blandly as if they were discussing the weather, he assured her, "I’m perfectly willing to oblige."
    A new tension gripped her, one that had nothing to do with doctors. She’d planned to leave him and was fairly sure that everyone in the room knew it. Maybe they had a conspiracy going, but she didn’t dare go to another doctor. She was neatly trapped and resented it.
    Icki rolled his head from side to side and groaned. "If you don’t mind, I’m ready to go back to Domino’s. My bed is calling." His color was bad, and Bali held her tongue as Domino gave him a hand up. She wanted to lash out, to go a little crazy, but now wasn’t the time.
    By the time they got back to Domino’s suite, she was feeling unexpectedly tired as well. Anger and simmering resentment mixed with unease, even fear as she crossed the threshold. Happily, the smell of a feast also rose up to greet her, and she realized she was hungrier than she’d thought.
    Icki went straight to his room, so she fixed him a plate, delivered it, then departed with a meat roll while he and Domino talked.
    Domino’s room was open, so she slipped inside, wary of going to her own room. It would be the first place he looked. She wanted to be alone, preferably for hours, but knew it was unlikely. He was going to want to talk, and he wasn’t the kind to settle for a simple no.
    His bed was large, mussed and otherwise unremarkable. He had a nightstand, and it was the only other furniture in the room. Weapons of all types, mostly guns, hung on his walls. His room looked like an arsenal. Frowning, she wandered closer, examining the medals in a glass case on the wall. He had quite an array.
    "My sister’s gift. They have the mistaken idea that I need to display my accomplishments," Domino said dryly.
    Bali spun around. He leaned against the doorframe, casually blocking the entrance.
    "Aren’t you hungry?" he asked, raising a lazy brow. His eyes were beginning to glow. "I’m starving."
    The purr warned her. "Go eat, then. Your cook sent up quite a feast."
    He paced closer, his smile slow, seductive. "I hate to eat alone."
    She backed along the wall, aware that she was nearing the bed, certain she could dart around it at the last minute. "I’m not going to sleep with you."
    "Good. I wasn’t going to sleep." He kept coming.
    She reached the bed and tried to bolt past him. He caught her easily, laughing as he held her to him, her back to his front. She should have attacked, but her mind froze as his hand slowly tracked over her belly, inching under her shirt. "This is crazy."
    "What is?" he whispered in her ear, tracing the shell with his tongue.
    She shuddered. "This. Us. This is never going to work. We don’t even know each other; not really. I’m completely wrong for you."
    "But I’m right for you." His hands moved to her zipper, slowly eased it down. There was a sharp tug as he unbuttoned her