Free Return to Me (Storm Lords) by Nina Croft

she was a real weirdo, but he also reckoned she could help. She told me she was a clairsentient, and she taught me how to build a wall around my mind, to keep others out.”
    “Then we need you to learn how to take down that wall.”
    A shiver ran through her. “I’m not sure I want to.”
    “You just need to learn to control it. You can do it. I know you can.”
    She frowned. “How can you? You talk as though you know me, but really, you know nothing about me.”
    His features hardened. “I’ll help you. I won’t let any harm come to you.”
    He stood up. Bella thought he meant to leave her and fear washed through her. A vision of that thing crouching over Justin flashed through her mind. She saw again, Justin’s wide staring eyes, stamped with a horror she didn’t even want to imagine.
    She held out a hand to him, the movement instinctive. “Don’t leave me.”
    He pulled up a chair close to the bed, sat down, and took her hand. “I won’t.”
    Warmth and a sense of peace transmitted itself to her from his warm palm. It occurred to her then that she had never asked anyone for anything before, certainly not to hold her hand while she slept.
    ***
    Torr experienced a faint flicker of guilt that he seemed to have achieved his goal through the death of her friend. However, he could do nothing about it now.
    He’d had to get off the bed. Lying beside her and not touching her had been driving him wild. Now he held her hand, and watched as she closed her eyes and her features relaxed.
    The demon’s blood still buzzed in his veins. It was all he could do to sit here quietly while what he needed was to drag her into his arms and never let her go. He re-lived that flare of panic when he’d seen the demon crouching over her.
    Never again.
    From now on, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.
    And despite sating himself on the demon’s blood, his gums ached with the need to feed from her. That would, no doubt, go down extremely well.
    It was a long time since he had felt hunger like this. When he had first been thrown into the Abyss and gained his dark powers, the need to feed had been relentless, fueling his revenge, and he had feasted on the blood of his enemies. Back then, sunlight had been anathema to him. Now the hunger had faded and he no longer needed to feed regularly, and sunlight caused him no more than a flicker of pain.
    Some of his brothers hunted the lowlifes of the city when the need to feed came upon them. But for him, blood these days was inexplicably tied in with sex. He no longer fed for revenge, and he’d found that the easiest way to get close enough was to feign sexual desire. Afterwards, he’d clear the person’s memories. They meant nothing to him but the fulfillment of a necessary appetite.
    He could see the throb of the blood in the vein at her throat, so close to the surface, and heat coiled low down in his belly. He longed to stretch out next to her, burrow his face in her throat, sink his fangs into her and make her his, in every way possible.
    As he watched, a tear seeped from beneath her lashes and she whimpered in her sleep. She came across as such a strong and tough woman when she was awake, as though she could take on the world. Now her vulnerability was clear. His craving to feed receded, to be replaced by a need to hold her, make her feel safe and loved.
    From the information in her file, he’d deduced that she’d had very little love in her life.
    Her fingers tightened in his, and she jerked as though pulled by invisible strings. Suddenly, she pulled free, threw back her head, and screamed. “No!”
    For a moment, her body went rigid; her eyes flashed open, drenched in tears and filled with horror. She stared around her until her gaze fixed on him and some of the tension oozed from her. She blinked and shook herself. “I’m sorry.”
    “No need.”
    “I was dreaming.”
    “About your friend?”
    She shook her head, her blue-grey eyes haunted.
    “Tell me,” he murmured.