William would be ok, Marvin seemed like a decent vampire and Hannah and Lucas both vouched for him. Even still, he didn't like the idea of him out there without him. No one goes in alone, he thought. But William wasn't alone, not with Timber to watch his back, and once he made it to the town he would have Braith's men also.
"He'll be ok."
He'd been so focused on the door that he hadn't realized Hannah had come up behind him in the kitchen. Leaning against the door, he turned to study her as he folded his arms over his chest. "I'm sure he will be," he agreed. She glanced behind him and slid her hands into the folds of her dress. "How is your back feeling?'
"Oh, it's fine," she replied nonchalantly.
"Let me take a look."
The alarm that flickered through her eyes confused him. She looked like a rabbit preparing to bolt from a dog as she glanced frantically around the kitchen. Then, she focused on him again and her shoulders straightened as she walked over to him and turned around. "I'm not going to bite you," he told her with a laugh.
She shot him a look over her shoulder that probably would have made many a man cringe but it only made him smile sweetly at her. Tugging on the zipper of her dress, he pulled it down to the middle of her back. He peeled it open far enough to reveal the tender pink skin of her back. The sight of her bared flesh caused his chest to constrict as his fingers slid over the creamy skin of her shoulders.
"Does it still hurt?" he asked.
"Not too bad."
Though it looked better, he didn't dare touch it as he carefully pulled the zipper back up. She jumped a little when he rested his hand on her shoulder. "Would you like some more blood?" he inquired.
"No." She didn't meet his gaze as she turned toward him. "The sun will be up soon."
"You can sleep, I'll keep watch."
"If Calvin comes during the day..." her voice trailed off, her eyes remained locked on the window to the left of him.
"He won't come today. Was this your worst experience with the sun?"
"No, once when I was a child I decided that I was tired of being locked indoors and I was going to play with the other children. I was outside for two minutes before my father brought me back in. I was blistered from head to toe and my parents were terrified that I was going to die. I was pink for months afterward but I never tried to go into the sun again."
He couldn't resist taking a strand of her silken, chocolate colored hair between his thumb and forefinger and rubbing it. Her mouth parted as he slid his fingers from her hair to her cheek. He couldn't bring himself to stop touching her as his fingers twined back through her hair and he clasped the nape of her neck.
His eyes searched hers; he waited for her to tell him no as he bent closer to her. He shouldn't be getting mixed up with her, he knew that. He would be moving on when this mess was taken care of and she was young, but even still he couldn't stop himself from pressing his lips to her luscious, rosebud mouth.
He'd met and known many women over the years but none of them had affected him the way that she did. The instant that his lips touched hers, he felt an immediate connection to her the likes of which he'd never experienced before. He couldn't get enough of touching her, tasting her. There was no grief when he was with her, there was no past. There was only the here and now and the pleasure she gave so freely to him.
She leaned closer to him; her hands fell to his waist as her chest brushed against his. Ever so tenderly, he teased at her lips with his tongue until her mouth parted. The taste and smell of her engulfed him as she pressed closer. He savored her in deep pulling waves that left him shaking and lost to her. His arm snaked around her waist as her legs gave out. No, there had never been another woman that had affected him in this way he realized as he lifted her up.
A gasp escaped her as her hands grasped hold of his shoulders. He tried to remember the burns on her back, but he was drowning in her, lost in the sensation that only she had been able to arouse in him. He was spiraling out of control and he welcomed it completely as his lips moved from her mouth to her cheek and finally to the delicate hollow of her throat.
The low moan she released only drove his frenzy higher as her head tipped back. Bloodlust slammed into him and before he knew what was happening his fangs had elongated. The driving urge to taste her, to have her fill him consumed him. He'd never tasted another vampire before, never even been tempted to, but now...
Now it was the only thing he wanted to do as his fangs pressed against her tender flesh. Her delicious scent caused his mouth to water. Right there, her vein was right there. He could take her blood before she even knew what it was that he intended to do. Red filled his vision as his hands clenched on her and she pressed even closer to him.
She didn't know what he was thinking; if she did she would run screaming from here and never look back. Vampires didn't share their blood with each other, not unless they were linked like Braith and Aria, or Ashby and Melinda, and they were most certainly not linked. That was the last thing he needed in his messed up life. He wouldn't be staying in this town, she wouldn't be able to leave and he would only hurt her in the end. Women weren't something that he got attached to and he had no place in his life for one right now.
Before he did something that he couldn't take back, before he took from her something that she wasn't willing to give, he released her and took an abrupt step back. Her eyes were wide as she gazed up at him, her lips still wet. Her hand trembled as it fluttered to her mouth. "I'm sorry," he said briskly.
She gulped as she shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry for."