Bane's Choice (Vampire Motorcycle Club #1) - Alyssa Day Page 0,49

full length of the blade would fit in, and then walk very carefully so she didn’t slice her leg open. The only kind of blades she was used to were scalpels, and she didn’t carry those around in her pocket.

He’d agreed. Only for the children, but still, he’d said yes to letting her study his blood, and she wanted so very badly to do it. To study him. To see how the secrets of his blood might be able to help cure incurable diseases. To learn about magic, after a life spent with no magic at all.

It was as if all her secret dreams of adventure were coming true—dreams of meeting a man who could fulfill the darkest fantasies she held deep in a hidden corner of her heart.

Of her soul.

And now here he was. In the flesh, so to speak. Magical and miraculous. So beautiful that, scientifically, he almost couldn’t be real. And yet, somehow, he was. He not only existed, but he wanted her. She’d felt the evidence of it pressing up against her core when he stood between her legs. He’d kissed her like a man who truly wanted her—touched her with reverence and longing.

She knew this was true, because she’d had experience with the opposite. With perfunctory kisses. With touch fueled more by alcohol than desire.

No, Bane wanted Ryan for herself—not just because she happened to be available, like a few of the less-than-memorable experiences she’d had after nights out. And—even more miraculously—he made her want him as well.

The entire situation was impossible, and yet she was damn well going to talk herself into trying to believe it. At least for a little while, she could be the type of woman who went on wild adventures. Who rescued the prince from his tower. Who made friends with the dragon and rode off into the sunset. Maybe not to live happily ever after—but to live happily and magically for just a little while?

What wouldn’t she give for that?

She would leave Reliable Ryan behind and become wildly, fearlessly unreliable in all the best ways.

By the time she came to this terrifying and tantalizing conclusion, Bane had led her up to the top of the staircase and into a freezing-cold space that looked like the NASA control room.

She’d never seen so many computers in one place in her life. “What could you possibly need all this for?”

“More questions?” Bane’s smile was downright wicked.

She blushed, in spite of herself, because she knew exactly what he was thinking. More questions meant more kisses, and not necessarily on her mouth. That led her to thinking about some places that she’d very much like to feel his kisses, and then she had to clench her thighs together against the answering heat.

“Coming?” Bane stood at the door waiting for her. She almost could’ve sworn his gaze flickered to the pocket where she carried the knife, but that must just have been her nerves. After all, he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, so how could he know?

Unless x-ray vision was another power?

All of a sudden, she felt the headache rushing back. She’d barely touched her food before Edge had come crashing in, she hadn’t slept, and all that wine was still working its way through her body. Not to mention the adrenaline that had been coursing through her at each new revelation. What she needed was oxygen, headache medicine, and about a gallon of water. Plus more coffee.

Lots more coffee.

Stat.

But Bane was still waiting, now with a hand held out to her, so she took a deep breath and smiled.

At the door, he suddenly paused. “I forgot to grab a carving knife I was sharpening for Mrs. C. Wait here.”

Ryan sighed, watching him go.

Wait. Sit. Stay.

Roll over, human.

The man needed to learn a few things about this particular human, and she needed to stand up for herself before she actually rolled over for every barked order he issued.

She pushed open the door and walked into the room beyond.

As if on cue, most of the people in the room, which consisted of two kinds: 1) scary men wearing Vampire Motorcycle Club vests and 2) scary women wearing Vampire Motorcycle Club vests, turned to look at her with varying degrees of surprise. Most of them looked like people she wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

As opposed to the vampire you’re hanging out with now.

One of the biggest guys, who had a full beard, long hair in braids, and a scar bisecting