entire house heaved, and wood started creaking and splintering. Rhys dove toward the open door of the Humvee, slamming the door shut behind us. He barely had time to shove me to the floorboard before the window shattered as wood shot through it, and the car door.
It sounded like a bomb was going off outside. All I could do was hold on to Rhys, who pressed his forehead against mine, watching me as more shrapnel hit the vehicle. His dark head lifted, and he started to speak as something shot through the car door, and he grunted.
Blood splattered my flesh, and my hands shook as I turned him over. Peering down at his stomach, I cried out, finding a large chunk of wood sticking out from his side. I looked around the car for anything I could use to stop the bleeding, but found nothing. His hand moved to his side, ripping out the wood while I lifted my shirt over my head, holding the knit top to his stomach. Rhys groaned as I pushed the fabric into the wound, lifting my eyes to find him observing the tears sliding down my cheeks.
“Please don’t die,” I whispered through the emotion wrapping around me. I leaned against Rhys, adding my weight to the wound. His hands slid up my sides, pausing at the sides of my breasts.
“I can’t die, Remi. I’m a Van Helsing.” His eyes watched mine as I slowly nodded, using my arm to wipe away the tears. “You worried about me, little one?”
“No. I don’t even like you right now,” I lied, chewing my lip while releasing the breath I’d been holding as relief washed through me.
“Liar,” he whispered, cupping his hand against my cheek. I pulled back to look at him. “Look outside and tell me what you see, Remington.”
I leaned up, peering through the shattered window of the Humvee. The entire cabin had exploded and turned into little more than firewood. Nyx was on the ground, grunting beside Cole and Acyn. Men had moved around them, preparing what looked like medical stretchers to carry them out on.
Something touched my nipple, and I yelped, staring down at Rhys’s lips as he smirked around the puckered flesh that his teeth had captured. I started to lean back, but his hands prevented me from doing so, holding me in place as he opened his mouth and sucked the pebbled flesh between his lips, running his tongue over it leisurely.
My eyes rounded to the size of saucers as pleasure danced through me. His tongue flicked my nipple, slowly sliding over the peak. Moaning, I whimpered as my body shuddered with need. I felt his smile against me and pulled away, staring at him before lifting the shirt from the wound, finding it still seeping blood.
“You don’t have time to be sucking nipples, you’re bleeding out like the stuck pig you are!” I huffed in an aggravated tone.
“I’ve survived a lot worse than being hit by shrapnel. Jerald?” he called in a commanding tone.
“Yes, Sir Van Helsing?” a male voice answered from within the Humvee, causing the blush in my cheek to intensify at not being alone.
“Drive us home, the others will meet us there momentarily,” Rhys stated, rolling me beneath his heavy body, uncaring that he was getting me bloody in the process. “Call ahead, and tell them three wounded Van Helsings will need feeders available, and one female nymph as well. Have the feeders accessible and waiting. My knights will require healing and feeders.”
“You’re going to feed?” I asked through a tightening in my throat that bothered me.
“Unless you’re offering to feed me, Remi, I have to, so that I can heal. I’m cursed with immortality, but healing isn’t something that happens naturally. Not since I was cursed to become a monster by your family.”
I stared at him for a moment and then considered what it was he was asking. “Sex, right? That’s how you feed to heal?”
His azure eyes searched mine, finding the wariness burning within them before he snorted. “Indeed, but don’t worry. You aren’t on my menu tonight, Silversmith. I doubt you’re skilled enough to handle my demon in bed.”
I bristled before considering my words carefully. “I doubt he could handle a real woman, anyway. You can feed from some basic feeder bitch, because after the shit you did today, you deserve some basic, nameless feeder, asshole. I could handle your demon at his worst. The thing is, I don’t want to. I don’t want either