One Immortal - Tia Louise Page 0,37

her rounded ass. Every inch of her is beautiful.

“Melissa?” My voice is low.

I know she’s struggling for control. Vampires are easily lost in emotion, and I’m well aware her emotions respond to me as much as mine do to her.

“Look at me.”

Her body stiffens. She’s trying to figure out a way to stall, to buy time while she fumbles back to normal. I’m not going to let her this time. No more secrets between us.

“Melissa!” Taking her shoulder, I push her back on the pillow.

“No!” Her eyes squeeze shut as her hand flies to cover her mouth.

It’s too late. I see the long, white canines piercing little dimples in her bottom lip. I feel the churn in my stomach at the sight. Even without the remnants of shifter blood in my veins, I’m trained to respond negatively to her kind.

What I’m not trained for is the flood of tears spilling down her cheeks. She tries to cover her face, to hide her sobs, but I don’t let her.

“Let me go,” she begs, twisting in my arms. It breaks my heart how much she wants to hide. She’s so ashamed.

“Melissa,” I soothe. “My beautiful Melissa.”

“No,” she whimpers. “I’m a monster. A horrible nightmare.”

Relaxing my hold on her shoulders, I allow her to turn on her side, burying her face in the pillow, her long dark hair covering her.

With a deep exhale, I fall on my back against the mattress beside her. Nothing has prepared me for this. My enemy has formed the woman of my dreams, and she’s bound to my enemy as its slave.

“You were bitten,” I say softly. I don’t know her story, but the pattern is always the same. “Did you know what it was that bit you?”

She doesn’t lift her face from the pillow. I watch as her dark head moves side to side in a gesture indicating No.

“How did you become a hybrid?” I don’t have any other way to get this part of the story. She has to tell me what happened.

Her shoulders shudder, and I know she’s crying. I steel myself against her tears until I know the truth.

“What happened?” I repeat in a sterner tone.

A little moment of silence, another shudder, and she answers, her voice muffled by the pillow. “He forced me.”

Red seeps into my vision. It’s one thing to bite a gorgeous woman such as her in the throes of passion. It’s quite another to force her to drink your blood.

“Did you know what would happen?” I ask.

Her head pops up at once. Her sapphire blue eyes are rimmed with red, and it almost crushes me.

“No!” Her voice is a little cry. “I fought. I gagged and vomited.” Her chin drops again, and the shame is back. “It wasn’t enough. Apparently his blood still made it inside me. It changed me.”

She’s so beautiful. I pull back and study her slim, ivory frame in my bed. Her face is tucked in the pillow, and her long hair forms a glossy curtain around her shoulders. Her sweetness is undeniable, and the fact that she was forced, raped by a vampire, makes me want to forget I only hunt for justice. I want to kill them all.

Instead, I put my hand on her shoulder, hoping to ease her pain. “It’s not your fault.”

Her shoulders droop, but I know she’s hearing my words. I can’t take any more of this. I want her in my arms. This beautiful, broken woman has somehow worked her way into my heart, and I only want to help her.

Standing, I lift her and carry her to the tile-lined shower in my suite. We’re both still damp from the downpour tonight, and it’s cold. I turn on the blast until the water warms, and step inside with her, holding her against my chest under the spray.

The only encouragement I have is her small hands holding my back so tightly. She’s holding my shoulder blades as if they’re the only things keeping her together. Her forehead is at my collarbone, and I stroke the back of her long dark hair as the warm water beats down on us.

“It doesn’t matter,” I murmur, soothing her. “I will save you.”

Her whole body relaxes in my arms, and I feel my own muscles start to relax. This night was terrifying and stressful and shocking and ultimately healing. Melissa and I are here together. We have no secrets anymore.

I reach forward to shut off the water. She doesn’t speak. She only watches as I step