Lucas flashed his fangs at me. “Just out for some …refreshments. You want to volunteer instead?”
I immediately understood his meaning, drawing away from Ethan. “Oh. You should probably get going then. I’ve never been the volunteering type.”
I held myself together, trying not to let my discomfort show. I never even thought to wonder where Ethan might be getting his blood from these days. He clearly didn’t have access to his usual donors now that he’d been exiled from the south side.
“I can feed tomorrow,” Ethan said, pulling me back to him. “It’s no big deal.” He stopped to look at Lucas. “You can go alone if you’re unable to wait.”
“Fine,” Lucas answered, rising from the sofa.
“Hang on,” I said. “Where do you go for blood around here anyway?”
Lucas shrugged. “Night clubs and bars. Drunk humans are much easier to compel.”
I felt Ethan’s hold on me tighten. I knew he wasn’t happy about Lucas answering my questions so freely, but I wanted to know. If we were going to be together, then the fact that he fed from humans would be a big part of that. I had to get used to hearing about it, since I obviously couldn’t ever be the one he fed from.
Ethan cut Lucas a dark look. “Go. We’ll talk later.”
With that, Lucas left and Ethan turned his attention back to me.
“Aren’t you hungry?” I asked.
He blew out a breath. “Can we not talk of this? I want you in my bed.”
He pulled me closer. Trying to break from his iron grip was a futile effort, so I squeezed my eyes shut and called a little magic to me. I drew strength from it and managed to shift out of his arms.
Wow, that was impressive, even if I did say so myself.
“You are surprisingly strong for one so small,” Ethan said with a mixture of amusement and suspicion.
“What can I say, I work out,” I quipped.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he questioned as I moved closer and closer to the door.
“I thought we agreed to a cool-off period.”
“We did, and we will have one. Starting tomorrow.”
A bolt of desire shot through me at the predatory gleam in his eyes. My adrenaline spiked, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t slightly exhilarating to have him look at me that way. Like he wanted to hunt me down and ravish me.
Feeling brave, I bolted from the room.
15.
I knew Ethan was feeling playful when he came at me at human speed. If he’d used vampire speed, he would have caught me before I even made it out of the living room. I squealed as he chased me, but I stopped in my tracks when I reached the front garden.
Delilah was making her way over to Finn’s house, but she didn’t go in the front door. Instead, she snuck quickly around the back. A second later, Ethan scooped me into his arms and tried hauling me back inside his house. I wriggled my way out of his hold.
“Put me down for a second. I want to go see what Delilah is up to.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Delilah?”
“I just spotted her sneaking around the side of Finn’s place. Come on, let’s go do some sleuthing.”
Ethan set me on my feet, and I turned to walk across the road when he grabbed my hand and pulled me back, clucking his tongue at me. I looked up at him questioningly.
“My sister will hear you a mile off if you go on foot. Come here, I’ll show you how it’s done.” He then effortlessly swung me up onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “Hold on tight,” he said, just before he sped off, and my head felt like it was inside a psychedelic dream where everything moved too fast and the scenery became a blur of colours. All I saw was a mish-mash of brick walls, glass windows, and the black tarmacadam of the road.
Moments later, Ethan had scaled the roof of Finn’s house and was crouched over the edge, allowing us to peer down into the garden. At the very back of the garden sat Ira, deep in meditation. Delilah stood silently by the house watching him.
“What’s she doing?” I whispered in Ethan’s ear as quietly as I could, noticing him shudder a little when my breath tickled his skin.
“It seems my sister has found herself a new object of fascination,” he whispered back even more