do with a little high right now. It felt like the world was ending. I might as well go out with a bang.
“Okay,” I replied softly, my eyes drawn instinctively to the cords of muscle in his neck, the hard line of his jaw.
“You’ll have to cut me,” he went on, still whispering. I shot him a curious look. “I can’t bite my own neck,” he explained.
“Oh,” I breathed, understanding. Remembering the razor in my pocket, I pulled it out.
Ethan smiled approvingly when I flicked it open, then frowned when he recognised it. “Isn’t that the blade Finn gave you?”
“Uh, yeah.”
His frown deepened. I rolled my eyes. “Get over it. This blade has helped me out of a sticky situation or two. Besides, we’re stuck on this roof. We don’t have another option.”
He didn’t look happy, but he finally nodded in acceptance and inhaled deeply, awaiting the incision. Raising the blade to his flawless skin, I pressed it in and cut a shallow line about an inch long. Some kind of urgency came over him as he backed me up against the wall, his arms braced on either side of me. Licking my lips, I moved my face to his neck, where a trickle of blood seeped out. I licked it away and sucked at the cut I made. The taste of it hit me powerfully.
I relished the scent of Ethan’s skin and how his blood invigorated my entire body as it slid down my throat. I’d swallowed down three gulps before he gently pulled my eager mouth away. His eyes were scorching when I looked up at him. He rubbed a thumb over my lower lip, and I felt the blood on my mouth smearing. My breathing quickened at the intense way he studied me, taking in my every feature.
A second later, his lips were on me, tasting his blood in my mouth. I moaned as his tongue stroked mine, but I managed to push him away before anyone noticed our passionate clinch.
Ethan took my injured hand into his and massaged it with his fingers. “See how quickly my blood heals you?” he asked.
I glanced down to find the burned skin repairing itself right in front of my eyes. It was miraculous. The relief was short-lived though because another thought instantly sprang into my head. “Was it a bad idea for me to drink from you again? I don’t want to become addicted.”
He stroked a hand down my cheek. “You won’t become addicted. We’ll simply be a little more bonded now.”
“Is bonded just a nicer way of saying addicted?”
Ethan’s voice was seductive. “You’re already addicted, just not in the way you’re imagining.”
Man, he was cocky. But for once it didn’t bother me. In fact, I kind of liked it.
His demeanour turned serious when he asked, “Did you find time to look up that translation?” There was a thread of emotion in his voice.
“No,” I replied. “I haven’t had the chance. What was it again … Te iubesc?”
“Yes, you should have looked it up.”
“Why?”
“Because it means I love you,” he replied and I swore my heart stopped beating as he slid his arms around my waist and held me tight.
I sucked in a shocked breath. Suddenly, everything else vanished and all I could see was Ethan. I forgot about the killing that was happening on the streets below, about my friends on the other end of the roof.
“Did you mean it?” I asked, heart pounding.
“I don’t say things I don’t mean, Sunshine.”
I let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “You really pick your moments. You should have just told me what it meant last night when we were alone.”
He smiled and caressed my neck. “Ah, but telling you now adds a certain dramatic touch, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to say …” I trailed off, all rosy-cheeked and befuddled.
“There’s nothing that needs saying. I have simply told you how I feel.”
I reached up and placed both of my hands on his face. “We’re going to discuss this later, okay? When there’s time and we have more privacy.” Normally, when someone said ‘I love you’, the proper response was to say it back. But Ethan had taken me so much by surprise that I didn’t know what to say.
He leaned down and pressed a light kiss to my lips. “As you wish. Come, we should join the others.”
Pushing my reaction to Ethan’s declaration to the back of my mind, I walked straight to Alvie and