Page 102 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Alex, help.

CHAPTER 16

DANI AWOKE TO BRIGHT, blinding light and a dull pain in her side. She screamed, arching off the hard wooden table. But try as she might to get free, arms held her fast.

“No, please,” she begged, about to scream again when a wrist was pressed to her mouth.

“Drink, Dani,” Alex commanded. “You need to take more blood.”

She gasped, trying to turn her head. “It hurts.”

Oh gods, it hurt. But she was too weak to fight. Her limbs felt cold and watery. The unfamiliar room swirled around her, dull and blurry at the edges.

“Can’t you give her something else?” Alex snapped. “She’s still in pain.”

“I’ve already given her more than I should have.” Sera dropped something metallic onto a tray. “If I give her any more, she could pass out again. She has to get more blood down if she has any hope of surviving this.”

Alex pressed his lips to her forehead, then lowered his wrist back to her mouth.

“You have to take more. I’m so sorry it hurts.”

His voice sounded far away. Dani struggled to focus, to hang onto what he was saying when she wanted to drift off again, to escape the pain. She closed her eyes and he shook her again, forcing her to stay awake.

“Please,” she whispered. “It hurts.”

“You have to drink, or you’re going to die. And I will not lose you, Daniela. Not like this. Now drink.”

She wanted to be sick, was sure she couldn’t keep anything down with the pain radiating through her belly. But somehow, she drew one weak mouthful of blood, then another.

“That’s it. You’re doing so well.” He turned to Sera. “You’re sure it’s in there?”

“No exit wound.” Her voice had taken on an edge. “I have to get the bullet out. I can’t find it.”

“You have like, four pairs of surgical gloves on.”

“I know what I’m doing, Alexander,” she snapped.

Dani whimpered at the pressure as Sera’s fingers probed her side.

“You’re hurting her.”

“I gave her the strongest sedative I could without knocking her out entirely. If I do that, she can’t drink. We just have to get enough of your blood into her, and then she’ll start to turn. It’s the only way.” She swore under her breath. “Urgh, I just had it.”

“Take the damn gloves off. You aren’t going to kill her if you touch her by accident.”

“Yes, please mansplain germ theory to me, since only one of us actually went to medical school. It’s important that I wear gloves for this, you know.”

“You don’t have to wear four pairs. This isn’t about preventing infection and you know it. This is about you being terrified you’ll lose control of your power.”

Sera hesitated. “If I do, I could kill her.”

“You won’t. I trust you. Now, get the damn bullet out. Hurry.”

The world blurred around the edges again. Dani tried to hang on, tried to keep drinking from Alex’s wrist, but felt everything around her slowing as she slipped away.

When she woke again, the room was dark. The sticky, bloody clothes she’d been wearing were gone and she was in an unfamiliar bed.

“Her heartrate is too slow,” Sera murmured, her fingers cold at her wrist. “And I don’t like her color. But she’s held on this long.”