Page 106 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

CHAPTER 17

WHEN DANI NEXT STIRRED, darkness had fallen. The room was cold and still. She tried to sit up, only to gasp. The right side of her body felt like one giant bruise.

Falling back against the pillow, she forced herself to take shallow breaths to keep from jarring her stomach. But even as she held as still as she could, the waves of dull, diffuse pain threatened to make her sick. Her throat felt like she’d swallowed a mouthful of sand.

Water. She needed water. Turning to the nightstand, she spied a glass someone had left there and gingerly reached over, angling her head up to the straw just enough to swallow a mouthful, then two.

With shaking fingers, she set the glass back down, weak and sweating from the effort. The water should have helped. But if anything, the fire in the back of her throat seemed to intensify. Tears filled her eyes.

What was wrong with her?

Without warning, the room began to spin. Dani blinked.

Had she been drugged?

She licked her lips, about to reach for the glass again, when her tongue traced sharp, dangerously pointed canine teeth, fangs that had definitely not been there before.

With a rush, it all came back.

Blood. The turning. She needed blood.

Voices sounded from somewhere out in the other room. Weak and shaking, she turned her head towards the cracked door where a faint strip of light shone against the scuffed wood floor.

“I left him, Sera,” a man said in a strangled voice. “You have to let me go back there.”

“If you go back, you’ll be captured, too. Alex understood that. He made the choice he did, knowing what was going to happen. You throwing your life away won’t help him right now.”

There was the sound of muffled sobs.

“He released my shackles instead of his.” The man, who Dani now recognized as Dante Visconti, sounded absolutely wretched. “I was so stunned, I almost didn’t get out of there in time. I never thought he would have done something like that. Maybe for you or Isabella. But not for me.”

“That’s because you’re as stubborn as he is.” Sera sighed. “Alex loves you. He always has.”

“What are we going to do?” Dante asked after a moment. “We have to get him out.”

“And we will, but right now we have bigger problems,” Sera said firmly. “We have to move Dani. Father could be sending people here right now. I’ve already texted Evan, told her she has to move the others to a secure location.”

“Alex won’t give up our location,” Dante insisted. “He would never betray us.”

“Everyone eventually breaks. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Alex,” Dani whispered, tears filling her eyes. She drew as much air into her lungs as she could stand. “Sera?”

A second later, the door to the bedroom opened.

“You’re awake.” Sera snapped on two pairs of gloves and pulled the blankets back to check her belly. “The swelling is going down. That’s a really good sign. Do you need to feed?”

When Dani nodded, she turned to Dante. “Can she feed from you?”

He cleared his throat. “Wouldn’t it be better if you did it?”

“She’s already weakened and I don’t want to risk touching her.” Sera’s tone softened. “And if Alex were here right now, he would absolutely want you to do it, would insist we both do everything possible to ensure her change takes, and that includes this. She needs more blood. Evan can feed her once she gets here, but the bruising on her abdomen indicates she’s not fully through the transformation process yet. She needs vampire blood.”

“Yeah, okay.” Dante rolled up his sleeve. “Sorry. I probably don’t taste nearly as good as my brother.” He pulled a wooden chair over to the side of her bed and extended his wrist.

Dani gingerly took it. She’d never actually used her fangs before. Alex had always slashed his own vein for her so all she had to do was drink. But surely this part was instinctual?

“Will you tell me what happened?” she asked quietly.