Page 62 of A Trial By Blood

“I promise. She told me what I needed to know and let me leave.” Rose’s stomach rumbled, and her cheeks turned a deep pink.

“You’re hungry?” I asked, but I knew. I felt it now, now that I wasn’t drowning in emotion. Fury filled me, with myself. My female was hungry. She was supposed to feed this morning. How could I have forgotten that? I’d been so desperate to get to her, to see her, I’d neglected to bring her blood.

“I’m fine, I’m used to—”

“Don’t say it, Rose. Not now. Don’t remind me that you were starving almost your entire life.” I glanced over at her. “After today, I promise, you’ll never be hungry again.”

She watched me with wide blue eyes, then they dipped to my throat, and she swallowed. “I’ll be all right,” she said, always trying to make everyone else feel better. Never putting herself first. From now on, she would always come first. Always.

We reached the end of the track, finally, and I planted my foot. Her stomach rumbled again, and I had to bite back my snarl. I was so close to pulling over to the side of the road and feeding her there. But my instincts roaring to get her to safety were just as loud.

We reached the crossroads, the turn that would take us to her house, but I carried on straight ahead. I wasn’t clear on a lot when it came to emotion or what was the right or wrong thing to say. But I was sure that for what I had planned, Rose would prefer privacy. Especially for her first time feeding from my vein, or at least the first time she was conscious for it.

“Where are we going?”

“The clubhouse,” I said as we turned the next corner, then another.

“Why?”

Her voice was husky and made my skin tingle, lifting what I now knew were goose bumps all over me. “Because you need to feed.” We drove up to the clubhouse gates. They were open, and I drove in, keeping my block in place when I saw Warrick and Willow were here, her truck in the parking lot as well as the hearse Ren sometimes drove.

I hit the brakes harder than I intended, and Rose jerked forward, her belt locking her in place. I cursed under my breath and shoved my door open.

Rose got out of the car, and I took her hand in mine and strode across the parking lot and into the clubhouse.

“You’re still blocking us?” she asked.

“Yes.” I glanced over at her. “I don’t want any interruptions.”

Her cheeks were pink again. “Oh, okay.” She licked her lips. “Thank you…for this.”

She didn’t need to thank me. Feeding her was my honor, my privilege. And I knew now, something I was born to do. All this time, the answer had been right there. How had it never occurred to me? She’d been starving, dying, and all I’d needed to do was feed her. That rage grew hotter inside me.

I’d never forgive myself for not seeing that, for allowing Rose to suffer for even one second longer than she’d needed to.

We made our way down the stairs that led to the den belowground. The hall was empty, and I let my block drop, pulling back my powers, and opened the door to my room. Rose followed me in, and I locked the door behind us.

She looked around my sparsely furnished room, then back to me. “Thank you for doing this. I promise I’ll work something else out for next time. There are clubs, right? Maybe you could tell me the best ones? I have no idea—”

One moment I was across the room, and the next, I’d hooked my arm around her waist and backed her against the wall. “You want to feed from someone else?” The very thought made me want to punch a hole in the wall.

She stared up at me, her mouth opening, then closing. “No,” she whispered. “But I thought that maybe you didn’t—”

“No one but me will feed you. Only me, Rose.”

She licked her lips. “Okay.” Her pretty eyes slid down to my throat again, then back up. “Where do you want me to wait?”

“Wait?”

“While you do whatever it is you do, when you…the thermos—”

I shook my head. I wasn’t strong enough to stop this, not after what happened in that forest, not after thinking I might have lost her. My need to be close to her was overpowering everything else. I was afraid for my sanity if I didn’t give in to this need inside me. “From now on, you will feed from my vein.” Just saying it, thinking it, had desire pumping through me, hotter than ever before.

“You want me to…I’m going to…” She swallowed thickly. “Ronan, are you sure?”

“Yes.” I sounded demonic, my need coming through clear in my voice.

I was afraid I’d scare her, but she didn’t step back or run. No, her sharp little fangs slid down over her full lower lip, showing me that she wanted it too.