by Jessica Lee
Whether it was a stray, a coworker, or a man who believed he was a vampire, it seemed she couldn’t fight her basic instinct to help someone in need. Emily sat down and Kenric sat beside her. He faced her with a somber expression.
“When I was in the ER, I imagine blood tests were performed on me. Am I right?”
She nodded. “Of course. You were close to death when they brought you in. You were given several units of blood right away, and then labs were drawn to type your blood for additional transfusions.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
“From what I remember, they were running into some problems with matching your blood type,” she said. “The blood bank ran the specimen a few times but ended up asking us to redraw your blood.” He watched her, as if hanging on her every word, making her nervous. She rubbed her damp palms across her thighs before continuing.
“They thought it might have been contaminated, since they couldn’t isolate your type, and because there were multiple antigens present on your red blood cells.” Kenric’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t say a word. “The emergency physician thought you had some form of leukemia, due to the elevation in your white blood cell count. He ordered a consult with a specialist.”
Kenric tossed his head back against the couch cushion. “Shit!”
She jumped. “This is the problem you’ve been referring to? The fact that the hospital has your blood, and that the results were brought to more than one doctor’s attention?” What am I supposed to do about that?
“They couldn’t type my blood because I’m no longer human.” He rubbed both hands across his face and then turned to face her. “I cannot allow this information to go public. If it does, it would spell disaster for my kind.”
“You’re nuts.” She shook her head. “You really expect me to believe the reason they couldn’t type your blood is because you’re not human? That you’re some kind of…undead…creature-of-the-night? Kenric, I’m looking at a human male. I’ve…felt you. And you felt pretty human to me.” Heat flashed into her cheeks, as well as a vivid recollection of exactly how incredibly human he looked and felt.
A sexy little grin curled his lips. He reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Small electric tingles trailed wherever his skin touched hers. She closed her eyes.
“What can I do to convince you, Emily?” he whispered. “Tell me what it would take for you to believe that what I’m telling you is the truth. You’ve already experienced me feeding. What else do you need?”
She shivered. His words were like pure seduction. The memory of his teeth at her neck should freak her out, but instead her nipples stiffened into hard peaks and a tingle arrowed straight to her core.
Emily opened her eyes and rose from the couch. She darted to the foot of the bed. Distance. Yes, she needed distance. He was way too dangerous. Too much raw sexuality poured from him for her sanity to survive.
“Okay, I’ll play along.” She turned and faced him. “Since you’re insistent that I believe this.”
“Finally.”
“I guess for me to really comprehend all this, I’ll need you to give me a brief education on vampires. We can call it Vampire 101. Like, what does a vampire do, other than drink blood?” She wrinkled her nose at the thought. “For starters, I see you don’t sleep in a coffin.” Her hand patted and then rubbed along the carved, dark wood of the footboard.
“That’s correct—pure myth.” He raised one arm and rested it along the top of the couch. “What else do you want to know?”
“What about sunlight? Is it true you can only come out at night, or you’re toast?”
“That one is true, even more so for a younger vampire. Although if I’ve shape-shifted, I can tolerate the sun’s rays for a short duration.”
“Shape-shifted? Are you saying that myth is true, that you can turn into a bat?” She gave him a skeptical stare.
“For me, not a bat. But yes, most vampires can assume at least one other form, usually a wolf. Over the years, I’ve gained the ability to become several alternate shapes.”
“Prove it.” She lifted her eyebrows and couldn’t help the smug smile she knew curled her lips. “You wanted to know what it would take for me to truly believe you are a vampire. Show me.”
He got up from the couch. A slow and deliberate rise. Her heart stuttered as he moved closer. He leaned in, his breath a gentle caress to her ear.
“Is that really what you want to see, Wildflower?”
She nodded, her throat suddenly too dry for words.
“Think you can handle it?”
She tilted her head back and met his eyes. His gaze held a hint of a challenge. Bam! He hit her weak spot. She could never refuse a challenge.
“I said, prove it.”
Kenric stepped back a few inches and grasped the tail of his T-shirt. Up and over his head, he pulled it off before dropping it on the coffee table behind him.
“What are you doing?” Her voice sounded a little panicky, but she couldn’t help it. She hadn’t anticipated a striptease.
“What you asked me to do. If I’m going to change shape, I need to take my clothes off. Or didn’t you think about that when you asked? We can talk about showing you proof another way, if you can’t handle me naked.”
His eyes challenged her again. Ooh, he is so irritating! She wanted to stomp her foot, but she wouldn’t dare give him the satisfaction. Instead, she cocked an eyebrow. Hell if she was backing down now.
“Oh, I can handle it,” she said, proud of the confidence ringing in her voice. “I am a nurse, remember.”
A slow grin spread across his face as he went for his zipper.
So pleased with his damn self.
There wasn’t much she hadn’t already seen in her three years as a nurse, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen most of him anyway while he had been her patient. Not to mention earlier, when he’d been wearing only a towel. So why would this be any different?
“I thought I would share my wolf with you,” he said. “It’s my favorite alternate form. But I want you to remember one thing after I’ve changed.” His playful expression suddenly grew serious. His eyes narrowed. “I would never harm you. Don’t be afraid.”
She swallowed back the lump in her throat that had grown out of nowhere. No one had ever made her feel so off balance. He made her want to run for safety, yet at the same time, he tugged on just the right strings to make her want to stay and save him.
“Emily. Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes.” She ran trembling fingers through her hair and straightened her shoulders. “I won’t.”
He seemed satisfied with her answer and proceeded to push his jeans to the floor and kick them to the side.
Oh. My. God. Her heart did that flip-flop thing in her chest. Oh yeah, this was very different. She’d thought the earlier rear view had been sweet. But Lord, the front view—it ought to be a crime. Emily tried maintaining a clinical expression while staring at close to six and a half feet of a naked and fully aroused man. Instead of a wolf’s form, he should go for a stallion. He certainly had the parts. His erection dipped, in what looked like mocking approval of her continued inspection. She licked her lips, stifled a groan, and dragged her gaze away from the incredible piece of endowment standing at attention between his legs. She needed to try to look at his face.
“Well,” she said. “Go ahead, or do you need me to say abracadabra or something?”
He tossed his head back and laughed. The jovial shift in his mood was no doubt a direct response to her squirming in her pants… Or her panties.
“All right.” She waved her hands. “You’ve had your fun. Stop laughing. Now, let’s see a wolf.”
He scrubbed his hand across his mouth as if wiping his chuckle away and then winked before closing his eyes. No, he did not just wink at her. She bet he’d charmed the pants off numerous women with his sexy little wink and charm. Well, he would be getting a quick reality check if he thought she
would be dropping her panties.
Her stomach clenched in anxious anticipation as a shimmer raced over his body from his head to his feet. It could have been her imagination, it happened so fast. Then his entire body collapsed before her eyes. She shrieked and leaped up on the bed.
A large black and silver wolf stood in Kenric’s exact spot.
“Oh, my God! You weren’t freaking kidding!”
Kenric padded over to the edge of the bed where Emily sat trembling. His front paws went up on the mattress, and he nudged her leg with his nose.
“I can’t believe it.” She turned to face him with a look of wonder and awe in her eyes. “You…did it. You turned into a wolf.” Her hand shook as she reached for him. Tilting his head to the side, he met her palm and nuzzled it. Emily sighed as she ran her fingers through his dense fur.
With her immediate fright dissipated, he climbed the rest of the way onto the bed and lay down beside her.
“Wow,” she whispered, lifting his muzzle. “Interesting…Your eyes look the same as they do when you’re human. They’re that same beautiful azure color. I’ve never seen a wolf up close before, but as wolves go, I would have to say you do make a handsome one.” She threaded her fingers through his fur and scratched behind his ears.
He could have lain there all night and let her stroke his fur. It seemed as if she was more comfortable touching and talking to the wolf than the human. However, fantasy playtime had to cease. He needed her assistance.
His human shape unfolded within Kenric’s mind, ushering his form back to its original state. He stretched his legs and lifted his head to Emily. She jumped and shrieked again.
“Why don’t you warn a person before you do that?”
“Sorry, I can’t talk when I’m a wolf. You know, with the muzzle and no human vocal cords.” He grinned.
“Ha-ha, you’re so funny. You can put some clothes on now, too.” She pointed to his bare chest and waved her finger at the rest of him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kenric rolled from the bed and grabbed his jeans from the floor. The heat of her gaze warmed him as he sauntered over to the coffee table to grab his T-shirt. It felt nice having all her interest focused on him. Regrettably, he could not allow himself to become involved—with any woman. His life consisted of nothing but violence and death, especially with Marguerite around again. That situation, though, he intended on handling personally. Very soon.
“Any more questions?” Kenric slipped his jeans back on. “Or other demonstrations needed? I take it by your reaction to my wolf form that you now believe I am a vampire?”
He pulled his shirt over his head and found Emily standing before him.
“One last thing,” she said. Her soft request skated over his skin and lifted the hairs on his arms. Whatever she wanted, it was hers. He clenched both fists.
“Yes?”
“Show me your fangs.”
“What? Why? The wolf wasn’t convincing enough?”
“I don’t know why I want to see them.” She shrugged. “I just do. Somehow, I think it’ll make it all the more real for me.”
“If that’s what you need, let’s do it.” He brushed past her and sat in the chair. “Come here, Wildflower.” He patted the coffee table in front of him. “Sit here, facing me.”
“Okay.” She eased closer and placed herself on the table between his knees. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something else that’s been bugging me. The nickname, Wildflower. Why do you insist on calling me that? Believe me, I’m no delicate flower.”
Kenric held her gaze for a brief moment, then reached out as if to touch her hair but instead curled his fingers away. “Of that, I’m sure.” A hint of a smile played at the corner of his lips. “The answer to why is another lesson in your Vampire 101. We have an enhanced sense of smell,” he said. “May I hold your hand?” Emily chewed her lip, as if assessing the danger in the contact. “You just watched me turn into a wolf, and I didn’t eat you. How lethal can it be to hold my hand?”
With an exasperated huff, she slipped her fingers into his palm.
He brought the inside of her hand up to his lips and nose. From under his lashes, he studied her beautiful hazel eyes. He closed his eyes and inhaled, bringing the sweetness of her underlying fragrance deep into his lungs. His lips brushed the inside of her wrist. Gooseflesh lifted on her skin before she jerked her arm back.
He opened his eyes. “It’s how you smell to me. Like a field of wildflowers blooming right after a spring rain. Very sweet and fresh.”
“Oh,” she said, tucking a stray auburn curl behind her ear. She glanced away and rubbed her palms across the cotton of the sweatpants. “I was just wondering.” Her casual shrug and the tone of her voice said bored, but the flush of color in her cheeks and the sound of her increased heart rate said quite the opposite.
She had the same effect on his pulse, driving the blood south and creating an uncomfortable fit in his jeans. He needed to get her home before he did something else he would regret.
“You still want to see my fangs?”
“Yes. I do.”
He closed his eyes, centering his focus on his recessed fangs and the need for them to lengthen. They would naturally extend on their own during periods of hunger, anger, or sex. But without the emotional or physical stimulus, it took a conscious effort to will them into place. His gums tingled in response, and the fullness in his mouth signaled their arrival.
“I’ll ask you again.” The words held the slightest lisp as he spoke. He opened his eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want to see?”
“I’m sure,” she said. Her throat worked on a visible swallow of apprehension.
He leaned forward, hesitantly opening his mouth wide enough for her to see. His upper lip peeled back, sliding against the warm length of his fully exposed fangs.
A sharp intake of air rasped from Emily. Her eyes widened, and the wild thump of her heart drummed in his ears.
Damn! Why the hell had he agreed to this? He started to put an end to the demonstration, but she lifted her hand.
“May I touch one of them?”
Shit! He clamped his mouth shut and jerked his head back. “What?”
“I’m sorry.” She yanked back her hand.
“You’ve felt them enough, I should think.” What was she thinking, wanting to touch the damn things? Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d stuck them in her neck?
“I didn’t realize I had crossed a boundary.” She rubbed her palms against her thighs. “I was caught up in the moment.”
“I’ve agreed to all your demonstrations. After last night in the ER, I wouldn’t have thought this one necessary.” He jumped up, leaving her at the coffee table. He needed something to do. She still hadn’t eaten, so he busied himself with salvaging the remains of the breakfast tray.
“I see. You’re right, of course. It isn’t necessary for you to remind me of our close encounter. I have the holes in my neck to do that.”
Kenric straightened his shoulders. The decorative handles of the tray dug into his palms. Touché. He glanced at Emily. Her fingertips stroked the marks on her throat. His mark.
Hands off, vampire. That can never happen again.
For her sake.
For her very life. He had to keep his hands off.
“Yes, you do.” He swung his gaze back to the food and returned to laying out her breakfast on one end of the coffee table.
He’d been a vampire for more than three hundred years and had quit apologizing for who he was long before the last two centuries. Coming to terms, or so he’d thought, with his existence. It hadn’t been his choice to live the rest of eternity as a predator, but he couldn’t change that fact. He’d never embraced the life of a vampire, but he had learned to live with it.
He didn’t kill for his needs.
In fact, he did his best to protect humanity from the part of his race that couldn’t control their impulses. So why did he want to claw his insides out for having fed
from Emily? No. It wasn’t because he’d taken her blood. What grated his insides was how poorly he’d controlled the instincts of the beast. He’d scared the hell out of her.
It made him sick.
And mad as hell.
“Okay. School’s out,” he said. “Let’s get some food into you.”
Her stomach growled as he uncovered the plate containing a large ham and cheese omelet and hash browns.
“Wow.” She laughed, pressing her hand over her stomach. “There’s no point in pretending I’m not hungry. That looks delicious.” She slid off the coffee table and onto the sofa to dig in.
“I’m glad to see you have an appetite. Eat as much as you can, and when you’re done, I want to talk to you about your help with removing the evidence of my visit to the ER.”
She stopped chewing, and both eyebrows shot up.
“You don’t have to worry about getting into any trouble or losing your job. No one will ever know. I need your expertise and knowledge of the lab reports and Elizabeth Bay Memorial’s computer systems.”