‘Give me my dagger back!’ she yells and tries to pull away. I want her to feel the sparks. I want her to know I’m not a threat. She has a sudden look of sadness, and I begin to feel guilty. All I want is to see her smile, to see her happy.
I look at Soren. ‘We can’t take her with us,’ I tell him.
‘It’s too late. You don’t have a choice now. You know what will happen if you don’t stay near each other,’ he replies.
‘I know, but her pack won’t allow it. They will want her back.’
‘If her pack want her to live. They will have no choice but to let us take her,’ Soren says.
He is right. The only way for her to live is to stay with me. If Lylah returns to her family without me, she will begin to burn up as if she has a fever, which will worsen until she burns to death. She is mine now, my love, and I won’t let my Blood Flame have that fate even if it means her hating me.
‘Of course, you monsters would rather murder me than give me back to my pack alive!’ she yells.
Nadia walks right up to her face, ‘You don’t get what has happened, wolf! So, I suggest you keep your yappy little mouth shut for now as you’ll be thanking us for it later!’ Nadia tells her.
As angry as I am at Nadia for speaking to my Blood Flame like that, she is right. My Blood Flame still hasn’t registered that we are fated mates or that she will die if she leaves me.
‘Me? Thanking murderous monsters!’ she laughs, ‘I think not!’ she says, glaring at Nadia.
‘I knew this was going to be a bad idea. We need to keep moving. Let’s go,’ I say and gently pull Lylah’s arm.
‘No! I’m not going with you,’ she yells.
‘You don’t have a choice,’ I tell her.
‘Then kill me!’ she says.
I stop and turn to look at her. Her eyes are changing shades again. Then she suddenly glares, ‘I’d rather die than go with you, and I will be sure to make your life hell if you take me with you. I won’t stop trying to kill you until you are dead!’ she warns.
Enchanted by her eyes, I ignore her threat and caress her cheek, ‘Your eyes. They change?’ I say, gazing deeply into them. ‘They’re beautiful,’ I add.
Sparks explode between us as my palm brushes against her cheek. She breathes heavily and then steps back, glaring into my eyes.
‘I’m going to very much enjoy killing you,’ she tells me.
I gaze deeper into her mesmerising eyes. Mine! I form a small smirk and swiftly lift her and cradle her in my arms against my chest. Thankful her wrists are bound behind her back so she can’t claw my heart out from my chest. It feels amazing holding her in my arms. I’ve never felt such warmth, such love like this before, and she is all mine!
‘We’ll see,’ I smile and with great speed, run into the distance with Soren and Nadia by my side.
We stop in an open field with low grass. I ignore the glare from my Blood Flame as I place her down.
‘We can’t risk the girl seeing the entrance to our lair. So, you’re going to have to blindfold her. We also need to feed,’ Soren says.
We all stare at my Blood Flame, silently sharing the same thought, knowing she isn’t going to let me feed freely from her.
‘Don’t you dare even think about it! I refuse to be your meal!’ she yells at us.
Soren and Nadia give me a sympathetic look. They know that vampires can no longer sustain enough nourishment from drinking the blood of animals or others once they have found their Blood Flame. It will only give me little strength drinking any other blood now. I need to feed from her blood to keep up my full strength.
‘It’s fine,’ I tell them. ‘I’ll find a deer. In the meantime, you two feed and watch the girl while I’m gone.’
‘It’s Lylah! Not girl!’ she huffs.
I smile, hearing her pretty name, but then she scowls at me, making me frown.
‘Lord Talon, now that you have your blood flame, drinking from wildlife won’t be enough to…. ‘
‘I know!’ I growl, cutting Soren off. ‘But what other choice do I have? I’m not going to force her,’ I say in a sad tone and storm off towards the trees.
‘Make sure you don’t come back!’ Lylah shouts behind me. I flinch, hurt by her words, but I keep walking.
Lylah watches Nadia and Soren feed on each other while I quickly catch a deer and feed from its blood, but when I return, Lylah is nowhere to be found.
Frantic, I race around, looking for her. ‘I told you to keep an eye on her!’ I yell at Soren and Nadia.
They both cower.
‘Lylah!’ I call out, desperate to find her.
I pick up her sweetly scent toward the river. As we approach, we all become consumed with blood lust. Our eyes turn black, and our fangs elongate with a hunger for her blood. I see Lylah struggling to hold onto a boulder in the river. But my eyes won’t budge from the blood dripping down her face. Her blood wreaks magnificently of immense power. I close my eyes and breath to focus and snap out of my blood lust. I then leap from boulder to boulder with ease and grab, Lylah’s bound wrists as she sinks further under the water. I pull her into my arms and hold her tight as I leap across to the other side of the river. Sitting with her on my lap, my eyes turn black with blood lust again, and our eyes connect and flicker. I’m trying to control the urge to not bite her neck and feed from her, but also to not kiss her. Lylah looks at me with great confusion, and I notice she slowly takes in my facial features. My eyes dart from the bleeding wound on her forehead to her small plump lips.
Lylah then wipes the blood from her face with her hand. I lose all control, grab her wrists and devour the smeared blood with my tongue while my other hand grips her thigh seductively. It’s the sweetest, most delectable blood I have ever tasted. I feel my strength and power intensify just from licking the small amount of blood from her hands. Her back arches and she moans as I lick and suck her hands. The bulge between my legs begins to pulsate. I need her so badly. If she didn’t hate me so much, I’d devour her body right now in many ways.
Suddenly, Lylah stiffens in realisation she has just allowed me to continue touching and tasting her and that she has been enjoying every moment of it, just as much as I have. She yanks her hand away from my grip and smacks me swiftly across my face.
I’m slapped out of my blood lust trance. I lick Lylah’s blood from my lips and taste the power resonating through it. This isn’t normal werewolf blood. I stare at Lylah in shock ‘Y-Your blood….’ I tell her. ‘In the two hundred and sixty-four years I’ve been alive, never have I tasted blood so powerful. Who…. what are you?’ I ask her.
Lylah maintains eye contact while placing her hand on my abdomen, and my eyes go black with lust.
‘I’m Lylah, and I’m your worst bloody nightmare!’ she yells, grabs the dagger tucked into my waist, and slashes it across my chest, jumping out of my lap.
I look down at my shirt, soaking my blood and touch it. Then, feeling heartbroken, Lylah cut me again. I look at her with intense sadness. My eyes plead with her as to why she would do this to me, to her Blood Flame.
‘This is for everyone you killed! This is for Micah!’ she yells, leaping into the air. As the dagger is about to plunge through my chest, I hold my hand up, using my telekinesis to freeze her. Lylah looks down at the ground. She can’t move the rest of her body. I step toward her and make her rise even higher from the ground until she is at my eye level. Our faces are only inches apart.
‘You cut me again! I just saved you from drowning, and you still see me as a threat?’ I say, hurt and angry.
‘No, I see you as a murdering monster! Now, put me down so I can finish killing you,’ she glares.
‘Who is Micah?’ I ask, angry at her mentioning another man’s name.
‘You should know. You are the one who killed Micah after all!’
I don’t understand why she thinks I go around killing everyone and why she thinks I killed this, Micah. I don’t even kill the animals I feed on. I drink what I need and let them go.