Part 29 (1/2)

He owed Ivan an apology. He owed Bella one, too. But he'd been taken off guard. He'd expected her to tag along behind this vampire, learning how to drink blood. Then to find her dancing so suggestively with a stranger?

Okay, so it was not suggestive in Bella's mind. But to him, any closeness she experienced with another male disturbed him. Would he never learn?

And yet she had never danced for him. Would she ever give him a private concert? He'd love that. It was a part of her that still belonged to the mortal realm, a part he wanted to preserve as much as she probably did.

”I need to apologize,” he started.

Ivan stepped into the street. ”It's fine. It's not going to be easy.”

”You were supposed to teach her.”

”After she mentioned she was a dancer, I thought this little aside would relax her. She was very nervous.”

”Yeah, well, I'll take her home now.”

”She hasn't taken human blood yet. I'll want to supervise. Why don't you come along. We'll find a donor and she can get over her hesitation.”

”I can't do that. I can't...”

”Watch? You don't have to. But having you close by may mean more to her than you can imagine.”

Ivan pointed to a lone man walking down the alley. He looked young, in his twenties-perhaps he was a college guy-and clean.

Bella's only requirement.

She glanced to Severo. He approved with a barely perceptible nod.

The threesome loitered at the alley entrance, Bella between Severo and Ivan. She hadn't spoken to Severo since he'd dragged her out of the club. Now, though, she looked to him and gave him a not-quite smile.

”You're not going to watch?”

Severo shook his head. But he was glad to sense that she was as uncomfortable with this as he was. And then he admonished himself for such thinking. Of course she was uncomfortable. She was new at this.

And here he stood, partic.i.p.ating in something so far from his comfort zone. It opened the doors of memory to another vampiress, dressed all in black, looking pale and hungry.

But Evie had once saved him.

He knew Bella would never harm him or his kind. He had to look beyond the past. Give her his presence and be strong for her.

”I'm ready,” she said to Ivan and stepped down the alley.

Though his arms reached out to pull her back, Severo did not call out. He would simply be here, in case she should need him. A witness. A supporter.

”I can do this,” he murmured.

The skirt swung from her hips and about her knees. Long legs in spike heels put Severo in instant l.u.s.t mode. Those legs should be wrapped about his hips right now.

Yes, even as he fought the repulsion, he craved the woman he had fallen in love with. She was sashaying so s.e.xily toward another man. A human she would put her hands on and talk to sweetly. She would take a part of the mortal stranger inside her. So deeply.

The act of drinking blood was wickedly s.e.xual.

Severo s.h.i.+fted his shoulder around the corner and pressed his back to the wall so he could not watch. He knew Ivan would step in if Bella needed a.s.sistance.

”She takes to this so easily,” he said hoa.r.s.ely.

”The hunger overwhelms the most rigid inhibitions,” Ivan told him. ”I know you don't want to be here, Severo, but you need to watch. It'll show you what she is.”

He knew what she was. Severo had seen vampires drink blood from victims time and time again. And he'd seen them murder and maim for no reason other than for the macabre joy of it.

What of the blood on your hands?

Those vampires he'd killed tonight had deserved to die.

”She's not like those you hate,” Ivan whispered. ”She never will be. I'm going closer. She needs guidance.”

His back against the wall and his eyes closed, Severo listened, trying to hear beyond his own pounding heartbeats.

Bella cooed to the man, who said things like, ”You're hot” and ”My place is close.”

Jerk, Severo scoffed.

It was a strange departure from that first night he'd rescued her, while the vampires had searched the warehouse. Her heart had pattered like a bird's. Then she'd been so frightened. Now she was so eager.

Releasing his clenched fists, Severo reminded himself that this was part of the deal. She had to come in close contact with humans, unlike him, who put as much distance between them and himself as possible.

And now he had a vampire in his life. A longtooth.

The taint of blood carried to him. Beer and fast food littered the human's scent. Unappetizing. He wondered if Bella liked the taste. It would kill him if she did.

Turning, he crept around the building. Bella was silhouetted before the man, whose legs buckled. Ivan stood on the other side, his hand to Bella's shoulder.

It was like some kind of twisted s.e.x scene. A menage a trois Severo had no desire to join. And yet...

When she tilted her head back in pleasure and the moon glinted on her pale neck, he wanted to know that pleasure. Her pleasure.

To touch the luscious rise of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. And perhaps to be the one to kick the other man aside.

As it was, the man slid down the wall and collapsed. Bella began to topple as one of his legs twisted between hers, but Ivan caught her. She tugged free and swung about to walk away.

As she approached Severo, the drunken grin on her face bemused him. A trace of her forefinger wiped away a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. She thrust the finger between her red lips and sucked, smiling as she came upon him.

A strong blood scent forced Severo backward. Yet arousal had widened her pupils. G.o.d, she was gorgeous.

Bella grinned a sloppy smile. ”I'd kiss you,” she said, ”but you wouldn't like it.” She wandered off, swaying but sure-footed, toward his Mercedes.