Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

chapter eight.

April

I stand in the entrance to Nik's gothic bedroom and watch as he slips on a fresh shirt and buttons it up. Crisp, white material covers his skin.

I divert my eyes, trying my hardest not to blush.

"Are you hurt?" He asks and my gaze pings back to him. The way he looks at me is entrancing, like there is nothing in the world but me.

"I'm fine," I respond quietly. Some scrapes and bruises, a small gash on my arm. Nothing to worry about.

He walks forward until he's hardly a breath away from me and reaches for my wrist. "Let me see."

Gentle fingers wrap around my arm and he lifts it, revealing the cut. His thumb brushes up and down, over my skin. "Here." He lifts his hand to his mouth and I know he's going to offer me his blood.

I jerk back, away from him. "No. No, I'm fine. Like I said."

I can't do that anymore; drinking his blood feels too intimate.

He lets out an irritated breath.

"We need to go and start looking for Reed. And you need to fill me in on the way. Come on." I turn on my heel and head toward the staircase, but Nik doesn't move from the edge of his bedroom. "Nik! What are you waiting for, a handwritten invitation? Let's go."

His hands are slipped into the pockets of his trousers. "You expect me to run headlong into danger to save your moronic werewolf mate? Why would I do that? What's in it for me?"

I glare at him. "Are you serious right now?"

He shrugs, lazily strolling forward, each step drawing him closer and closer to me.

Why do I feel like prey being stalked by some wild animal?

"I can help you rescue your precious werewolf Prince. For a price, of course."

I want to slap him, to hurt him, to throw something at his smug face. "I don't have any money, Nik!"

An incredulous chuckle is ripped from him. "Money," he scoffs, as though I've told some funny joke. "Don't be ridiculous, April."

He stops, the tips of his black leather shoes pressing into my dirty sneakers that I borrowed from Harper. The silver of his eyes is sharp and glinting.

"I want what I've wanted all along," he says quietly, huskily. His gaze brushes over my lips. "You."

I swallow thickly, trying to grasp onto my anger and indignation and not let arousal overrule it. "So that's your new plan? Blackmail me into being with you?"

He scoffs. "As though it would take blackmail. Stop acting like you didn't show up at my house less than a month ago begging to be with me. We both know what you want, April."

How dare he? "It was a moment of insanity."

"Or a moment of clarity," he counters.

My body sways forward, toward him. But all it takes is for Reed's name to float through my head and I wrench myself back, all but falling against the bannister behind me. I clutch it till my knuckles turn white. "You're going to help me," I tell him.

He arches an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes," I bite out. "Because if you don't, then Reed dies. And I will never forgive you and I will never speak to you again. And I will live a human life and die in sixty or so years and as always, you will be perpetually alone."

His jaw ticks, his eyes cold.

"Now," I say, "are you driving or am I?"

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆