Chapter 44
When I cracked open my eyes everything was fuzzy at first. I slowly blinked away the fog and found William sitting by my side. His sparkling emerald eyes had turned almost black, and he had this look on his face like he couldn’t breathe. I tried to raise up, but the pain in my head was so severe I couldn’t. He gently pressed on my shoulders until I lay back. I glanced around and discovered I was in a bedroom I had never seen before.
“Where am I?” I asked in a maze of confusion and pain.
William pressed a wet cloth to my forehead and when I pushed his hand away, I noticed it was covered in blood. I promptly realized why he had that look. He was a vampire, and it appeared I was bleeding profusely. He rinsed out the cloth in a large bowl of red stained water, and patted it against my forehead.
“The bleeding is stopping now,” he said without emotion.
“Where are we?” I was already starting to feel much better. I pushed the cloth away, and sat up. My head still pounded, and I felt a little woozy.
“We’re in the basement,” he said quietly, and started cleaning up the blood covered towels thrown about on the floor.
“Let me do that.” I tried to stand, but got dizzy and fell backward onto the bed.
“You need to rest,” he said, not unkindly, but still very short with me. He disappeared from the room, but returned quickly with a soda he handed me.
“Thanks.” I smiled, and leaned back against the pillows.
“Why are we in your basement?” I asked earnestly.
“Lycan tracked you here. They’re outside…waiting,” he said, grabbing some fresh linens from a closet. “They can’t smell you down here. They can’t get in either. We’ll stay down here until your scent dissipates. It’ll take a while, though. I’m afraid you won’t make it home tonight.
“It’s okay. My aunt doesn’t expect me back for a few days,” I said, watching for his reaction but he didn’t have one. Any other guy would have been thrilled to be locked away with a girl for even one day, but it didn’t seem to faze William.
“Why is that?” He stood facing me with his hands tucked in the front pocket of his jeans. He had on a tight black tee-shirt that showed off his exquisitely formed muscles, and his hair was perfectly disheveled.
I smiled sheepishly and lowered my eyes. “Um…I kind of told her that I was, um, going to train with Luna’s family up at Bear Creek.”
He walked over to me, taking a seat on the side of the bed. “I know you’re angry, because you think I’ve been lying to you, and the truth is, in a way I have. But not in the way you think.” He gently placed his hand over mine. “Zane thinks I’m working with him, but I’m not. Everything I have done has been to protect you. Zane is evil and very manipulative. The Amalric believes that somebody on the inside is secretly helping him. I had to live it and think it so everyone would believe I was working for him.”
I couldn’t believe it, but everything he was saying actually made perfect sense. And Joseph had only thought he was doing what was best by telling me. Maybe the whole thing had been a big misunderstanding after all. Or, maybe he was working for Zane, and this was all just another part of the cover-up.
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth when we were flying home? You hurt me so badly, William.” I felt tears starting to form, but I didn’t want to wipe at my eyes or it would have just made it worse.
“Don’t you see? I couldn’t trust anyone. Not even Luna and her brothers. We still don’t know who it is. Genevieve, I hate to say it, but it could be one or all of them.” He lowered his eyes.
“I refuse to believe that,” I scoffed.
“I’m not saying it’s them. I’m just trying to make you understand that until we find out who the trader is, you can’t trust anyone.”
“Not even you?” I asked, my voice husky from tears.
The side of his mouth curved up in a smile, and he raked his hand back through his russet hair. “Well, you have to start somewhere, and personally, I can’t think of a better place.”
I giggled and slapped his arm a little harder than I meant to. He laughed and rubbed his arm.
He leaned over me, putting his hands on my pillow on either side of my head. I reached up and placed my hand on his chest. I felt his heart barely beating at first, but the longer I left my hand there, the quicker his heartbeat grew.
He moved slowly toward me, his eyes locked onto mine. I inhaled deeply and exhaled in short nervous bursts. As soon as his lips touched mine a tingling rushed through my body. His kisses were short and soft at first, but when he really kissed me the passion became so intense I thought I was going to explode. I felt his hunger for me, but it was more than just lust. For the first time I felt William’s love for me, and in between kisses I looked at him and saw his tears. I gently pulled my head back.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly, confused.
“I didn’t want to admit it, but I…love you. I love you so much my chest aches for you,” he answered, kissing me hard afterwards, so hard in fact, my lip started to bleed. “Mmmm,” he moaned passionately, running his tongue over my lip.
I knew he was weak from his bloodlust, and I saw my opportunity. I bit down on my lip so hard I wanted to scream, but didn’t. He gently sucked on my lip until it stopped bleeding again. I turned my head revealing my neck to him. My heart pounded so hard, I knew he couldn’t resist me.
He moved to my neck, kissing it softly at first. Then I felt his teeth press against my neck, but he hesitated. I sunk my nails into his back, pulling him against me, pressing my neck to his mouth until he finally gave in and bit down.
A sharp pain shot through me, but gave way quickly to a euphoric pleasure that filled me completely. It was an indescribable feeling. I trembled and went limp under him, moaning, and praying he wouldn’t stop. His mouth worked ferociously against my neck and everything started to fade away.