Silent Cravings (51 page)

She really didn’t.

Christoph read the note and shrugged.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

“I don’t know. The only experience I’ve had are vampire movies and John coming up to the apartment.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

“I guess it’s up to you where.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

“I’m fine with whatever.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

“Though sometimes my right arm gets twingy from an incident with silver I had once.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

“But otherwise, hey, go for it.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! OCEAN-OCEAN-OCEAN-VERY-CALM-RIGHT-NOW!

Clarisse quirked a brow. “A system? Why is there a system?”

Angus was also confused. “It’s a fling, lass, not a commitment.”

Christoph was taking this better than Mouse expected. His heart rate had accelerated, but not so much that she was concerned. Some measure of fear was only natural, of course.

Since this was his first time, she thought it might be best to go for his wrist. To get to his neck, she’d either have to straddle his waist or have him practically hanging over her lap, and that was just too awkward to consider. Maybe some other time when they weren’t so incredibly nervous.

Figuring the least she could do would be to put him at ease, she held out a hand for him to sit on the couch with her. She tucked one of her legs under her so she could face him, frowning at his mention of being hurt by silver.

“Well, yeah,” Analie said, “but think of it this way. If you come on too strong to a human, you get slapped. If a Were comes on too strong, he gets his face torn to pieces. It’s not a huge, multi-stepped process like proper courting, but there’s a trick to it so the guy doesn’t get mauled.”

Christoph decided he could have a heart attack later—he didn’t want to make Mouse uncomfortable or freak her out.

Freak
her
out? He felt like he was staring down a firing squad and all the guns were loaded with silver bullets. He couldn’t acknowledge the fear. He
had
to stay calm.

He noticed her frown. “Someone tried to ‘banish’ me. It’s a weird story, I’ll tell it to you later.”

He didn’t trust his voice to stay steady.

Mouse nodded, though she was still a trifle concerned. She lightly placed her hand against his cheek, looking up to meet his eyes.

I’m sorry,
she mouthed, hoping he would accept the words for what they were. She didn’t want to hurt or scare him, didn’t want to drag him through painful memories, and truly wished him no ill. The last thing she wanted was to make what she was about to do any harder on him than she had to.

“Sounds like ye play rough,” Clarisse said, surprised.

Angus seemed speculative.
Very
speculative.

Analie shrugged. “You don’t want a total weenie for a mate. You want a guy who will defend you and your cubs. If the guy backs off the moment you bare your teeth, he’s not worth it. It’s a bit different if you’re not looking for a mate, but even so, no girl wants a coward.”

Christoph didn’t have anything to say. He didn’t want Mouse to feel bad, but he wasn’t in a condition to do much about it.

He hoped to God that he wouldn’t be a total weenie when he was bitten.

Mouse took one of his hands in both of her own. She ran her fingers lightly along his wrist and palm, hoping it might help him relax if he saw she wasn’t about to tear into him like a rabid dog.

When she lifted his hand, she pressed it to her cheek. While it left his wrist frightfully close to her mouth, she kept her eyes on his, one hand held over his own, the other again resting against his jaw.

Trust me
, she mouthed, the sincerity reflected in her eyes, even if she couldn’t speak the words aloud.

She turned into his wrist and sank her fangs in, doing what she could to keep the bite as quick and clean as she could.

“Aye, that sounds about right.”

Angus still seemed to be lost in speculation. Except that he had a very unnerving smile making his beard bristle now.

At first it hurt. Christoph had been expecting that. Even in his flat-faced state, it wasn’t bad. Vampire fangs were obviously not meant to be the stabbing, shredding meat hooks that werewolf fangs were.

Despite what Ashi had said after John bit him, Christoph was completely unprepared for how good it felt after the initial shock faded. Agonizing pain would have been more welcome—at least it would have validated everything he’d ever been told about being bitten. It was supposed to burn like mad, as if you had liquid fire pouring into your veins. It was never supposed to feel like this.

Analie eyed Angus warily. A smile like that could never be a good thing.

“...what? Why are you grinning like that?”

Clarisse slapped her hand over Angus’ mouth before something vile could spill out, shaking her head in warning. “Don’t ever ask ʼim something like that, lass. Ye don’t want tae know what will come out.”

Mouse didn’t take very much, nor did she stay latched to his wrist for very long.

Withdrawing, she carefully pulled away, only a few tiny beads of blood welling from the bite. She curled both her hands around Christoph’s palm, cradling it in her lap as she anxiously looked up at him, awaiting his reaction.

Christoph was a little woozy, but it was the adrenaline rush fading rather than from blood loss. It had ended a lot sooner than he thought it would. All in all it hadn’t been that bad. Unnerving, frightening—but not the end of the world. At least he hadn’t been cornered and bitten like Ashi had, or had a meltdown of epic proportions. It was the best possible outcome of the worst possible situation.

Seeing Mouse staring nervously at him helped to keep him from doing something drastically stupid, like screaming in horror.

“That was different.”