So, no matter how hungry she was or how badly she wanted to give in, she wouldn't do it. She wouldn't let herself lose control like that and- "How about a compromise?" Christofer suggested softly, moving his fingers back to trace the line of her jaw.

"What kind of compromise?" she hesitantly asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d above her.

"The kind that lets me take care of you without you having to worry about doing something that you'll regret," he promised her softly.

"You can't promise-"

"Yes," he said, leaning down to brush his lips against hers, "I can."

"How?" she asked with a sigh, giving up on trying to push him away since it was obvious that he wasn't going anywhere until he was d.a.m.n well ready. She wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders. Unable to help herself, she began running her fingers through his hair, needing something to do as she laid there struggling not to get her hopes up.

"You're going to drink from me and only me," he said like that solved all her problems.

It didn't.

Not even a little bit.

"And that helps me how?" she demanded, spreading her legs further apart when she felt him shift to get more comfortable. The move settled him more deeply against her.

"Because you'll never have to worry about hurting me, mein Schatz," he whispered as he shifted so that he could gently cup her face in his hand.

She opened her mouth to argue with him, but he cut her off with another tender kiss. "My blood can make you stronger, keep you safe and will cut down on how much blood you need to consume," he whispered against her lips.

"How do you know that?" she asked, continuing to run her fingers through the hair on the back of his head, using the motion to hide the way her hands shook.

"Caine and Ephraim explained a few things while you were sleeping," he said, tracing his thumbs over her cheeks.

"I don't want to drink from you," she stubbornly mumbled, her breaths coming faster.

"You don't have a choice any longer, mein Schatz," he said, brushing his lips against her forehead. "I need you to do this, Cloe. I need to keep you safe," he said hoa.r.s.ely.

"Why?" she asked, unable to understand why he cared so much.

"Why what?"

"Why do you care?"

He looked down at her, a small smile tipping his lips. "Because," he said, leaning down until their lips were barely an inch apart, "you make me happy, mein Schatz."

With that he sealed her fate and took the decision out of her hands.

Chapter 33.

"Just do it!"

"Don't rush me!" Cloe snapped back, chewing her bottom lip as she gazed at Christofer's neck with uncertainty.

She'd agreed to do this, because he'd made her realize that this connection between them wasn't one sided. He made her feel safe, protected and cherished and she apparently calmed something in him as well. It wasn't something that she could ignore, not when she cherished that connection too much to risk it.

The other reason that she was doing this was simple. She liked the idea of needing less blood and not having to worry about hurting anyone. She'd been prepared to binge on that cold nasty bagged blood for the rest of her unnatural life even though it was without a doubt the nastiest stuff she'd ever consumed. So now, she was lying on a bed with the hottest man that she'd ever met laying on top of her, waiting for her to sink her fangs into his neck and drink his blood.

Yeah...........

"Do you need help?" he asked with a sigh as he shifted slightly on top of her.

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she snapped back, wishing he would just be quiet so that she could focus on what she was doing.

"If you need help........." he said, letting his words trail off meaningfully.

"I don't!" she said, deciding to just get this over with if it meant shutting him up.

With a slight cringe and a prayer that this wasn't going to scar her for life, she leaned in, opened her mouth and moved in to just get it over with when something occurred to her. Her fangs weren't down and she had no idea how to make them come out on command. Refusing to ask for help, at least not until after she'd tried, she pictured bagged blood, hoping it would be enough to make her fangs slide down.

It wasn't.

Finally after a few more minutes of trying to force her fangs down, she gave in with a heavy sigh and admitted, "I need help."

"What's wrong?" he asked, pushing up and turning his head so that he could look down at her.

She answered with a grumpy mumble.

"What was that?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I said I can't get my fangs down!" she snapped, quickly shifting back to her previous desire to kick his a.s.s.

Chuckling, he leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead. "Is that all?"

"Is that all?" she repeated tightly with frustration. "It seems kind of important at the moment, doesn't it?"

His lips twitched with more amus.e.m.e.nt, making her scowl deepen. "Well, since anger obviously isn't helping to get the job done, why don't we try a different approach?" he suggested.

She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what approach she'd like to take when he took her by surprise. One second his eyes were the beautiful crystal blue that she loved and the next second they were a fiery red and his fangs were down. Stunned by how quickly he'd managed to accomplish something that she'd been struggling to do, she was barely aware of what he was doing until it was too late.

While she'd been trying to figure out how he'd managed to do that so quickly, he'd pressed the tip of one of his fingers to a fang and drew a large drop of blood. The delicious aroma hit her nose just as she realized that he'd traced his bleeding fingertip across her bottom lip, leaving a trail of that mouthwatering liquid behind. She'd barely registered the action before the tip of her tongue darted out to taste the warm liquid. The first taste of his blood tore a moan from her lips, the second a groan and by the time that she'd realized that there wasn't a single drop left, her control snapped.

"Oh, f.u.c.k!" he snarled, his hands fisting in the comforter as he struggled not to flinch away from her sudden attack.

He clenched his jaw tightly as he forced himself to remain still so that Cloe could take what she needed from him. He considered asking her to gentle her bite, but thought better of it when he realized that would make him an a.s.shole. He'd attacked her without any finesse, ripping into her throat and drained her without a thought for her comfort. He deserved this, deserved more and he would gladly take it.

For her.

After a few minutes her bite gentled and he found himself taking a shaky breath. He felt himself relax above her as her greedy pulls at his neck turned to gentle suckling motions that allowed the torn skin around her fangs to heal, taking away the sharp sting of her bite and leaving only pleasure.

s.h.i.t!

His fingers flexed around the comforter as he closed his eyes and tried to shift his thoughts away from the gentle suckling at his neck and the soft moans m.u.f.fled against his skin. He counted to one hundred in German in his head and when that didn't work, he counted back from a hundred in French. He forced his mind on all the projects that he still needed to finish, the emails he needed to respond to, the.........the......the.......

The way Cloe ran her hands over his back, her fingers threading through his hair, the warm press of her body beneath his, the way her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed up against his chest, the way her legs cradled him, the way her hips arched and caused the most intimate part of her body to rub against the erection that he couldn't make behave, but mostly, he focused on the scent of her arousal. She smelled so good, f.u.c.king fantastic, he amended a second later while he licked his lips in pure ecstasy as she rubbed up against him, caressing the underside of his c.o.c.k. The combination of the material from their jeans only added to the delicious friction.

She felt so good, so f.u.c.king good as she suckled at his neck, ran her hands all over his body and rubbed herself against his c.o.c.k. As he held himself still above her, he couldn't decide what was better, the sounds of her moans or the sweet scent of her s.e.x. He inhaled deeply, savoring the smell of her aroused s.e.x and came to the decision that the smell of her arousal was the clear winner of the two.

Although he did love the way she moaned against his neck, the sound a mixture of pleasure and need. He wondered what kind of sounds she would make if he ground himself against her, or pulled down her pants and panties and f.u.c.ked her with his tongue and fingers. Would she scream his name? Scream for more when he pushed her over the edge or simply lay there, panting and moaning as he licked every last drop from her slit.

But, it was pointless to wonder, because he would never allow himself to find out. She was his responsibility, his to protect and care for, not to f.u.c.k when- She reached between their bodies and ripped his pants open, gripped his boxers, tore them from his body and grabbed hold of his eager c.o.c.k. He opened his mouth to stop her, but the only sound that came out was a strangled groan as she gripped his c.o.c.k by the base and stroked him. It nearly had him coming, but his desperate c.o.c.k refused to give in so easily. The greedy little b.a.s.t.a.r.d withstood the first stroke and jerked in rapture with the second.

"Cloe," he started to say only to realize that her name came out as a strangled moan and a plea for her to keep going. He needed to stop her before it was too late and they did something that she'd regret later, because with the third stroke of her talented hand on his c.o.c.k, he realized that there was no f.u.c.king way that he would ever regret this. Cloe on the other hand, would probably kick his teeth down his throat when she realized that she'd lost control because of him.

She was reacting to the scent of his arousal and the taste of it in his blood. He should have thought about this before he decided to feed her from his vein, but when he'd made the decision to feed her, s.e.x hadn't been on his mind. He wanted to get her out of here safely not f.u.c.k her.

He should have known this would happen, but it had been so long since he'd tasted arousal from a woman's blood that he'd forgotten the power it held. If he'd thought about it, he would have taken a cold shower or taken himself in hand first, but he hadn't. Now Cloe was losing control and giving into the hormones that his aroused body was flooding into her system, leaving with her no other choice but to react.

"Cloe, stop!" he gritted out as he reached between them, sending a silent apology to his poor c.o.c.k, to gently remove her hand. "We have to stop."

"Mmm, I don't want to," Cloe murmured against his neck as her talented hand evaded his capture and stroked him from tip to b.a.l.l.s and back again.

Realizing that she'd released her bite on him and that she wasn't going to stop, he pushed himself up on the bed and started to move away. He should have moved faster, a h.e.l.l of a lot faster since it appeared that his blood had helped unlock Cloe's new abilities.

In one swift move, she had him pressed back down on the bed and her mouth wrapped around his c.o.c.k in the next. His hands actually shook as he reached down to stop her when all he wanted to do was to thread his fingers through her hair and force her mouth further down his c.o.c.k, but he couldn't do it, not when he knew how much she'd hate him if he didn't stop her now.

"Mein Schatz, you have to stop," Christofer said as he gently cupped her face and guided her mouth away from the largest erection that she'd ever seen.

She allowed him to guide her away, but only far enough until she could lean forward and take his mouth with her own. She moved her lips against his stunned ones as she wrapped her arms around him and settled herself back on his lap. She released a moan of pleasure when she felt his erection press up against her.

G.o.d, he felt so good......

No, correction, she felt good, really good.

It felt like every cell in her body had come to life with Christofer's blood. She felt stronger, energized and more alive than she ever had before. She'd noticed changes in the way that she felt when she'd woken up after the attack and even more changes after she started to drink the bagged blood, but this was different, more intense. It also made her realize something.

Christofer really hadn't meant to hurt her.

Ephraim and the others had explained that over a dozen times to her and she'd believed them. For the most part, but it had still been hard to accept when she'd wanted, needed, someone to blame for what happened. She'd blamed Christofer even as she'd craved contact with him, which did nothing more than to confuse her and made what she felt for him feel wrong.

But now.....

Now she couldn't get enough of him and refused to fight what she wanted any longer. The moment she'd tasted his blood she'd lost control and had given in to attacking him and taking what she wanted without a second thought. She hadn't lost control and gone into bloodl.u.s.t, that much she was sure of, but she had lost control. She remembered the look on his face, the sound of his voice as he'd yelled at her to run and knew that Christofer never would have hurt her. He had fought against it. Knowing that didn't take away the pain and terror from the memory of that attack, but it allowed her to trust the man beneath her. She knew without a doubt that he would do anything to keep her safe even if it meant that he had to deny himself something that he wanted.

"Cloe," Christofer said, gently grabbing her by her shoulders to pull her away and for the moment, she allowed it. "We have to stop."

She simply shook her head as she said, "No."

He closed his eyes, his expression pained as he took a slow, deep breath, no doubt trying to regain his control. "You're reacting to me, Cloe. I'm sorry, but if we don't stop now you're going to regret this later."

"How exactly am I reacting to you?" she asked in a sultry tone as she reached up and cupped the back of his head, allowing her fingers to thread through his short silky hair as she ran her fingertips down his chest and stomach, marveling at the feel of smooth skin over hard, lean muscle. He caught her hand before it could stray any closer to the large erection jerking against his stomach in an attempt to reach her wandering hand.

"My blood," he bit out between clenched teeth. "You're reacting to my blood."

"So," she said, pulling her hand away from his so that she could return to exploring his chest, "are you saying that I would react to anyone that I drank from?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

She was reacting to Christofer and the knowledge that he hadn't betrayed her. He turned her on and inside out. He p.i.s.sed her off even as he made her smile and he made her want things that she never thought were possible.

"Only if they were turned on when you drank from them," he explained in the same hard tone.

"I see," she said, biting back a smile as she dropped her hands away from him and leaned back away from him.

"I'm sorry," Christofer said, tightly averting his eyes so that he could glare at the wall as she slowly got off his lap and climbed off the bed.

"No need to apologize," she said casually as she kicked off her shoes and released the b.u.t.ton on her pants so that she could push them down.

"You're not mad?" he ground out, still glaring at the wall as she pulled off her tee shirt, tossed it aside and reached back to unsnap her bra.

"No, I'm not mad," she replied, hooking her thumbs in her panties and pushed them down. "But, I do have a question for you," she said, knowing him well enough now to know that he took his responsibilities very seriously. Marta had been proof enough of that and since it was obvious that he saw her as another responsibility, she knew that he wouldn't allow himself to do anything that would hurt her.

Unless she gave him no other choice.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, a muscle ticking in his jaw as she purposely strode in front of him, giving him no other choice but to look at her as she strode naked towards the bathroom.

Pausing by the bathroom door, she looked over her shoulder to find a pair of red eyes devouring every inch of her. "What makes you think that you weren't reacting to me?"

Chapter 34.

"That's Nolan," Chris said with a tilt of his head towards the large Sentinel male walking through the lobby. Ephraim and Caine nodded as they headed towards the elusive compound leader.

For the past five days he'd been putting them off with bulls.h.i.t promises and excuses until finally, they'd had enough. They'd wasted enough time sitting on their a.s.ses waiting for answers that the compound's leaders didn't seem to be in any rush to give them. Even a call to Eric hadn't garnered them the answers they wanted or reinstated their access to the secured floors.

If it had been up to Chris, he would have asked his little mate to unleash Tattletale on the compound and taken the choice out of the compound leaders' hands sooner, but his father and Caine wanted to give the compound leaders a chance before they did anything that would start any bulls.h.i.t and make their jobs more difficult. But even his father had a limit, and this morning he'd reached it.

"Nolan," his father said in way of greeting as they reached the large Sentinel.