That made two of us.
“You’ll learn, Goldy. I can help,” I assured her.
A minute later, she came back out, and I tried not to focus on how the tight leggings clung to the curve of her hips and hugged her perfectly round arse. The T-shirt was a good deal tight as well. I must have gotten a size too small. Luckily, she still had the bra she’d been wearing under the gown, otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten away with the tight T-shirt without giving every straight man in sight a massive hard-on.
I walked to her, took her hand, and led her over to the bed, sitting her down. “Here are your socks. Do you need help with them?”
She shook her head. “No, I have to get used to doing this by myself.”
Fumblingly, she put on the socks and the tennis shoes, and I helped her into the cardigan once she was done. Unexpectedly, she reached up, brought her hand to the line of my jaw, and placed a kiss on my cheek. My heart skipped a beat. She smelled like soap, and her lips were so fucking soft.
“Thank you, Finn. You’ve been incredibly sweet to me,” she said with gratitude, pulling away just as I was instinctively turning my lips to hers. I shook myself out of the urge to plunge my tongue inside her pretty little mouth. The air between us felt thick, but maybe that was just me.
“Any time. Come on, let’s go get breakfast.”
On the way to the diner, I informed the receptionist on duty, now a young red-haired woman, that we’d be staying another night. I used my DOH credit card, knowing that it had a decently high limit, and since Pamphrock was gone, nobody was going to care that I was spending the money anyway. A pang of grief hit me at the memory of Theodore suffocating him. He’d drained the life from his body like it was nothing. The leader I’d looked up to for years was dead, and I felt so… adrift.
I opened the door and ushered Alora inside the diner. When we joined the others at the same table we ate at last night, I noticed Delilah was looking a little worse for wear. She had dark bags under her eyes and her lips seemed pale.
“You alright?” I asked, eyeing her in concern.
“I’m just tired,” she answered, a little snappish.
“Are you sure?” Gabriel put in. “When was the last time you had blood?”
A-ha. Now, why didn’t I think of that? Sometimes I forgot that dhampirs needed blood, too. Not half as much as vamps, but they still needed a small amount.
Delilah scowled. “A while ago.”
“How much of a while?” Gabriel probed.
Now she sighed. “Just under a fortnight,” she replied flatly.
“That’s far too long to go without, Delilah,” Gabriel said in a worried voice.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been a little preoccupied.”
“You can feed from me,” came Ira’s low voice. I gaped at him.
“Did you just talk?” I questioned, shocked. The big, burly shapeshifter gave me a sheepish look.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised. He’s been talking to me for days,” Delilah said.
I sat back, folding my arms. “Well, now I’m offended. I thought we were buddies.”
Ira looked a little guilty, shooting me an apologetic expression, before Delilah gripped his shoulder. “I can’t feed from you. I only ever feed from human donors. Most of them are already addicted.”
“It’s just one time though,” Alvie interjected “Harmless, really.”
“I want to.” Ira stood firm. I still couldn’t get over the fact that he was talking. How had I missed that? Then again, we had been a little busy fighting for our lives.
Gabriel shot Delilah an encouraging look, and she threw up her hands, exasperated. “Fine, I’ll feed from Ira. Later though.”
“I can put a glamour around the table if you want to do it now. You look like you need it,” Gabriel offered.
She stared at him, galled. “I’m not feeding here in front of all of you.”
“Why not? We’re practically family,” Alvie said. “There’s no judgement.”
“Exactly,” I added, just to annoy her. Cristescu’s half-sister was particularly fun to rile.
Delilah bit her lip, glancing hungrily at Ira. “Are you sure?” she asked, and he nodded stoically. She chewed her lip some more. “Fine. But your glamour better be a good one, Gabriel. I don’t want to freak out any of the other customers.”
My attention went to Alora, who was listening to the conversation intently. She seemed nervous.
“It’s morning, right?” she whispered, leaning close to my ear. I suppressed a shudder when her gentle breath met my skin. What was wrong with me? Maybe the disappointment from Tegan choosing Cristescu had me channelling my attraction onto Alora. It was fairly pathetic to be on the rebound from someone who you were never even with in the first place.
“Yes, it’s morning. Delilah’s a dhampir. So is Gabriel. This is a vamp-free zone,” I told her reassuringly.
“Okay. That’s good.” She exhaled.
I studied her curiously. “Have you seen vampires in your visions?”
“Yes. Many.”
“Hmm,” I said, rubbing my chin.
I wanted to ask her more questions, but my attention was drawn to Gabriel. He was muttering an incantation to create a glamour. Once it was up no one would be able to see that Delilah was feeding from Ira. The redhead leaned in close to my friend and seemed to take her time breathing in his scent. His posture went a little rigid as her small fangs descended down past her lips.
A moment later, she placed her hand on his shoulder, whispering, “Sorry if this hurts a little.”
Then she sank her teeth into his neck and started to drink. Ira was one of those unreadable types. He never let his emotions show outwardly, but I had to wonder if he was turned on right now. Some kind of attraction had obviously been brewing between these two for a while.
It was kind of funny how awkward and quiet everyone became as we watched them. I had no love for bloodsuckers, but watching Delilah feed was oddly riveting. Several gulps later, she pulled away and licked her lips. Her pupils were dilated to the point where almost all the green iris was gone. Feeling devious, I jiggled the table leg with my foot.
“Hey, Ira. Get your stiffy under control.”
Gabriel and Alvie burst into laughter while Delilah shot me a death stare. One end of Ira’s mouth curved up, as though he was trying to suppress a smile. At least he still had a sense of humour. Next to me, Alora blushed even though the comment had nothing to do with her. Wow, this girl was shy. I probably wasn’t the best person for her to be around, since half the things that came out of my mouth needed an eighteen and up rating.
The waitress came and began setting food down in front of us, and I dug into my bacon and eggs with gusto.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” Gabriel asked.
“I booked us in to stay here another night. Today, I was thinking we could drive into the city and scope the place out, see if the vamps are still killing, or if Cristescu has ordered them to behave themselves. We’ll check my street out, too, and see if everything’s okay. If it is, then we’ll head back there tomorrow. I can’t be putting you all up in the lap of luxury like this forever,” I joked.
Delilah snorted. “Right. I think I saw a cockroach this morning.”