Page 16 of Accidental Blood Lust
“I’ll go?—”
“That’s enough of that,” Cassius says, slightly annoyed. “Game night. Those are my coworkers you heard.”
“That was cool. I’m used to voices sounding like a garbled mess.”
“Because you have to focus. Over time, you can learn to isolate whatever sound you want. You can hunt by smell alone. You can detect whose blood is a better source of nutrients for you. For example, drug users may be easy to catch, but they’re lousy meals. It’s like junk food. It’s not as good as it looks and you’ll feel like shit after.”
“I don’t want to hurt people, and I’m not good at stopping when I should.”
“Because you’ve had no practice. We’ll go and hunt together. I’ll show you how I do it.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“I’m doing it for Roman.”
“Right.” We’re not friends. He’s doing his friend a favor, but just the same, I appreciate it. “Thanks.”
He tilts his head up. “Roman is returning.”
I close my eyes, trying to find his scent, but I don’t even have to try. It slams into me, enveloping me like a storm. My insides tingle and my cock actually plumps as his masculine scent wafts around me. Whoa.
When I open my eyes, Cassius is watching me. “Interesting,” he says quietly.
Then another scent hits me, this one fainter, but I’d recognize it anywhere. Jareth. I’m on my feet, heading for the door when it opens and Roman enters. Alone.
He was with Jareth. I can tell. My stomach twists with jealousy. Did they finally fuck now that I’m out of the picture? Did Roman run to him to take him from me once and for all? I sniff again and it’s hard to tell. Everything about Roman already smells like sex.
My lip curls with anger as I try to stuff down my growing rage, but it’s almost useless.
Calm yourself, vampire.
My breath hitches when I hear Cassius’s voice in my head, and I turn sharply to face him. He smiles.
Can I do that too?
Cassius tilts his hand back and forth, signifying to me that my thoughts sort of reached him.
Focus. You’ll get there.
“How are things going?” Roman asks, his gaze switching between me and Cassius.
“Good,” Cassius announces. “I’ll teach him to hunt in a bit then he’ll at least have the foundation he needs.”
Roman nods, smiling softly at me. “A productive day, then.”
“Yep.”
He raises an eyebrow, no doubt noting my clipped tone.
“Is there somewhere I can, um, freshen up?”
Cassius snorts before ducking his head.
“Sure. We have guest rooms,” Roman says. “I’ll take you to one.”
“Gonna let Auri know what’s going on?” Cassius sounds amused.
“Yeah, guess I need to do that.”
