Page 129 of Bleed

“And then you left.”

His jaw flexes. “I had to.”

“Because Taylor threatened to murder you?” I ask, brow arching.

“That was a contributing factor.”

Despite everything, a tiny laugh tries to escape me.

“But after feeding from you…” He stops, his expression shifting again, something almost like wonder breaking through the guilt. “The hunger was gone.”

I frown. “Gone?”

“For the first time in more than a century, I felt…” He trails off, searching for the word. “Sated.”

I blink at him, still confused.

“Not suppressed. Not temporarily manageable because I’d consumed enough bagged blood. Truly satisfied.” His brows pinch together, like even now he’s struggling to understand the concept. “There was simply nothing left to want.”

His eyes drift toward my throat again, and my pulse skips.

“The hunger is present now,” he admits.

I tense instinctively.

His gaze flicks back to mine. “But it isn’t the same.”

“How?” I rasp.

“I can feel it without being consumed by it.”

He takes a slow step toward me, and though every instinct screams for me to retreat, I stay rooted in place.

“I can smell your blood from here.”

Another step.

“I can hear your pulse.”

My breath catches.

He’s close enough now that I have to tip my chin up to hold his gaze, but he stops with several feet of distance still separating us.

“I want to bite you,” he says, voice dropping lower.

My heart kicks hard against my ribs.

“But I don’t need to.”

The distinction hangs in the air between us like a held breath, Elliott’s eyes still fixed on mine, the hunger in them controlled but unmistakable.

“I believe the bond is responsible.”

The grove around us falls quiet as I stare up at him, trying to decide whether I’m an idiot for desperately wanting to believe every word. Maybe I am. Wouldn’t exactly be breaking new ground. But what the hell do I have to lose at this point?

I take a step toward him. “Then show me.”

He frowns. “What?”