The Skye Trilogy: Isle of Skye, Isle of Night, and Isle of Dawn. * Bonus: Scrumptious Skye Confections Cookbook* (47 page)

“Until you,” he said. When he did look up at me, his eyes flashed red but I didn’t even register that in my brain. “You walked into my life and wrecked my whole world. Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass you are?”

“Words any girl wants to hear.” I muttered

“I can’t give you the words that you want to hear. I don’t know if I’m capable.” he said truthfully

It wasn’t until that moment that I realized I didn’t need to hear those words. Words mean nothing if there are no actions behind them. Mathias had proven time and time again with how he felt about me. He wasn’t running; he was hiding but not from me. He may have tried, but I saw through him.

I had to accept the fact that he wasn’t going to sit on a blanket in a grassy meadow and read me love sonnets. He wasn’t going to write a song for me. He wasn’t going to be something that he wasn’t. The thing is I didn’t want him to do any of that stuff. I wanted something real in this crazy world I lived in now.

“I don’t care.” I finally answered. “The only thing I care about right now is that you feed on me and then sleep.”

“I could kill you,” he said

“I can kill you too, remember?” I smiled

“Do you remember the first night we spent together in a hotel? When I woke up, I wanted to rip your throat out.”

“You didn’t though.” I smiled. “Do you know why?”

“Why?” he shook his head

“You can’t kill the other half of your soul.” I said softly. “At some point Mathias you’re going to have to accept the fact that we are true mates.”

Mathias looked at me for a long time. I could see him wrestle with this in his head. He knew I was right, but he was still putting a small fight.

“Look, I’m going to take a shower.” I said. “Why don’t you feed the dogs and take them out? If you’re here when I come out, then we’ll go from there. If you’re not, then we’ll figure something out and move
on with another plan. Either way Mathias, we need to do something. All I am asking is that you consider letting me help you before you kill someone.”

He slowly nodded. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I just took the biggest gamble of my life. I wasn’t going to force Mathias or anyone to do something that they didn’t want to do. If Mathias couldn’t come to me without having to lock him in a room than did I really want him?

Did I want to remember that we broke down our walls because I coerced him?

I didn’t know if he would be waiting for me on the other side of the door when I got out of the bathroom.

I didn’t know what would happen if he were waiting.

Chapter Eight

I took the longest shower possible. I scrubbed, shaved and lathered my body twice. I wanted to give Mathias plenty of time to wrap his head around this whole idea. I knew he was afraid he would kill me. The guy hadn’t slept or fed in months. Obviously there was a risk that he would lose control. I was perfectly aware of this, but I also believed deep in my heart that would never happen.

At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

Finally, I shut off the water and stepped out. After rubbing moisturizer all over myself, I threw on my black yoga pants and red tank top. I was almost to the door when I paused for a moment to take a deep breath and say a quick prayer to whoever may be listening.

I walked into my room to find it empty.

My heart plummeted to my knees. I started almost to hyperventilate. I couldn’t believe that he would just walk away from me after our conversation. Didn’t he realize how dangerous he was right now? Whether he wanted to admit it or not he needed me.

I flung myself across my bed and stared up at the ceiling. When I heard the pitter pat of canine feet coming down the stairs, I was almost angry. I didn’t want my dog’s companionship right now. I wanted Mathias.

“I like the red shirt.” Mathias said. “The blood dripping from your neck when I tear into it won’t show up so much on it as a white shirt.”

My heart stopped, and I slowly sat up. Mathias was lounging in the doorway to my room. His arms crossed and his smirk almost sinister.

“That’s the look I was going for.” I answered. “I wanted a shirt to hide the bloodstains.”

He stood there silently. I realized I was going to have to make the first move. I tried to walk as calmly as possible but, of course, that fantasy was shot to hell when Cupcake decided to jump on me. I fell straight to the floor while my hundred and sixty pound dog licked my cheek.

“It’s just impossible for me to even be graceful with you around furball.” I patted his head and got up off the floor. Mathias’s grin had turned into a small smile. He still hadn’t moved one inch though.

“You know a real gentlemen vampire would have rushed in and saved me from my fall.”

“True,” he agreed. “But it wouldn’t have been quite so amusing.”

“Did you have to bring the dogs down?” I asked. “I don’t want to traumatize them.”

“They are here to protect you,” he said. “I’ve already spoken to them.”

“You’ll have to teach me that language.” I smiled as I leaned in closer. “Is it available on that Rosetta stone thing?”

I almost had him relaxed enough but when his eyes glanced at my throat, he started walking away.

“I can’t.” he said. “I can’t do it Willa.”

I had already planned for this while I was in the shower. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

As soon as I chanted the spell to unmask my scent his head whipped around. Mathias’s nostrils flared, and his eyes were blazing like bright red rubies. I didn’t even have time to be afraid of him because it took him about a split second to dash over to where I was standing.

He grabbed me into his arms and lifted me up against the wall. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist just as he plunged his teeth into my neck. The last time he fed on me it had been slow and seductive. This time was primal and painful. Before I had felt a slow fire build up inside of me. There was no slow burn from his bite right now; this was instantaneous. I wanted him even though I knew that this wasn’t Mathias right now. For some reason that made it all the more thrilling.

For four months, I had daydreamed about this moment. In the darkness of my room, I had run thousands of scenarios in my head. Dark and forbidden fantasies of him drinking from my neck had kept me lying awake many nights. I was lost in my emotions as I clutched my arms around his neck.

The more he drank, the more I found myself swirling in a world of desire. I moaned loudly as he thrust his manhood near my sex. I had to force myself to slow my breathing. I was on the verge of passing out. All these sensations were too much. It was then I started hearing a buzzing in my ears. I tried to ignore it and focus on the bulge that was protruding from below Mathias’s waist but when my head started to feel tight, I realized I couldn’t let this go on any longer.

He was literally sucking the life from me.

“Mathias.” I whispered. “Mathias, you have to stop.”

The only reply I got was a growl that reverberated from deep inside of him. The animal had taken over.

“Mathias, please.” I begged. “Please stop.”

Again the only answer was a growl and a hand shoving painfully into my hair. I almost thought he was going to snap my neck in two when he pulled it even further to the side.

“Mathias.” I whimpered. “You’re killing me.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt him let up slightly, but that was short-lived as he went back to work tearing into my throat with even more ferociousness than before. My body started to tingle, and I knew that the end was near if I didn’t put a stop to this soon.

Summoning the elements took longer than usual because I was so weak but when I finally felt them gather around me I quickly took action. My freaky flames appeared in my hand, but I hesitated. How could I ever think that I could hurt him? I would rather die.

I let them go with a sigh. I had to get through to him. There has to be a way. A way I could do this without causing him irrevocable damage.

It was then I heard growling, and I realized it wasn’t from Mathias. The growling was from Cupcake and Oscar. They were both staring attentively at us. I caught their eye and saw to my disbelief that they had seen this as some signal. They both came at Mathias together. The sounds of their howling and snarling gave me goose bumps. Each dog had taken a leg and was pulling on Mathias’s pants.

I was more worried about the dogs. Mathias wasn’t some weak human. He was a very strong vampire, and two dogs weren’t going to faze him.

Or so I thought.

Mathias tore his mouth from neck and looked down at Oscar. The dog was staring at him with such intensity. That look from Oscar almost took my last few breaths away. Cupcake had immediately positioned himself in front of me and was foaming at the mouth.

I knew the second Mathias went back to normal. He nodded to Oscar and turned to me. His eyes were wide as he took in the pallor of my skin and shallow breathing. He leaned down and spoke softly to Cupcake before gathering me into his arms and laying me on the bed gently.

“Willa?” he asked. “Please tell me you’re all right?”

“I don’t feel good.” I replied weakly

“Shit,” he cursed. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“Don’t worry.” I replied weakly

He sprinted from the room, but I could barely see his retreating form. Everything was spinning, and I felt like I was going to throw up. There was a small part of me that was shouting to stay awake, but I wanted to ignore it so bad. I wanted to shut my eyes and give into the welcoming darkness.

I have no idea how long it took him. It might have been thirty seconds or thirty minutes. When he did sit down next to me, I smiled at him weakly.

“Willa, stay with me,” he ordered. “Drink this.”

“Eat me, drink me.” I giggled, “Down the rabbit hole like Alice.”

“Willa, drink,” he ordered

He sat me up, and I parted my lips. When the first taste of the liquid hit my tongue, my body reacted with pleasure. I had no idea what this magnificent cocktail was, but it was the most incredible thing I had ever consumed in my life.

Slowly my body began to return to normal. The dizziness and weakness that had almost overtaken me stopped. My stomach returned to normal, and I honestly had never felt better than I did at this moment.

“What the heck is this stuff?” I asked in wonderment

“Fairy nectar,” he replied as he set the glass down on my bedside table. “The nectar of the God’s or so they say.”

“Wow.” I replied. “We need to sell that. We could retire in about a month from the profits.”

“Unfortunately only people with magic in their blood can drink it,” he said

I sat back against the headboard and enjoyed the nectar that was running through my veins. Words couldn’t even describe the after effects of this stuff.

“Why didn’t you use your fire?” he asked. “You promised me.”

“I tried.” I admitted. “I really did. But I couldn’t. The thought of hurting you was…”

“You would rather die?” he asked. “That’s stupid and foolish.”

“Perhaps it was. I’m sorry Mathias; I couldn’t do it.” I answered

He sighed before leaning over to pet Oscar and Cupcake, who had jumped right up beside me. I heard him say, ‘Good boy’ and ‘Fantastic job’ to them before returning his attention to me.

“I’m going to go upstairs and get you some food,” he stated

“All right,” I answered. When he left my cell phone rang. I glanced at the number and saw that it was Polly. We chatted for a few minutes. She had met up with Julia in town, and they were going to do dinner and a movie. She invited me, but I refused politely which, of course, aroused her suspicions. After promising her a full report in the morning, I hung up right when Mathias came back with a tray of food.

“I never know whether to be offended or deliriously happy at the amount of food you are always trying to shove at me.”

“You need to drink some orange juice and have some vegetables. I also brought a few different kinds of cookies I found on the counter.”

“My recent experiments,” I answered. “Key lime shortbread and my own homemade version of Fig Newtons.”

“What the hell are Fig Newtons?”

“Seriously?”
I asked. “You’ve never had a delicious fig cookie?”

Mathias went silent. I could almost hear his thoughts before he spoke them. “Unmasking your scent was extremely dangerous.”

“I know but it was the only thing I could think of to do so I could get a reaction. I knew you weren’t going to feed on me unless I provoked you in some way.”

We both sat lost in our thoughts for a few minutes. Mathias stared off into a corner, and I ate while watching him. It was almost like old times.

“I’m tired Willa,” he announced after he took my tray upstairs. I looked up in surprise. For Mathias to admit having, a weakness was almost scary.