VET Vampire Romance 01 - Covet

than my own.”
    Lilah frowned and then shrugged. “You were the first to bite me.”
    “On your neck... or ever?” Javier struggled onto his elbows, propping himself up on the bed. The covers slid downwards to reveal the top of his stomach, the taut muscles enticing her to look at them. She kept her eyes on his, giving him the attention he deserved and refusing to gawp at him when he was having a serious conversation with her.
    “Ever.”
    “Lord Ashville never took your blood?”
    Lilah shook her head. “No. He was never interested in me like that. He only ever bit the men and slept with them.”
    Javier stared at her, slack jawed, his amazement running through her blood.
    Lilah realised why he looked so surprised. “That’s why he didn’t have full control of me. You were apologising because you had taken my blood and then given me yours. That’s what completes a bond between a human and their vampire master. That’s why I still had my free will. He didn’t have my blood to complete the bond.”
    Javier nodded. “I have never been so thankful in my life.”
    He didn’t look as though he had much reason to be thankful right now. He was a mess and there were dark areas on the bedclothes where he had bled on them.
    “What happened?” Lilah carefully traced along the edge of one of the cuts on his cheek and then furrowed her eyebrows when she ghosted her finger over his broken nose. The dark shadowing under his left eye extended down over his cheek to his jaw. “Did you kill him?”
    “I didn’t mean to,” Javier whispered, his voice hoarse, and Lilah looked down at his throat and the dark purple bruises on it. It looked as though someone had strangled him. Her eyes briefly widened when she remembered coming around and seeing her master throttling Javier. It had driven her to move and she had grabbed the nearest heavy object and hit Lord Ashville with it to make him stop. “I snapped and killed him when he hit you again. It was only because of Snow that I managed it... and it is only because of Snow that I am here now.”
    Lilah frowned and looked at the black coat on the chair.
    “Snow has decided to take my place and will face the consequences. He attacked Lord Ashville too and might have been the one to kill him if Antoine hadn’t succeeded in restraining him.”
    The old vampire certainly was unpredictable. She had been surprised to see him there on the stage, telling her master to let her go or suffer death at his hands. Javier seemed equally surprised that he had decided to take responsibility for what had happened.
    “Will they kill him?” Lilah didn’t want that and the look in Javier’s eyes told her that he didn’t either. She smiled and touched his cheek, hoping to chase away the pain in his body and his heart. “Maybe I need to take your mind off it.”
    Her echoing his earlier words to her brought a smile to his lips that became a grimace and he touched his split lip and the fresh blood that glistened on it. Lilah slid her hand around the nape of his neck and helped him to sit up. She curled up beside him, so her bare breasts touched his chest and his arm, and guided him to her throat.
    “Drink from me, Javier. Heal yourself,” she whispered and he kissed her throat, sending shivers racing down her spine with each sweep of his lips over her skin.
    Lilah closed her eyes and relaxed so it wouldn’t hurt as much when he bit her. He opened his mouth and licked the curve of her throat, and then gently sank his fangs into her. Her hands tensed against his back but she didn’t flinch. She refused to when she had offered this to him. The initial stab of pain faded with his first slow pull on her blood and his second sent liquid heat surging into her veins. She settled her cheek against his and held him close to her, caressing his strong back and listening to him feeding from her vein. It didn’t disgust her as she had always thought it would. There was something sensual about it, something beautiful as the connection between them opened again, stronger than ever this time. He withdrew his fangs and continued to drink, his hands coming to press into her spine, clutching her to him as his strength returned.
    She looked down at his back and watched in fascination as the wounds on it healed before her eyes, the fresh blood in his veins accelerating the process more than she had thought it would. Each mouthful of blood he drew from her caused it to quicken, until only dark pink lines