Chapter 56

 

Without warning, he was off the bed and standing five feet away panting. I just lay there spread out on the bed not knowing what the hell had just happened. “Chase?”

Holding up a hand he shook his head. “I need a minute.” His blazing yellow eyes moved over me. There was a look of confusion on his face and panic started to cool the cravings I’d just been swamped with.

Sitting up on my elbows, I watched a thousand thoughts cross his face at lightning speed.

“I have to go,” he panted while still trying to settle his breathing.

“What?” I jumped up off the bed and almost hit the floor as my knees wobbled when my weight hit them. Moving over, I grabbed his arm before he could make it to the door. “What’s wrong?”

Emotions flooded into me, so many of them I couldn’t process what they meant.

Stiffening under my touch, he turned and looked down at me. “I …” taking a deep breath he shook his head, “I was about to mark you.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Mark me?” Something told me I wasn’t going to like the explanation, but I held my ground and waited for an answer.

Closing his eyes, he opened them and then looked down at his hand. Reaching out he grabbed my wrist and looked at my hand and arm. Relief swept over his face. With a sigh, he moved away from me and went over and sat down in the chair we had started in. Leaning over his legs, he dropped his face into his hands.

I stood there, in shock from the sudden stop, confused by what he’d said and wanted to stomp my foot and scream. Would anything ever be simple again?

Lifting his head, he looked over at me, his eyes back to normal color but filled with a strained look. “I cannot feed from you.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. Going over, I perched on the edge of the table in front of him. “Did I do something wrong?”

He laughed in almost a sadistic way and leaned back in the chair to stare at me. “Oh, no. It wasn’t anything you did, believe me.” Sighing, he ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I have never felt that, ever.”

I sat there, having no friggin’ clue what we were even talking about.

“I started to and the emotion was so strong…” He waved a hand around like he was trying to find his next words. “So pure it hit me like nothing ever has.”

Was that good or bad? Again, I had no idea.

“I have never…”

I jumped up and stepped back. “Yeah, never ever, we’ve covered this.”

He stopped and looked me up and down and I didn’t want to admit it but shivers traveled over each inch his eyes did. “I can’t explain it, Daxx, it’s not something that’s happened before, but I do know that feeding from you is not going to happen for now.” His voice was soft, almost pleading and my heart throbbed just hearing it.

“I really don’t understand.” Which was an understatement. “I thought…” I waved a hand at the bed. “We were…”

Getting up, he came over and stood in front of me, grasping my shoulders he leaned down so we were face to face. “Oh, we were and a few minutes more and we’d be having this conversation without our clothes on.” He sighed, “and you’d be really pissed off with me.” His look softened. “I almost marked you as my mate, kitten, and as much as I’d love that, I think we should try to avoid that happening right now.”

My eyes bulged. “What do you mean as your mate?” I looked at the bed like it had the answers. “I thought it was sex.”

Releasing my shoulders, he straightened up. “That too.” Shaking his head, he paced away from me. “My head is too full of you right now to explain it, but for now please accept that I cannot feed from you and we should avoid being too close until I understand what almost happened.”

The fact that he wasn’t quite sure made me feel a little better. A very little. “Fine.”

Chase turned and looked at me. “Please don’t be angry.” He came back over and touched my chin so I had to look up at him. “If I didn’t think you’d stab me with your knife afterward we’d be over there naked for the next twelve hours.”

I pouted. Twelve hours? How would that be a bad thing?

Lowering his lips to mine, he kissed me softly. “And you would stab me and hate me if I did what every instinct in my body is telling me to do.”

Wave after wave of emotion poured into me, I knew they were what he was feeling and it made me a light headed. Then they were gone as quickly as they had been there. Taking a deep breath, I tried to stay calm and sensible. “So what now?”

Brushing my hair back from my face, he offered an unsure smile before dropping his hand and stepping back. “I leave. You rest. We’ve have a big day tomorrow and once we get through that, we’ll talk and figure this out.”

My jaw dropped. I’d forgotten all about it. Since when had I ever let hormones rule over me? Never had the prospect of sex erased logic. Needing to sort through the why and how, I nodded. “Okay. I won’t say I understand but as I’m a little confused on what happened and you are as well, I think some time would help.”

He grinned. “On one hand, it might.” Stepping slowly backward toward the door, his eyes raked over me and those shivers returned. “On the other hand, no amount of time is going to stop me from wanting to hear you scream my name in pleasure, kitten.”

My breath hitched at the images that flashed through my mind. His smile widened like he could see them as well. “I’ll see you for breakfast.”

I nodded, not even remembering how to form words.