Page 43 of Knight’s Absolution

“Yes.”

His jaw tightened, his fists clenching and unclenching as he took several deep breaths. Finally, he said in a voice that was impossibly rough, “Put your clothes back on, love.”

He was rejecting her offer?

Her cheeks burned as she quickly tugged her panties and jeans back on. “Sorry, I just thought…I thought…” She sounded hysterical, but she couldn’t stop it. “I need to repay you.” Her new emotions were all over the place, confusing and disorientating.

She was still hungry, shaking from her need, but she couldn’t bring herself to take from him again without giving something in return. When you owed people, it put you in a weak position. She didn’t want to be weak anymore. And not with Gunner, never with him.

He watched her carefully, but she couldn’t hold his penetrating gaze. “I don’t need payment, Luna.”

Her eyes stung. Not now, not more goddamn tears. How could she make him understand? She pressed her hand to his chest. “No…I need to give you something for all you’re doing…I need to, Gunner.” She was shaking now, and those tears threatened to escape from sheer frustration. She didn’t want to fucking cry, not again.

His head tilted to the side, his gaze searching hers. “You won’t drink from me unless I take payment from you?”

She bit her lip and nodded, holding back a whimper of hunger.

“Okay,” he said gruffly.

Relief fired through Luna, and she reached down to undo her jeans again, but his hand caught her fingers, stopping her.

Her gaze shot up to his. “I don’t understand?”

“I want to hold you while you feed from me, and while you drift off to sleep afterward.”

Luna blinked up at him, his big body now leaning against the headboard of her small bed. “Hold me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

Why? Why would he want to do that? “How is that payment?”

“Trust me, it is.”

His gaze stayed on her, and for some reason the way he was looking at her made her belly do weird little somersaults.

“You still need to feed?” he asked.

She looked down at the mattress. “Yes.”

“Then come here, Luna, and take from me.”

She crawled back to him, her skin flushing all over for some reason as he lay on his side on the bed and pulled her in close, tucking her in front of him. His entire body was pressed against hers, her butt snugged up against his groin, his tight stomach against her back. He wrapped his arms around her then, one arm going around her belly, the other coming up, so his wrist was close to her mouth.

Slowly, she took his thick, tattooed forearm in her hand and brought it to her lips. She couldn’t help but draw in his scent, and the swirls and flutters in her belly grew more intense. On a moan that she couldn’t hold in, she bit down into the thick blue vein and moaned again when the warmth of his blood rushed over her tongue a second time.

And for some reason, the tears that had been stinging her eyes, that she’d been fighting to hold back, began to slide slow and hot down her cheeks.

Nothing in her world made sense anymore. She’d been a monster’s plaything most of her life, she saw that now, but as messed up as it sounded, at least her role had been clear. She knew what was expected. She’d had a plan. Find Ronan. Kill Sir. Leave this city with her brother and never come back.

Now she didn’t know anything.

And Ronan was dead.

Her need for Sir’s blood had almost sent her back to him today, so deeply lost in her hunger and confusion. And the male holding her, who she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about from the moment she saw him, who fascinated her in a way she didn’t understand—but couldn’t stay away from—was now forced to feed her.