Caleb by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page A

exist.
    Feed
Caleb. Take from me.
    The
thought welled in her mind, in her voice, and projected outward. But she wasn’t
thinking it. Would never think it.
    She
could feel the resistance in Caleb. She encouraged it. The presence in her mind
doubled in strength and urgency. Her silent cries of Don’t do it were
snuffed out as easily as one extinguished a candle flame.
    Her
blood continued to gush, and Caleb continued to resist for precious seconds.
The voice echoed in her mind again.
    Feed.
For me. Please.
    Allie
felt a moment of relief. Caleb would know it wasn’t her by the pleading tone in
the request. She wasn’t one to beg.
    Her
relief evaporated to horror when Caleb’s mouth opened and, with the speed of a
striking snake, he sank his fangs into her wrist.
    As
the agony exploded through her body, she dropped to her knees, a chorus of
yeses ringing in her head, three of them heavy with relief, one filled with a
euphoric jubilation that scared her witless.
    Every
movie she’d ever seen, every book she’d ever read projected a vampire’s bite as
something seductive, but this wasn’t seductive, this was pain. Pure white-hot
agony. It felt like Caleb was devouring her arm whole, his teeth working harder
in a constant demand for more, greedily sucking the blood from her body until all
she could wonder was how long she had to endure before she passed out.
    She
glanced at his brothers, desperate for help. Her eyes met a wall of implacable
resolve. They were playing a game in which only they knew the rules and in
which her role was clearly one of sacrifice. They could block the pain if they
wanted to. Common sense told her that. If they could hold her prisoner in her
own mind, they could block her pain, but they wanted her to suffer for their
own perverted reasons. Sick bastards.
    She
gathered every bit of energy she had left in her rapidly weakening body and met
Jared’s cold hazel gaze with her own. Fuck you.
    Surprise
flickered in his eyes, whether from her choice of words or the fact that she
managed to communicate them telepathically, she didn’t have the strength to
debate. She laid her cheek on the side of the bed and followed the trail of
weakness out of her body and sighed, “Caleb.”

CALEB struggled with the lassitude holding him prisoner.
Struggled against the weakness dragging him into the sweet, welcoming dark he
didn’t want to come back from.
    Caleb.
    The
whisper echoed in his mind. Allie’s voice, filled with an unbearable pain and
hopelessness. His Allie, of the irrepressible optimism and incredible bravery.
Someone had dared to hurt her.
    He
crashed into awareness on a surge of primitive rage and endless hunger.
Immediately, he knew his brothers were in the room. He could feel their elation
mixing with a wariness he didn’t understand until he registered the other
presence. Allie. Close and hurting.
    He
opened his eyes. She was slumped against the side of the bed, her hair a
waterfall of silken brown on the white sheets, her arm stretched toward him,
pale and insubstantial. Her body lifeless as the sweet taste of her blood
filled his mouth.
    Horror
joined his rage. Jesus H. Christ, he was feeding on her. The woman he’d never
meant to taint. He broke his brothers’ mental hold on him, now strong enough to
do so thanks to the infusion of her blood. He pushed up to his side. The wound
on her wrist was a gaping testament to his hunger.
    “Goddamn
you,” he swore at Jared, knowing who was behind this. “Did you even have the
decency to block the pain?”
    “You
were leaving us, Caleb,” Slade stated calmly. “We did what we had to.”
    As if
anything gave them the right to use her. Hurt her. His Allie. His woman. The
one he’d never intended to claim. He stroked his tongue over the wound, sealing
off the sluggish spew of blood. He brushed the hair off her deathly white face,
all that bursting life gone, leaving a waxen impression of her true self.
    “She
didn’t ask for this.”
    “None
of