Touch of Temptation by Rhyannon Byrd Read Free Book Online Page B

gaze immediately slid to the bite wound burning at the side of his throat, and she visibly swallowed, her pale features stricken with worry. “Is that what the bite’s from? An infected Deschanel? I’ve heard of that, but don’t really know much about it.”
    “It was my own stupid fault,” he rumbled, keeping his tone light. “I wasn’t paying close enough attention as I was crossing the Wasteland and ended up running into a poisonous vamp named Asa Reyker, who thought I looked tasty.”
    “So this is another nightmare that can be laid at my feet,” she said softly, dropping her head back until it clunked against the wall.
    “That’s bullshit,” he grunted, her reaction reinforcing his decision not to tell her the complete truth about the poison. “You didn’t ask me to come here, Chloe. It was my choice.”
    “I’m just so sick of this!” she burst out, thumping her small, fisted hands against the cot as she lifted her head and looked at him. “I want out of this place, but not at the expense of your life, Kellan! I didn’t want anyone else to be hurt!”
    “I’m not hurt, damn it.”
    “Yeah? Because being poisoned doesn’t exactly sound like something that feels good!”
    “I’ll be okay,” he lied, trying to calm her down, even though he knew damn well that he was dying. “The poison can’t kill me, so stop freaking out. It’s going to be fine.”
    “Fine? Look around you, Kellan.” She flung the words at him. “Nothing about this situation is fine!”
    In another sudden shift, he could see her worry bleeding back into something primal and raw, and she started to shiver. Her eyes became heavy as she stared at him from the cot, her chest rising and falling with swift, panting breaths.
    Thickly, he said, “Your Merrick is rising again.”
    In a gesture he was beginning to recognize as one of the witch’s favorites, she rolled her eyes at him again. “Gee, ya think?”
    He liked her sassy mouth, though he had a feeling she was more than a little surprised by the things she kept saying to him, as if she hadn’t expected to be so brave when faced with a dangerous Lycan.
    “Has the blood they’ve been giving you helped at all?” he asked.
    “They’ve shoved it into my veins,” she told him, her voice strained. “Even made me drink it from a cup. But none of it has helped.”
    “Chloe, I want you to know that I would help you with this, if I thought it was the right thing to do. But I know that it’s not.”
    “And I’d stop looking at you as if you were my next meal, but I seem to have this whole split personality thing going on right now that makes that impossible. So you should really just go.”
    “I know it might not feel like it at times, but you will be able to manage the Merrick’s hunger until we’re out of here,” he told her. “I’m not saying it will be easy, but I know you’re strong enough to do it.”
    “Kellan, I’m not kidding,” she groaned, obviously struggling to hold it together. “You need to leave. Immediately.”
    His muscles tensed with frustration. “I don’t want you to be alone. Not when you look like you’re in pain.”
    “Damn it, I am in pain! And you being over here is making it worse!” Dropping her head forward, she took a deep, shuddering breath and licked her lips, her voice hoarse as she said, “I don’t understand any of this. Is it…is it because of the poison? Is that why you won’t feed me? Are you afraid of it hurting me?”
    Watching the way she was twisting her fingers together in her lap, he forced himself to be honest. “No. A Deschanel nest can become poisonous for any number of reasons, depending on what they’ve done. For some, it’s because they were cursed, and in other cases, because they broke one of the sacred covenants of the Deschanel. There are all different types of poisons and they’re not all lethal, though some of them can probably make you wish you were dead. Hell, some can even cause madness, and