Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

13. Isabel

Chapter thirteen

Isabel

A ll the sounds I’d listened to for who knows how long while I lay beside Dante soon became clear to where we were. Under my favorite tree. Many nights I’d sat in the twisted branches and read a book in the moonlight. Had Dante realized that? Or was it a mere coincidence?

“You’re awake.” He leaned over me and placed a hand tenderly on my cheek.

If I could move, I probably would have swatted his hand away, but while I could now open my eyes with the poison out of my system, I was still too depleted of blood to function any further. Dante frowned. It was sort of adorable the concern he had for me. His fur-covered face grew closer.

“Say something,” he demanded, pleading.

I’d have smiled if I had the strength, but I couldn’t risk using any energy. I should have closed my eyes to conserve what little blood remained in my body, but I couldn’t make myself shut off the view of Dante.

“Damn it, I didn’t cure you.” He stood and paced away so I couldn’t see him.

A moment later a loud bang exploded in the silent air. The werewolf’s temper hadn’t changed. He was quick to anger, but if he accepted who he was, then he’d regulate the instincts inside him better as I had learned to do when I became a vampire.

I lay unmoving but still unwilling to close my eyes. Where was he? For a long time, I’d been alone in this curse apart from the people in the ballroom except they didn’t realize Silas had cast a curse over them, and now I had Dante by my side. I wanted him to come back. To flick the pages of the books and murmur while he read. His deep voice had soothed me.

An eternity passed until he returned to my side. He sat with another book in his hand. The cover was familiar, a textbook from the Nightshade Academy. I wasn’t sure how he found that one as I’d hidden it inside another cover. Everything anyone needed to comprehend about vampires was in that book. A nervous zing rolled through my body. Would he use the knowledge against me? End my life for good when he discovered he could?

“I knew it!” He leaned over my face again. “Those other books were decoys to the actual truth about vampires.”

He was smart. Determined. And damn persistent. He annoyed me to no end, but he also intrigued me.

“I’ll figure this out, Isabel.” He nodded then shifted back beside me .

I longed to turn my head, but all I could do was gaze up at the gnarled branches and the glittering stars beyond. It wasn’t an unpleasant view, but it grew tiresome. My hearing picked up the shift of the pages as he flicked through the book. He read so fast. How much had he read while I’d been in stasis?

Tick went the slow beat of my heart. Barely enough to keep me alive anymore. I forced my eyes to remain open. If I was to die now, then I wanted to see what was coming for me in the afterlife.

The metallic scent of blood permeated the night air. My mouth watered. My fangs exploded over my top lip.

“I’m so stupid,” Dante said. “Blood. Vampires need blood.”

His bloody wrist drifted across my face, and then he urged it to my mouth. He was making a big mistake, but I needed the blood, his blood, in my body. The first drop was like life itself. A current of energy winged its way through my body and landed in my heart.

Tick . It beat stronger.

More blood dripped from the cut on his wrist into my mouth until each droplet gave me enough energy to slide my fangs into his flesh. I’d thought drinking from a werewolf would be horrendous with their furry skin, but the fur added a pleasant texture to my lips and mouth. Hungry. So hungry. I drove my fangs in deeper.

Dante groaned.

It was deep and sexy.

My euphoric venom hit him and he cupped the back of my head and lifted my head into his lap. I didn’t stop him. I slid my hands to his wrist and pinned it against my mouth. Werewolf blood was amazing. Powerful. Each draw made my heart beat stronger. Louder. I was sure he heard it beating too. He was so warm against my cool body. A heat I wanted to snuggle into and wrap my arms around .

“Isabel.” He groaned my name on a breathy exhale.

I didn’t want to stop drinking his blood. He didn’t seem to want me to stop either. He shifted me more into his lap poking me in the back with his erection. A wave of desire washed over me. He rolled us to the ground and pinned me despite that, he kept his wrist at my mouth offering all I needed to live.

He rolled his hips, sending sparks of arousal through my core. I wrapped my legs around his waist so lost in the texture of his flesh in my mouth, the taste of his blood on my tongue, and the power of his essence running through my body. This time when he rolled his hips, it hit the right spot. I moaned as I swallowed again.

“Shit,” he said, then yanked his wrist from my face and ran away.

I watched him leave with my chest heaving and every ounce of me wanting to chase him. Hunt him down and drink more of his blood. I hadn’t experienced blood lust in years. Not since I’d passed the Nightshade Academy at the top of my class. I’d never tasted werewolf blood before. It was addictive. Intoxicating and arousing.

Dante was right to run away, but a part of me hurt he took what I would have freely offered. Perhaps he’d read why werewolves and vampires hated each other. Maybe he was disgusted with himself that he almost had sex with one.

But why then would he have saved me?

Did he think he needed me alive to end the curse?

From what I grasped about most curses, death didn’t cure them. That must be it. He’d read about magic and curses. Vampires and werewolves. He knew everything I did that was in my library now.

I rubbed my lips with a fingertip. They still tingled from his fur on my sensitive skin .

Until I found him, I wouldn’t comprehend what he had learned. I wouldn’t know if we were natural enemies or if this brief interlude had changed things between us.

Time to hunt the werewolf.

This time with the intention of more than killing.