“How do you feel?” Grayson asked once we were in the car on our way home.

  I thought about it for a moment. I didn’t feel different. I was still weak like I had been for days. I shrugged. “A little queasy, but otherwise the same. The potion was some nasty stuff. I’m a little parched.”

  Grayson let out a long breath, but said nothing as he drove us home. When we arrived, he busied himself in the kitchen. Whatever he was making smelled amazing.

  “Mmm… What are you making in there?” I asked trying my best to keep my saliva from slipping over my lips.

  “Steak.”

  I pursed my lips to him. I wasn’t sure if he had an ulterior motive for steak. Was the blood a factor? I didn’t know, but when he placed my plate down in front of me, I devoured the entire thing with barely a break in my task to breathe.

  “Are you still thirsty?” he asked. When I nodded, he held his hand out to me. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

  My cheeks flushed and I couldn’t help but grin. It had been too long since I had enjoyed feeding from Grayson. Knowing what blood exchanging did to us, moving to the bedroom was the wisest choice. I carefully crawled into my husband’s lap realizing just how much I wanted to drink from him. I stared into his gray eyes letting my fangs fall into place. I could hear his breathing increase, but not from panic. He was almost just as excited as I was. It seemed to have been too long for him too. I watched his pulse pound just under his skin as his heart accelerated. It was hypnotizing. It spoke to the vampire in me, luring me in, knowing how I craved it. Unable to take anymore, I sunk my teeth into his neck striking his pulse with expert precision. I moaned when his blood spilled onto my tongue. A groan escaped him before his hands roamed up my back. I was so hungry, even after feeding from Sebastian only the night before, that I slipped into a blood haze. I didn’t feel Grayson stand or him settling me between him and the mattress. I didn’t feel him slide his hand up my shirt. In fact it wasn’t until his thumb rubbed circles on my extremely sensitive nipple that I fell back to reality.

  I withdrew my fangs, immediately planting my lips against his. His tongue flicked against one of my fangs making it elongate and my toes curl. It was a sensation that shot straight to my core. Our tongues twirled and danced, teasing each other while our hands busied themselves with removing the other’s clothes. It felt like mere seconds passed before we were both naked, our lips only breaking briefly for clothing to pass by, until Grayson broke away dropping to his knees.

  Grabbing me by my thighs, he pulled me to the edge of the bed. I felt that if he weren’t there to hold me up, I’d slip with how far over the edge I was. He threw my legs open and with no hesitation or a moment for me to brace myself, he buried his head between my thighs. His tongue circled around my clit then quickly flicked it. I groaned trying to wiggle away from the intensity, but his grip was firm. I looked down the length of my body and saw his eyes, now honey-green, lock with mine. It was erotic having him watch me as he pleasured me. Each lick, every swirl of his tongue sent me soaring. Soon I was writhing begging him to never stop. Just as stars began flickering in my vision, Grayson pulled away leaving me gasping for the orgasm that just slipped away. Not giving me a moment’s reprieve, he buried himself inside of me filling me to the max. My mouth opened in a silent O as I allowed my body to adjust to his large size. No matter how many times we had sex, each time felt like he was stretching me to my limit.

  He gave me a few seconds before withdrawing fully then sliding all the way back in. He repeated this process over and over, never slamming into me, and driving me crazy each time.

  “Grayson!” I moaned, “Harder.”

  He’d been exceedingly gentle with me since I became pregnant, but I missed how rough he could be. I wasn’t as fragile as he thought I was.

  He listened and did as I asked. It wasn’t as hard as I knew he could be, but it was enough to have my eyes rolling back in my head as I clung to him, giving myself over to the pleasure he was causing. It didn’t take long before I was chasing my orgasm once more.

  “Oh, god, Grayson!” I cried out diving head first into the euphoria. Grayson picked up his pace, drawing out my pleasure, racing towards his.

  I felt him swell inside me and knew he was there. When I felt the first pulsating jerk, I grabbed his face like I was going to kiss him, but turned my head exposing my neck to him. Without hesitation he sunk his fangs into me. Pleasure tore through me and I felt myself soaring. I don’t know how long he drank before he released me. We fell back to the bed in a heap. Grayson’s head lay against my chest, still buried inside me as I tried to catch my breath.

  After a few minutes, I giggled when he still hadn’t moved. “Did you exhaust yourself that much?” He didn’t answer. “Hey?” I strummed my fingers through his hair. “You fall asleep?” I asked, but still nothing. I felt an eerie shiver crawl up my neck. “Grayson?” I shook him, but he stayed perfectly still. Using my strength I rolled him over. He appeared fine, like he was sleeping. “Grayson?” I shook him again. “Grayson!” I slapped him. I listened with all the power I could muster. When I heard nothing I pressed my fingers against this pulse and sighed when I heard his heartbeat. He was alive, but he wasn’t waking up.

  I fumbled out of bed searching for my phone. I was trying my best not to become hysterical, but I couldn’t help it. This had never occurred before. I didn’t know what or why this had happened. Once I found my phone, I selected the contact and dialed. It seemed like forever as I waited for the phone to ring, then longer between each ring, before the person I called answered.

  “Hey beautiful. Long time no…”

  “Jade,” I cut her off. “Where’s Damien?” I tried to rein in my hysteria, but I was seeping into my voice.

  “Hang on,” I heard her move. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. Please. Where’s my dad? I need my dad.”

  “Gabriella?” Damien’s voice sounded worried.

  “Dad?” I cried. It was the first time I had ever called him that. “Please, I need your help.”

  Wrapping myself in my robe I sat on the edge of the bed begging Grayson to wake up. I had covered him trying to let him maintain his dignity. After briefly explaining to Damien what happened, knowing that I had taken Maria’s potion he reasoned that perhaps it had malfunctioned, but was unsure. He announced he would locate her then they’d be in route to my apartment. It was less than ten minutes when I heard a knock on the front door. I rushed to the door. Without seeing who it was, I swung the door open and was relieved to see Damien accompanied by Maria and Sebastian. I knew Sebastian was how they’d arrived hastily and I wanted to thank him for that, but my mind was otherwise occupied.

  “Tell me exactly what happened,” Maria demanded walking in without an invitation, not that she needed one.

  Sebastian’s eyes racked over me, but not in an undressing sort of way, but in an I know what you were just doing way. His face morphed from concern to sorrow. He didn’t come in with the others as the door shut behind them. A moment later, I felt the bond between us vanish and knew he had dissipated.

  I stared at Damien then to Maria, feeling my cheeks redden. Talking about my sex life in front of one of my parents, even one that had only recently become a part of my life, felt wrong, but I also didn’t want Grayson to remain the way he was any longer than he had to, not if Maria could do something to fix him.

  “We were having sex and when he…” I waved my hand through the air not sure which term was appropriate to use in front of my father.

  “Finished?” Damien offered and I nodded.

  “He passed out.”

  “Are you sure you’re not leaving anything out?” Maria asked.

  I shook my head. “He fed from me.” Maria and Damien shared a look. “What?”

  “Why don’t we go and see how he’s doing?” Maria offered instead of explaining.

  I nodded, eager to fix Grayson. Maria and Damien trailed behind me into the room. Maria stepped past me to get to Grayson. Her hands ran over his forehead and cheek before settling on his pulse. She looked like a nurse as she checked him over. Perhaps she missed her calling. Once she was done she gave us her diagnoses. “Looks like he just passed out.” She turned to speak to Damien. “He’s tainted.”

  Tainted? I didn’t know what that meant.

  “Will he be okay?” I asked, caring more about him than the reason it happened.

  “He’ll need to be cleansed. He must have drank a lot from you,” Maria explained. “He’d get along better with blood,” she spoke to Damien.

  He nodded. “I’ll have Sebastian come set up an IV.” He turned leaving the room and me alone with Maria.

  “I don’t understand. What do you mean he’s tainted?” I asked.

  Maria chuckled. After everything my emotions were on a rollercoaster. Her amusement in the situation just made me furious. “Tell me, the poison in your blood that you’re trying so desperately to protect your child from, did you think it was limited to your body?”

  “I did this?”

  She nodded her head. “It’s in your blood.”

  “I poisoned my husband?” The words were like a weight settling on my chest. Again she nodded. I lowered myself to the bed beside him. “Will he be okay?” I asked looking up at her hopefully.

  She smiled softly. “He’ll be fine. I have the remedy already made up. Ethan meant to give it to you all during your meeting, but it slipped his mind.”

  “Slipped his mind?” I couldn’t believe she had the audacity to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal when it felt huge to me.

  “Relax. Just know that once he takes this,” she held out the vial, “you cannot feed from him again until the baby is born.”

  “No blood exchanging?” That seemed huge. We didn’t always feed during sex, but we both enjoyed it.

  “You can’t feed from him, but he’ll have the antidote so he’ll be fine to feed from you, at least for another month or so. Once you hit your third trimester, I’d recommend no feeding from you at all, but you can discuss that with your doctor as long as they’re supernaturally aware, of course.”

  A gentle knock rapped at the door. But when I moved to answer it, Damien was already escorting Sebastian in.

  “Why didn’t you just dissipate into the room?” Damien asked.

  “She doesn’t like it,” Sebastian gestured to me.

  “I’ll leave you to it then,” Maria spoke to me before she walked from the room. I just stood there watching the three of them in my living room, all of them looking out of place. Maria handed the vial to Sebastian then moved to the door. “Damien?” Maria called to him.

  “Ah, yes. I’ll see you out,” Damien said before turning to Sebastian. “Would you like for me to wait on you?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Go ahead and get home after you settle your payment.”

  Damien nodded, then looked back at me. Thank you, I mouthed to him. He smiled giving me a single nod then led Maria from my apartment.

  Sebastian and I stood in an awkward silence for a moment before he held up his bag reminding us both why he was there. “Damien said he might need an IV?”

  I nodded, but did nothing else. I was overwhelmed with everything that had just happened. With Grayson, the information I was given, now Sebastian stood in my apartment. I could feel the tears brim as I tried not to shed them.

  “Gaby,” he sighed moving towards me. He took me in his arms with no hesitation. I wrapped my hands under his leather jacket and clung to him. “He’s going to be okay.”

  “I know. I’m just being ridiculous,” I buried my head into his chest inhaling his scent. It filled my lungs having a calming effect on me. I could feel my anxiety start to dissipate as he held me in his arms.

  “You’re not ridiculous,” he whispered cupping my face between his hands. His thumbs wiped away my tears making me smile up at him. “Let me get this in and he’ll be better faster. Okay?” I nodded. Easing away, Sebastian headed into the bedroom and over the bed. Setting his bag down, he opened it, pulling what I could only assume to be an IV stand out.

  “Where’d you learn to do this?” I asked trying to distract myself.

  “I was a medic in the war.”

  “War? Dessert storm? Vietnam? World War two?”

  He grinned, “Yeah.”

  I rolled my eyes at his evasiveness. “You do know that I’m aware how old you are, right?”

  He quirked his brow up. “You don’t know my exact age, just the roundabout of how long I’ve been on earth.”

  “Right, but I know you’re an old man trapped in the body of a stud.”

  He beamed at me with the most gorgeous smile, his eyes brimming with amusement. “You think I’m a stud huh?” I shook my head trying to refrain from smiling at the trap I’d just walked myself into. I watched as he hooked Grayson up to the IV. Once it was in place, he reached into his bag for a syringe. He inserted the needle into the potion Maria had given him before injecting it into the IV line. “There we are. All done.” He stood packing up his bag up.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” He tossed the syringe into a bright red container in his bag.

  “Were you the one who did that for me? After you brought me back from Nevada?” I wondered aloud. He nodded closing his bag. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for that.”

  “Gaby, you don’t have to. I was glad to help then and I am glad to help now.” He lifted his bag from the bed and walked towards me. My breathing grew rapid until I realized I was standing in the doorway. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

  I don’t know why, but I placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him. “Will you stay with me?” I pleaded. Realizing how it sounded I quickly added, “Until he wakes up? I’m freaking out a bit and talking is helping.”

  His eyes fell. I thought he was trying to find a way to gently reject me until I felt my skin begin to heat from where his eyes were gazing. “I will, under one condition.”

  “Yeah?” I breathed.

  “You have got to put some damn clothes on,” he groaned.

  I glanced down to see just how much my robe was revealing. I had dresses that exposed more, but the robe definitely let everyone know I was naked underneath since the robe’s neckline sloped past my breasts. “Deal.”

  I sauntered into the living room dressed in a pair of white cotton shorts and a black t-shirt. I had lingered in the bedroom longer than was necessary for me to dress eyeing Grayson resting in our bed. The black lines from the poison that hadn’t been visible before I called Damien had appeared. They formed around his mouth, but were tiny and most likely unnoticeable to anyone who wasn’t a supernatural. I didn’t know how long he’d be out for or what would happen when he woke. I wondered if he’d be upset with me. After all, I did this to him.

  Back in the living room, Sebastian rested on the couch with his elbows on his knees, staring down at the ground. I stood back watching him, not making my appearance known, debating on where to sit. Beside him seemed a little intimate while we waited for my husband to wake, yet I also didn’t want him to think I was uncomfortable with his presence. I took the spot next to him, but scooted far enough away that I was almost in the next seat, leaving an appropriate amount of space between us.

  Sebastian leaned back focusing his attention on me. “You want to talk about what happened?” he asked.

  Wrinkling my nose, I shook my head. “Honestly, I’m not even sure myself.”

  He returned his focus to the floor shifting uncomfortably. “How’s the…” he gestured to my stomach. Instinctively, my hands glided to the small bump as they did every time my baby was the topic of discussion.

  “Good,” I smirked tentatively. “Thanks to you.” Sebastian returned my smile. It was quiet for a moment; neither of us uttered a word. The awkwardness between us was new. It had always been effortless speaking to Sebastian, but now it felt forced. Soon we’d be talking about the weather. “Thank you for staying with me.” He nodded but didn’t speak. “Sebastian,” I sighed wanting to break the tension mounting between us.

  “I’m trying, Gaby,” he spoke with his eyes firmly closed. “I want to be here for you, but it’s difficult to be like this with you and not trust myself.”

  “Why don’t you trust yourself?” I didn’t know why I asked, but the words were out and I couldn’t take them back.

  He pondered my question then turned his sights on me. His eyes bore into mine. Nervously I swallowed hard, closing my eyes. Inhaling, I hoped to calm myself, but breathed in his scent instead. My eyes shot open as Sebastian scooted closer to me until his thigh was pressed against mine. Raising his hand, he brushed a lock of my ebony hair behind my ear then grazed his thumb down my cheek. My lashes fluttered closed and my lips parted enjoying the sensation of his light touch. I wanted to lean into it, but I couldn’t give in because of Grayson. The touch was brief and then it was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief or possibly disappointment.

  “That’s why,” he answered. My eyes opened peering into his emerald ones. “The way you react to me…” His gaze drifted down to my breasts then back up again. I didn’t need to mirror his path to know what he saw. My nipples were hard, protruding through my shirt. I hadn’t bothered with a bra. I was home and it was late. “Knowing that nothing can come of it.” This time, he swallowed hard. “Do you play cards?” he blurted randomly.

  I blinked at the sudden change of subject. “Yes…?”

  “Poker, Texas Hold’em, black jack?”

  “I’m more of a rummy player.”

  “Rummy’s not really a great two person game.”

  “You want to play cards with me?”

  He nodded. “You want a distraction.”

  This was something I loved about Sebastian. Things were growing too serious between us and instead of giving into the awkwardness and leaving, he found another way to be there for me and ease the tension.

  “I don’t even know if we have any cards.”