Read Online Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) by Evangeline Anderson - Free Book Online Page A

sunlight to my intense
relief.
    As soon as we were free of the sunlight, Taylor
jumped away from me—or tried to, anyway. She started out well but fell to her
knees on the second step with a little moan of pain.
    Instantly, I felt a surge of protective concern.
Was she all right? Had the sunlight just weakened her or was she hurt worse
than I had thought?
    “Taylor?” I bent down to look at her but she had
curled herself into a little ball and wouldn’t meet my eyes.
    Not knowing what else to do, I scooped her gently
into my arms and lifted her off the floor. God, she was light— too light. It worried me. She made a
small sound of protest but didn’t try to fight me as I carried her into the
living room and laid her gently on the couch. Her lack of struggle made me even
more concerned—what if she was even more injured than I had thought? What if
she was dying? I didn’t know how much sun a young vamp like her could take and
still survive—what if she was checking out on me right now?
    “Hey,” I said, trying to control the intense
worry I was feeling. “Hey, baby—you okay?”
    Taylor took a ragged breath, her eyelashes
fluttering on her pale cheeks as though she was about to pass out.
    “I’m fine,” she said at last, in a voice so faint
I could barely hear her. “Really…fine.”
    I frowned. “No, you’re not. You just sustained fucking
third degree sunburns and collapsed. You’re not fine. So tell me the truth—are you injured? Do you need a doctor? Medicine?”
    I felt stupid asking it. What kind of doctor
treated vampires? And what kind of medicine could they take? They didn’t drink
anything but blood.
    Right! Blood! A light bulb went off in my
head. What an idiot I was not to see it right away—blood, she needed blood!
    I started to offer her my right wrist as I had
the night before, but it was still sore from her last feeding. The left wrist
was out of the question too—it was tender as hell from the fucking trap I’d
walked into as the wolf. The only option left was my throat, but she had been
scared to death when I’d offered it to her the night before—possibly because I
was looming over her, making her feel vulnerable.
    I thought about it for a minute but I could only
see one solution. Sitting down beside her on the couch, I gathered her into my
arms again.
    “What…what are you doing?” She looked at me with
eyes filled with mistrust and hurt. My heart twisted painfully—I didn’t want
her afraid of me.
    “It’s okay, baby,” I murmured, shifting until I
was lying back on the long sectional with my head and neck propped on the arm
of the couch. “I’m just giving you what you need.”
    “Don’t need…anything,” she protested when I
settled her more firmly against me.
    “Yes, you do. You need blood.” When I got where I
was going, I was lying on the couch with her soft little body draped over my
chest and thighs. Her scent filled my senses and a strong feeling of protective
possessiveness washed over me again.
    It was too strong to deny—the instinct of a wolf
to protect its mate.
    She’s not really my mate, I tried to tell
myself. We’re married in name only. I’m
not even supposed to be touching her, let alone lying half naked on the couch
with her draped all over me.
    But there we were, all the same. And though I had
sworn to myself just the night before I would never do it again, I turned my
head and offered her my throat—giving her the sign of submission no Alpha
should extend to anyone.
    I heard Taylor catch her breath and when I cut my
eyes to the right to look at her, I saw the hungry, helpless look on her face.
The tiny, sharp, delicate points of her fangs were peaking out from under her
lush upper lip.
    “It’s okay, sweetheart,” I murmured, tilting my
head a little more. “Come on.”
    She looked up at me, uncertainly. “You mean it?
I…I’m so thirsty. The sun…”
    “Take what you need,” I told her and really meant
it. I wanted her to feed