Sitting beside Aiden, Maggie sipped her whiskey as she gazed across the bar. The only words she’d spoken to him since leaving the institute were to tell him she was taking a shower before going to the bar. Aiden didn’t try to comfort her, didn’t tell her that her mother was crazy and therefore hadn’t meant what she said. None of it would do any good.

They both knew her mother wasn’t completely crazy and she had meant it.

Maggie had to work through what was going on in her head on her own, and he knew there had to be plenty going on up there after everything she’d been through recently.

While Maggie had been in the shower, he’d decided to call home. Over the past couple of years, he’d avoided going home with increasing frequency. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family and miss his home, he did, but he couldn’t sit there and laugh and smile with them while feeling like a ticking time bomb. It became harder to pretend he was normal while knowing the things he did to resist his appetite for blood, death, and pain.

And more recently, he didn’t trust himself to be around his family. He loved them, he would die for them, but he didn’t know if he could keep himself from unraveling and slipping into the darkness while at home. He didn’t have access to the outlets he needed there.

He’d chanced going home for Christmas because it had been a couple of months since he’d returned. He’d played the role, but the whole time he’d been terrified this would be the time he snapped. Never had he been so happy to get out of a place as he was to leave his home. That was the moment when he realized he was slipping beyond the point of salvation.

He hadn’t been home since Christmas, and his phone conversations with his family had become increasingly brief and rare.

Running a hand through his short hair, he tugged at the end of it. He considered shaving it off again; he hadn’t felt bothered to do it in a couple of months, but then he realized he was only debating it to stall making the call.

He didn’t know what he would say to his mom. After what he’d witnessed with Maggie’s mother, there were so many things he wanted to say, mostly thank you. Inwardly, he was a chaotic mess, but he’d been blessed to have his family, and he’d been nothing but loved by them.

Finally, he’d dialed the house phone, and when his mom answered, he settled on small talk. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about Maggie, not yet, not when he didn’t know how things would work out between them. His mother would only worry about him more than she already did if she learned he’d found his mate but hadn’t completed the bond.

After a few minutes, his mom handed the phone over to his dad, then Mike, and finally his older brother Ethan. He could have told Ethan everything, he’d always confided in his older brothers, but Ethan and Ian had families now. Ethan didn’t need Aiden dumping more on him, and neither did Ian. So, he’d laughed and chatted and pretended everything was fine while he listened to the shower turning off in the room next to his.

He’d hung up afterward and waited for Maggie to come to him before going to the bar. Now, she drank her fifth whiskey before chasing it with a beer. A man with a guitar walked into the bar and settled in the corner of the restaurant. Apparently, they also offered live entertainment in here as well as the club.

Maggie watched the man setting up his music stand. She felt numb. No, more than numb, she was hollow in a way she’d never been before. Aiden’s quiet presence was the only thing keeping her from breaking down. She appreciated he didn’t think he had to fill the silence with idle chatter. If she started talking, she knew he would listen, but she didn’t know what to say to him.

The man with the guitar finished setting up, asked for some water from one of the bartenders, and opened with a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Maggie smiled, finished her whiskey, and pushed it across the bar. One of the bartenders refilled it.

Another hour passed, and Maggie found herself swaying to the music as a pleasant warmth spread through her body. When the singer switched to “Unchained Melody,” a few people got up to dance.

“I love this song,” she murmured. They were the first words she’d spoken all night.

“Would you like to dance with me?” Aiden asked.

Most guys she knew wouldn’t be caught dead on a dance floor. She couldn’t picture Aiden, a vampire who tore the throats out of his enemies, willingly doing so. “You dance?”

“Yes, and I do it well. Come.”

His hand slid into hers, and he rose from his stool with effortless grace. He helped her off her stool and led her past the other couples and onto the small, makeshift floor. He spun her around before drawing her effortlessly into his arms and clasping her against his chest. Their bodies melding together caused her breath to catch.

She lifted her head to look at him as he draped his arms around her waist. Maggie rested her hands on his hips and moved awkwardly through the first steps with him. Then, as the heat of his body warmed her and her muscles relaxed, she fell into a comfortable rhythm with him. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the events of this day, but his arms felt right.

She slipped her hands over his hips and pressed them into his back as she settled her head on his chest. His head dropped down. His mouth moved over her forehead, and he nuzzled her hair. She desperately wanted to get closer, but she was petrified of what would happen if she did.

Maggie shuddered, but she didn’t pull away when his hands slid up her back and he held her closer. His heartbeat sounded beneath her ear, and her pulse increased to match the rapid pace of his.

The evidence of his desire swelled against her stomach as he continued to sway with her around the dance floor in a slow, sensual pace. At any other time, a man’s arousal during a dance would have caused her to pull away. Now, her fingers curled into his back, and she inhaled his enticing scent. She could dance with him forever, she decided.

Aiden’s head came up when a shout sounded from the club. The distant beat of the dance music barely penetrated this room, but the yelling grew louder, and then someone screamed. His hands tightened on Maggie when she lifted her head from his chest.

More shouts followed another scream that was punctuated by the smashing of furniture. Aiden’s lips skimmed back when the scent of fresh blood drifted from the other room. Hunger tore through him, and he realized it had been a while since he’d fed. So focused on protecting Maggie, he hadn’t thought of it.

Now, he started to unravel as the scent of more blood filled the air and someone shrieked. He’d been feeding every day for the past two years to keep the demon within him at bay. It had been almost three days since he’d last had blood.

The realization that whatever was going on in the club could put Maggie at risk heightened his growing bloodlust.

Maggie tried to step out of his arms, but he wouldn’t release her. “I have to go look,” she protested and tried to pull away again. “Someone could need medical attention.”

More screams filled the air and furniture splintered apart. A man staggered through the doorway separating the restaurant from the club. The couple seated in the booth closest to the man leaned forward as another man barreled through and tackled the first.

A dozen more fighters spilled through the doorway. A man lifted a stool over his head and brought it down on the back of another. One of the bartenders spoke into the phone as Maggie lunged against Aiden’s hold. Before the fight could get much further into the room, shouts of the police resonated through the club and restaurant.

“Assholes,” the guitar player muttered from behind them and started putting his things away.

“We have to go,” Aiden said to Maggie.

“But I can help!” she protested.

“Is there a chance someone who comes here could recognize you?”

“Yes,” she reluctantly admitted.

“Then we have to go. Right now, your job thinks you have a concussion. If they find out you were here—”

“I can’t lose my job.”

Aiden hoped she wouldn’t return to her old life, but if the possibility of losing her job got her moving, he would use it to his advantage. “No, you can’t.”

Not to mention, if he stayed here much longer, he might feed off one of the injured. His fangs pricked, and his mouth watered at the prospect. His eyes latched onto the blood trickling from a cut on a man’s forehead. He struggled to keep himself under control as he nudged Maggie toward the door.

The police started filing into the restaurant as the two of them crossed the lobby to the elevators. Aiden steered her away from the police and toward the stairwell. Maggie kept her head down as more shouts sounded from behind them. He hurried her up the stairs.

Opening the door for her on the third floor, Aiden held it as Maggie stepped out of the stairwell and into the hallway. Fire licked over his veins, and his thirst grew with every step he took toward their rooms. He sniffed at the air while listening to the beat of hearts behind the closed doors lining the hall. The idea of hunting so close to their rooms wasn’t one he liked, but he couldn’t go far from Maggie, and he had to feed soon.

He didn’t care if he snapped and killed a human; they meant nothing to him. He would live with the rotten stench until it faded from him, but he couldn’t take the chance he might go for Maggie. He should have known this was coming and prepared for someone to watch over her while he hunted, but it was too late for that.

Stopping outside his room, he slid the key card into the lock and pushed open the door for her. Instead of following her into the room, he backed away to put more distance between them. He had to leave her before he couldn’t.

Maggie frowned when she glanced over her shoulder at Aiden standing in the hall. His fisted hands caused the muscles in his forearms to bulge. He looked as predatory as the night when the Savages attacked them, but she had no idea what had put him into this state.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He rested his hand on the doorframe but didn’t go any closer to her. “The blood, downstairs. It’s been a while since I fed.” He could barely get the words out as the prospect of blood caused saliva to fill his mouth. “I have to. Now. I need you to stay here. I won’t leave this floor.”

Maggie glanced at the hallway behind him. “You plan to feed on some of the people in those rooms?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t.”

“I have to.”

“But there are families—”

“I’ll stay away from the families. I don’t feed on children.”

“They might panic.”

“They’ll never know what I’m doing. I’ll take the memory from them.”

She knew he had to feed to survive, and looking at him, he had to do it soon, but to do it to unsuspecting people felt wrong. “It will hurt them,” she said.

“No, it won’t. I promise you, they’ll never know what’s going on. They’ll never remember it, and there won’t be any pain.”

“But—”

“Maggie, if I don’t feed now, I could lose control and attack someone, or worse, I could hurt you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but—”

“No buts. This is how I survive. I must feed if I’m going to keep you safe, and that is the most important thing to me.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you.”

The blunt way he stated it robbed her of all further protests. That sentence wasn’t a line coming from Aiden. She believed him when he said it, just as she believed he wouldn’t cause any suffering to anyone he drank from tonight. If they experienced a fraction of the pleasure she’d received from his bite, then they would know only bliss.

Her pulse quickened as she recalled the ecstasy that flooded her when his fangs sank into her throat. She yearned to feel that again, but more, she didn’t want anyone else sharing the experience with him. She gulped when his eyes fell to the vein in her throat and red flashed through their green depths.

“What of me?” she whispered, unaware she was going to ask the question before she did. “What about my blood?”

His head bowed, his shoulders heaved as his fangs extended. He craved her blood more than a dying man sought Heaven. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Don’t you want it?” She should be jumping for joy he’d prefer not to use her as a human blood bag, not feeling dismayed that he may go elsewhere.

When his head lifted again, Maggie couldn’t stop herself from taking an abrupt step back. No green remained in his eyes, only a vivid ruby red blazed out at her. She edged further away when he bared his fangs. The razor-sharp points glistened in the hallway light. Her heart was going fast enough to win a race against a horse, but instead of turning and fleeing into her room, she stopped backing away.

Aiden had been there for her today, and she would be here for him now. She had no idea what this was between them, but she wouldn’t turn him away, and she wouldn’t let him seek from another something she could give him.

“Aiden—”

“I thirst for your blood so badly I can barely think, but you don’t know what you’re asking. It won’t be enough; I’ll want to feed from you again.”

“Will you hurt me?”

“Never.”

“Then I’m offering my blood to you.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“There are many things in this world I’ll never be able to understand or help with, but I know a small fraction of your need for blood, and I can help. When you bit me…” She paused as she tried to think of the right words. “When you bit me, it was a rush of pleasure, unlike anything I’ve ever known. I want to be the one who nourishes you. Don’t go to someone else; come to me.”

Aiden’s hand dug into the doorway as he realized jealousy tinged her words. Perhaps she had come to care for him too, or at least she cared for him enough to offer him this.

“I’ll want more, Maggie,” he said again. She had to understand that.

“I’ll give you what I can, when I can, for as long as we’re in this.”

He should walk away from her. She didn’t know what she was getting into with this, but he couldn’t resist her, and if she was willing to give him her blood, she might eventually be willing to stay with him forever.

Releasing the doorframe, he entered the room and closed the door.