Maggie hadn’t believed she would get any sleep, but after returning to her room and showering, she fell onto the bed and passed out. Dreams of Aiden haunted her again, and she woke feeling achy with desire for him. If he’d been in the room with her, she would have screwed him, bad decision or not.

Her tongue poked at her canines as she recalled her last dream of him. A dream in which she’d sank her fangs into his throat. The memory was so real; she could almost taste the rush of his blood against her tongue.

Maggie moaned and shoved the pillow over her face when she recalled they’d been having sex while she drank from him. She bit her lip to hold back anymore sound as she threw the pillow aside and shoved herself out of bed. She didn’t glance at the doorway separating their rooms; she might make a beeline for him if she did.

What a strange, sensual dream to have, and what a weird thing to have turn her on. But then, she supposed it wasn’t all that bizarre to have the idea of feeding on Aiden stimulate her. She did have vampire DNA after all.

She’d known for years raw meat and the blood from it invigorated her, but was she starting to need more than that? Would she have to start drinking human blood too?

The idea of consuming a stranger’s blood repulsed her; the idea of feeding on Aiden had her running her hands over her bare breasts as she imagined it was him stroking her in such a way.

Maggie flipped the switch in the bathroom and stood before the mirror to inspect her reflection. Small shadows circled her eyes, but the rest of her looked the same. Opening her mouth, she examined her teeth in the mirror. They didn’t lengthen into fangs when she poked them with her tongue.

“Am I becoming a vampire?” she asked her reflection, but it had as many answers as she did.

She’d have to ask Aiden.

When she stepped into the shower, she continued to imagine Aiden’s hands running over her body as she stroked herself to an orgasm that somehow left her unsatisfied. She turned the water colder than normal and stood beneath it as she tried to rid herself of the horrible, unfulfilled desire plaguing her.

Hopping out, she hurried to get ready. She fed Blue and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was almost one. She’d slept longer than she’d expected, but she would be able to get in to see her mother until five.

She could pretend it was a wasted day and push the visit off until tomorrow. If she had any chance of spending more than an hour with her mother, she would have done that. However, if this visit were anything like her last one, she’d be there for less than half an hour. She’d rather get it over with today and maybe, during this visit, she would at least get some closure.

The idea of closure made her chuckle. How could she get closure from a woman who screamed for garlic when she learned her daughter had come to visit?

Taking a deep breath, Maggie tugged at the end of her sweater and knocked on the door dividing their rooms. After a few seconds, it opened to reveal Aiden on the other side. She’d tried to prepare herself, but the sight of him still sent her heart into her throat. All her dreams came back to her in a flood of erotic memory.

Aiden’s nostrils flared when the scent of her arousal hit him, and color crept into her cheeks. His hand clenched on the doorknob as his dick hardened in response to her need. Her eyes fluttered away before coming back to him.

“I overslept,” she murmured.

“You needed it.”

“Yes, I… ah… yes.”

Maggie glanced at him from under the long fringe of her thick, red-tipped lashes. Without thinking, he released the knob and clasped her chin to stroke her cheek with his thumb. Tranquility descended over him as her mouth parted and he heard the increased beat of her heart.

Unable to stop himself, his eyes drifted to the slender column of her throat and the vein running through there. Before he could slide his hand to her nape to draw her closer, she stepped away from him. His hand fell to his side, and he gripped the knob again.

“I want to see my mother,” she stated. “I should get it over with.”

The rush of her words and the frantic uncertainty he heard within them buried his disappointment over her avoidance of him. For Maggie, this visit was a thing of intense dread. Aiden stepped back, and with a wave of his hand, he gestured her into the room.

When she entered, her gaze fell on his unmade bed, and the erotic sights and sounds of her dream flitted across her mind again. She tore her eyes away from the bed, but then her attention returned to him. And he was far more alluring than any dream.

The sweatpants he wore hung low on his hips, revealing the trail of hair from his belly button to the waistband as well as the V shape of his muscles pointing her directly where to go. Shirtless, sweat glistened on his chest as he closed the door. His arm brushed hers when he strode past her to grab the towel hanging over the chair in the corner. He wiped off his hair and chest before draping the towel over his shoulder.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asked.

“I was just working out, doing some push-ups and sit-ups.”

“Oh. I can wait until later. The place doesn’t close until five.”

“I’m done.”

He didn’t tell her he’d been doing them to keep from going for her. She’d filled his dreams, and his persistent erection made sleeping difficult. No matter how many times he jerked off, his shaft still roused when his mind wandered to her. He’d never believed it would be possible for someone to have him so wound up yet so at ease, but Maggie did both those things to him.

“I’ll take a shower, and we’ll go,” he told her.

Maggie watched as he walked into the bathroom. Clasping her hands together, she tried not to think about him standing naked beneath the water when it turned on, but the more she tried not to picture it, the more she imagined the water sluicing off his body.

Dangerous or not, bad decision or not, she didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to resist this vampire.

* * *

“Can I turn into a vampire?” Maggie asked as she watched the cars rushing through the intersection.

Aiden hit the gas when their light turned green. “If you lose enough blood and are given the blood of a vampire, yes, you can become one.”

“No, I mean, if I’m a half-vampire, can I start to turn into one at will or something?”

“No. You would have to go through the transformation, the same as everyone else does.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He glanced over at her, sensing more behind her question. “Why do you ask?”

“I had the strangest dream last night,” she murmured. “And I didn’t know if it would be possible for me to transition into a vampire at will or something. Blood has helped to strengthen me for years without me knowing why, so if I drank enough of it, would it turn me?”

“According to Ronan, you still need to be changed from mortal to immortal by a vampire. You can’t spontaneously make the transition. What was your dream about?”

“I dreamt I bit something, and I had fangs when I did it. It felt very real.”

She didn’t look at him when she revealed this, and a flush of rosy color bloomed on her cheeks. He’d give anything to know what she’d dreamt.

“Does garlic work to keep vampires away?” she asked.

He chuckled and shook his head. “About the same as a person who eats excessive amounts of it would deter you.”

“Got it. What about crucifixes and stuff?”

“Why do you ask?”

Maggie fiddled with the edge of her sweater as she focused on the traffic. “There are things out there possibly hunting me. I should know what can hurt them. Plus…”

“Plus what?” he prompted when her voice trailed off.

“The last time I saw my mother, she started screaming for garlic when she realized who I was. So, I was wondering, if it did work against vampires, would it also work against me somehow? I mean, I’ve eaten garlic before and held a cross, of course, but maybe if a person believes it will ward off a vamp, it really will. I think I read or saw somewhere that it’s more the person’s faith in the object working than the actual object, so is that true?”

His fangs pricked at this revelation. Maggie’s mother had endured a trauma many wouldn’t have survived. It wasn’t her fault she was so messed up, but he would gladly kill the woman if she upset her daughter again today.

“No, that’s not true. There’s nothing she could use against you. You are still more human than vampire, and if you were a vampire, only an invite would hold you back unless you were a Savage, and then as I explained before, sunlight and the other things would affect you more.”

“Good.”