Maya would have screamed with disgust if he’d tried to have sex with her just now. He was almost grateful to Yvette for having shown up at such an inconvenient moment. Her interruption had saved him from a most painful rejection.

And not only that: he’d shamefully exploited Maya’s vulnerability by kissing and touching her when he knew that she was susceptible to quick arousal brought on by the feeding. She had no idea of this, but he, an experienced older vampire, knew all too well. It had nothing to do with whether she was attracted to him or not, it was a mere reaction to the bite. A euphoria she would experience. He was a cad for taking advantage like this. Somebody should beat him to a pulp for being such an ass.

He had no idea whether she was really attracted to him. He’d seen her look at his scar again, but then her arousal had taken over not giving her a real choice of what she wanted. How could any woman look at him and find him attractive unless she was drugged? And drugged she’d been—by his blood. Why else would she have accepted his demand for a kiss? Or was it possible that she felt attracted to him? Was her blood-drugged state not to blame after all?

If only he knew what to say to her, how to explain his concerns. But he wasn’t exactly adept at sweet-talking a woman. Hell, he had no idea how to interact with her. But he knew he had to come up with something, explain himself to her. Apologize for storming out of the study like that.

What was she thinking right now? Surely she must think him callous and uncaring, when he was anything but. But had he stayed, he would have made even more of a mess than the situation already was. No, he had to clear his head first and come up with an action plan.

After an uneasy few hours of sleep, Gabriel left the house as soon as the sun set, wanting to avoid both Yvette and Maya. He would face Maya after he got back. But first he had to take care of a few things.

As soon as he was outside walking the dark streets, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the witch’s number. It rang three times before it was answered.

“I told you to go away,” the witch said without any greeting. Figured he wasn’t the only one who used caller ID and could memorize a phone number.

“Please don’t hang up. I’ll give you anything you want if you help me.” This time he meant it. The sight of his growing protrusion frightened him. He needed to get rid of it. Now. He couldn’t face Maya like this. He wouldn’t give her a reason to reject him. What had happened in the study between them had made him realize that he wanted her so much he was prepared to fight for her. Whatever it took.

“Anything?” The witch’s voice was full of interest.

He knew it was dangerous to offer her whatever she wanted. “Anything.”

There was a pause at the other end of the line. Had she hung up?

“I’ll think about it. Give me a day or two.”

A click and she was gone before he could say anything else. At least she would consider it and hadn’t rejected him outright like the first time. It was a step in the right direction. He hoped she would help him. Maya’s next feeding was less than twenty-four hours away, and if he couldn’t control his urges then, the same thing would happen again.

He promised himself not to collect payment for her meal next time she fed from him. It was better not to tempt fate and to instead remove as much temptation as possible. Just having her feed from him again would cost him every ounce of control he had. An incident like the one that had happened in the study couldn’t be repeated. Not while his body looked like it did.

Soon after his phone call to the witch, he reached Drake’s practice and was led into his office by his Barbie-doll receptionist.

“How is Dr. Johnson?” Drake asked the minute he entered the room, seemingly not at all surprised to see Gabriel.

It took him a fraction of a second to realize who Drake meant by Dr. Johnson. Gabriel didn’t see her as a doctor. He just saw her as Maya. “She fed from me.”

Drake only raised an eyebrow. “I figured that much.”

Gabriel straightened. “Excuse me?”

The doctor shrugged. “She told me she was craving your blood. She was fighting it.”

Gabriel glared at him. “And you didn’t tell me?” He felt fury rise in his chest. Drake had let her suffer when Gabriel could have taken care of the problem had he only known? He took two steps toward Drake.

“Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“Fuck doctor-patient confidentiality!” Gabriel yelled and grabbed the doctor by his white coat. “You listen to me now: anything—and I mean anything—that concerns Maya, concerns me. Whatever you know about her, you’ll tell me. Do you get that?”