Stood there.

She just stood there, trying to take in everything that she was seeing. Christofer lying on the floor, his clothes ripped to shreds, Danni’s arms wrapped around his bicep, holding his arm tightly so that he couldn’t pull his wrist away from her bite while Caine had his arms wrapped around Danni, trying to pull her off Christofer, pleading with her to let him go.

“All right then,” she muttered, around a yawn.

After noting that Danni’s color had improved, she turned around, shut the door behind her and headed down the hall towards her room where she planned on spending the next hour lounging in a hot bath and enjoying the box of fudge that she’d swiped from the glowering bastard’s bag.

Chapter 60

“How’s Danni?” Cloe asked, not bothering to open her eyes as she raised one leg out of the water and laid it across the top of the tub. The white bubbles sliding down her smooth tan leg drew an appreciative smile from him.

“Hungry,” he said, wincing as the torn skin marring his wrist quickly knitted together. He reached back, grabbed a handful of his ripped shirt and pulled it off, letting it drop to the floor to join Cloe’s small pile of clothes.

“I take it that your blood worked?” she asked, bringing that beautiful long leg of hers back into the water so that she could sink lower in the deep tub.

“Like a charm,” he murmured, kicking off his shoes as he unzipped his pants.

“I was wondering when Caine was going to get around to asking you for some of your blood,” she admitted on a sigh as she sank even lower in the tub.

“Me too,” he said, surprised that Caine had been able to hold off this long.

Then again, he’d also been terrified that Christofer’s blood was Danni’s last hope. Caine hadn’t been in a rush to find out that even that wouldn’t help her. He’d wanted to hold onto any hope that he could for as long as possible, but after refusing to eat for the fifth day in a row, Caine had lost the luxury of time. Christofer had considered offering his blood to Danni several times over the last couple of weeks, but like Caine, he hadn’t been ready to find out that his blood was useless, which as it turned out, it was.

The first attempt to feed Danni his blood had failed miserably. She’d barely managed to swallow the first mouthful of his blood when she’d reacted violently, leaning over the bed and spitting it up in a trashcan just as she had done after every other attempt. Caine, looking like his whole world had been destroyed, had been willing to accept defeat.

Christofer hadn’t.

He refused to let another woman in his life down. He’d be damned if he was going to be forced to sit back and watch as another woman suffered. He hadn’t been able to save Marta and he would have to live with that for the rest of his very long life.

Caine shouldn’t have to.

“How long did it take for your blood to work?” she asked as he shoved his boxers down and stepped out of them.

“A couple of hours,” he said, pressing a hand to his upset stomach at the reminder of what he’d had to do to make his blood work.

He paused by the tub, wondering if he should go downstairs and binge on a few bags of bagged blood to work the rest of the demon blood out of his system. His stomach took the decision out of his hands. Placing a hand over his increasingly upset stomach, he leaned back over to pull his clothes back on when Cloe’s hand covered his, stopping him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, releasing his hand to reach over and run her wet fingers through his hair.

His first instinct was to lie to her and tell her that everything was okay. He didn’t want to burden her with his problems, but he couldn’t lie to her. He knew that lying to her, even a small lie, would hurt her and he’d rather spend an eternity in the lab than to cause her anymore pain. She would find out that he’d lied of that he had no doubt. By morning everyone would know about the miracle cure that had helped Danni get better.

“Demon blood,” he groaned, wincing when sharp pain shot through his stomach.

“Demon blood?” Cloe asked, moving to her knees so that she could reach over with her other hand and gently run her fingers over his lightly whiskered jaw as she ran an assessing eye over him.

“Yeah,” he said, pressing his hand tightly against his stomach. “My blood alone didn’t work. So, we decided to see what would happen if we mixed my blood with the demon blood the Council had originally given her to help keep the cancer at bay.”

“How much did you drink?” she asked softly, gently cupping his jaw.

“Twenty bags,” he admitted, closing his eyes when his stomach rebelled at the reminder of all that acidic blood that he’d forced himself to consume.

Drinking the blood had been time consuming. It had taken him a lot longer to drink the bagged demon blood than the cold human blood that he normally consumed. The taste and the texture was not only different, but it had filled him up a lot faster. He’d managed two bags an hour, force-fed Danni his blood and then started the process all over again. They’d been prepared to do it all night, but by the third feeding Danni was with it enough to be able to feed herself. By the fifth feeding…….

She’d been ravenous.

Thank God she’d decided that she preferred Caine’s blood to his, he thought wincing as more pain shot through his stomach, reminding him that he needed to dilute the demon blood in his system. It shouldn’t take much since Danni had nearly cleaned him out with the last feeding.

“Baby, you’re in pain,” Cloe said, sounding worried as she continued to fuss over him.

“It will be fine,” he said, opening his eyes as he reached up and covered her hand against his jaw. He forced himself not to smile, knowing that she’d just fumble for an excuse for the endearment. So instead of letting her know just how much the endearment meant to him, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. “A bag of blood should take care of it,” he promised her as he pulled back so that he could quickly get dressed. He wanted to be back in time to join her before she-

“Why don’t you drink from me?” she suggested, knocking him on his ass.

*-*-*-*

“Danni,” Caine said, groaning long and loud as Danni moaned against his skin, her arms wrapping around him as she pulled herself onto his lap.

With a little sigh that had his lips twitching, Danni gently removed her teeth from his neck, pressing a soft kiss against the tender skin as it started to heal. “Did I take too much?” she asked, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

“No,” he said, shaking his head, ignoring the black spots dancing along his vision as he turned his head so that he could kiss his mate.

Danni chuckled, moving to sit up so that she could look him in the eye as she said, “Liar.”

“I’m a little hungry,” he admitted, returning her grin as he leaned in to kiss her, unable to help himself.

She looked so………

Beautiful.

Her hair was fuller, silkier. Her face flushed beautifully against her tanned skin. Her body had filled out in the last few hours and smooth muscle once again shaped her body. Her br**sts were fuller, larger than he’d remembered. Her h*ps were curvier than he’d remembered them ever being. But, the thing that him sighing with relief was the sound of her heartbeat.