Opal (Rare Gems Series Book 4) by Kathi S. Barton Page A

laughed.
    “ Well, if you had gotten what you needed from her, why are you still hurt?” She started to stand, but he held her to him. “I don’t want to be near you right now. I have an uncontrolled urge to hit you.”
    “ I was talking about you, Opal. This morning in your little office nearly made me want to hunt you down and taste you that way again. It…well, thoughts of you screaming out my name again had me sort of distracted.” He kissed her gently on the mouth. “Christ, do you have any idea how much I enjoyed that? Drinking from you while your pussy gushed out your cream? I wish I could do it again and again.” Her body heated and she shifted on her knees to try and relieve the sudden pressure. When Sloan moaned, she wanted to open her legs and give herself to him, but he was hurt and needed her.
    “ You should pay attention to your surroundings and you’d not be cut up like this.” He nodded, and she felt tears start to fall. “I could feel your hurt when I heard from you. I can only assume that you’d blocked me from feeling you before. I…you terrified me when you asked for me to come here. I thought…I don’t know what I thought, but I was afraid.”
    “ You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.” He kissed the tear that was falling on her cheek. Then he kissed her mouth. She felt his cold lips move along her throat before he lifted his head and looked at her. “I have to ask you something before I drink from you. And I want you to think about your answer before you say it. All right?”
    “ Feed first. Right now you’re too weak to talk about anything. Just do it.” He shook his head. Fear made her sharper than she’d meant to be. “Why the hell not? You called me here, didn’t you?”
    “ I did. I wish that I hadn’t, but I did.” She sat back on her heels as her heart shattered in her chest. She could hardly breathe around the pain of it. And as she started to stand up to leave, he continued. “If you were not to feed me I would die. You’d live because of your being a wolf, but then you’d be rid of me. And we both know you want that more than anything. But you’re going to be well cared for, even when I die. I have taken the liberty of putting your name alongside of mine on all my accounts in the event that I do perish. I wouldn’t blame you for leaving me here, but when I was bleeding out, all I could think about was how much I dearly love you.”
    “ You don’t mean that. You don’t love me at all. You’re just afraid and I’m here. You don’t have to lie to me. You don’t love me.” He nodded and held her hand. “Sloan, this is just stupid. Feed so we can get you home and into your lair.”
    “ No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Because as much as I’d like to tell you that I’m only saying these things to you to guilt you into saying you love me too, I know that you don’t. And I no longer want to make you stay with me when this is an easy out for you. You and I would be the only ones that would ever know. And Blair already thinks that I’m going to die anyway. I lost a great deal of blood back there.”
    “ Why are you doing this? Why are you saying these things right now, Sloan? You think so little of me that you think I could let you die? You think that—” He cut her off with his mouth. It was hungry and full of need, but before she could let him bite her, he was pulling back and staring at her. “I can’t do this. You have to know that this isn’t right.”
    He nodded and closed his eyes. As soon as she stood up, she went to the door and looked back at him. He expected her to leave him. He really expected her to simply leave him to die. And why not? She was just as her grandmother said, a whiney brat who didn’t know a good thing when she had it. She turned the lock, and he opened his eyes to look at her.
    “ I’m going to heal you, but I have rules first, all right? You feed from me and I want to ride you. I’ve never done