The vampire he’d fallen in love with had been a lie. She’d been a murderer, a rebel sympathizer, an adversary.
What kind of idiot fell in love with and married their enemy?
A flash of watery rage coursed through Ryker’s veins as he recalled exactly how stupid he’d been.
His mask cracked, and he snapped, “What?”
Brynleigh flinched, and for a moment, he felt bad for how he’d spoken.
This whole situation was a clusterfuck, and it was making him question everything.
A small voice niggled in the back of his brain that he should hear her out and listen to her reasons for why she acted like this, but he wasn’tready for that. He just needed to get through this. He could think about her reasons later. Maybe. He wasn’t sure she even deserved that.
Brynleigh licked her lips, her face growing paler with each passing second. “I… I was wondering…”
She stumbled over her words, and his heart twisted before he realized he was supposed to hate her.
They were opposites in every way, and by the gods, she’d fooled him.
His wife was akiller.
Gritting his teeth, Ryker hardened the walls around his heart and waited for her to continue.
“I need to feed. If you’re not going to ki… can you find me some blood?” Black eyes met his, and he was taken aback by the level of despair within them. “Please.”
That last word was little more than a whisper as it left her lips, and she stumbled back a step. As if she wasn’t sure how he would react. As if she thought he might lash out at her.
Despite the bricks surrounding Ryker’s heart, his life-giving organ ached. Gods above, he was being an ass.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Brynleigh.” He didn’t think he could, even if he wanted to.
Hating her was hard enough. Being angry at her was killing him, too. Hurting her?
It would destroy him.
Releasing the counter, he moved to the cooler. Aware of his size and the fear leeching off the vampire, he slowly lifted the lid.
He pulled out a few bags of blood and slid them across the counter.
“Of course, you can feed. I’m not a monster.”
Unlike Victor Orpheus.
Relief flickered through Brynleigh’s eyes, and she darted forward.
“Thank you.”
Grabbing the bag closest to her, she ripped the top off with her teeth. Like she had in the cell, she downed the crimson liquid within seconds.
She dropped the empty bag on the counter and moved on to the next. She drank that one, too, guzzling it like she’d been moments away from death, and it was a life-giving elixir.
He supposed it was.
Relief shone in her eyes, and soft sighs slipped from her mouth as she drank.
It was too much for Ryker. He couldn’t bear to stand there in silence and watch her any longer.
The island between them might as well have been an entire world.