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didn’t…rape me?”
    “Oh God, Val.” Alexa’s grip tightened. Her hands were shaking, too. “They said he didn’t, sweetheart. They sounded really certain.”
    “Okay.” I tried to get my breathing under control. “I want to go to bed now.”
    She toweled me off as gently as she had washed me, then turned down the covers. I slid beneath the sheet and pulled the blanket tightly around me. If I thought about him sinking his teeth into me, I was going to fall apart. My own teeth were chattering.
    Alexa reached for me immediately, wrapping one arm carefully around my waist and pressing her face to my good shoulder. “Are you cold?”
    “Don’t think so,” I stuttered. “Just don’t feel so good.” I didn’t want to be this weak, but I had no idea how to stop panicking.
    As always, Alexa had my cure. She rubbed my stomach lightly while pressing tender kisses to my jawline, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. She didn’t speak—she didn’t have to. Her touch calmed me, easing the tightness of my muscles and settling my stomach. I needed her. I needed her so much.
    “Close your eyes, sweetheart. Don’t be afraid. I’m going to hold you all night.”
    “’Kay.” Fatigue pressed in on me, dark and heavy. There was no reason to resist—not with Alexa wrapped around me. She pillowed her head on my shoulder and sighed into my neck.
    The sound of her pulse followed me into sleep.

Chapter Four
     
    The thirst consumed me.
    It was a bottomless abyss, the eternity of deep space. Essence of need.
    In the dead of night, it demanded that I fill myself with Alexa. It compelled me to reach for her—to claim her, to hurt her if I had to. To make her mine. She was soft and yielding, yet the craving remained.
    I am become Thirst, that great emptiness.
    The need was a goad, bright and hot. It crawled down my spine, making me desperate to possess her. Wild in the throes of urgency, I thrust into her, forcing her back into a perfect arch. When I twisted my hand, she called out my name. Sweat beaded up along my hairline and dripped into my eyes as I fucked her mercilessly. Her head thrashed against the pillow, snarling the elegant fan of her crimson hair. I gave her everything I had. It should have been enough.
    It wasn’t.
    I needed to take. The impulse was undeniable, irresistible. Inevitable. It rode me hard, forcing my mouth against her neck. She smelled sweet, like the memory of sunlight. Beneath my tongue, her pulse raced. It sang to me, a Siren.
    My teeth sank through the layers of her skin, cutting through the vessels below. She screamed, flowing around my hand as her blood burst across my lips and dribbled down my chin. I raised my head, spattering droplets in a fine shower across the crisp, white sheets, finally at peace.
     
    I woke suddenly, the horror of the dream jerking me into a sitting position, and hissed in pain when my shoulder and ribs protested the movement. Swallowing was agony—my throat felt dry and cracked. I reached for the glass on the nightstand, only to find it empty.
    “Val?” Alexa’s voice was gritty with sleep. “Sweetheart? What’s wrong?”
    I faced her. When she mimicked my position, sitting up with her back to the headboard, the sheet slid down to pool against the slight swell of her stomach. Her skin glowed in the predawn light. The remembered sensation of my teeth ripping into her—of how right it had felt—warred with my terror and disgust at the impulse. I leaned in toward the pulsing artery in her perfect neck before I knew what I was doing, only to jerk away when she reached for me.
    “No!” I scrambled out of the bed as quickly as I could, ignoring the spasms in my leg. “Stay away from me.”
    Her face crumpled. “But—what happened, love? Did you have a nightmare?” She threw back the blankets and easily covered the distance between us. Desperate to keep her at arm’s length, I thrust my empty glass toward her.
    “Please.”
    She frowned, but went into the