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and then a mixing of the blood.
    “No.” His voice was clipped. He moved away from her, heading toward the open balcony doors.
    Savannah followed on his heels. “What do you mean, ‘no?’” You have to!”
    He stepped slowly onto the balcony, tilting his head back and staring up at the brilliant full moon. “I don’t have to do anything.” A warning.
    A shiver skated up Savannah’s spine at the steel laced in his tone. But she refused to back down. “Why did you give me the first bite if you didn’t intend to transform me?” Her hands clenched into angry fists.
    He turned to face her, and the moonlight seemed to shine in the depths of his eyes. “I wanted to taste you,” he whispered, his voice a sensual purr. “I had to taste you.”
    She swallowed. She hadn’t been expecting that answer.
    Her surprise must have shown because a mask of anger swept across his face. “I can feel, Savannah. I can want, I can need, just like any man.”
    “But you’re not a man,” she blurted. He was more. So much more.
    “Yet I have a man’s needs.” His eyes drifted slowly down her body, lingering on the rounded curves of her breasts and hips. “A man’s desires.”
    Heat pooled low in her belly. Her breath hitched.
    He stepped toward her and lifted his hand to gently cup her cheek. “I want, just like any other man.” His jaw clenched. “And I have found that I want you, very badly.”
    “So that’s why you bit me,” she concluded softly, her voice husky and quiet in the dying night. “Because you wanted me.” The idea left her shaken.
    William’s hand dropped from her face. She suddenly felt very cold without his touch.
    He walked to the edge of the balcony and stared down at the mountainside. “My wants, my needs, can be deadly.”
    “Not to me,” she rushed to reassure him.
    He glanced back over his shoulder. “Especially to you. And I am not willing to take the chance that I might put you in danger. I want you to leave at first light.”
    She moved to stand beside him. “I’m not leaving.”
    “You must!” He snarled, turning on her like a cornered animal. “If you stay, I’ll take you. I need you like I’ve never needed anyone else in all my years of existence. I hunger for you. For your blood. For your body. For your very life.”
    Savannah lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid of you. Or of what you might do to me.” She didn’t have room in her heart for fear.
    “I’ll kill you,” he said, his voice a tortured whisper. “I kill everyone who gets close to me.”
    “Then transform me. If you are so worried about me, then change me! Make me immortal!”
    His face was a haggard mask. “You want me to condemn you to a life of darkness? Of endless hunger and death? Of loneliness? Because if you become like me, that is what you will get.”
    She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. It was time to lay her cards on the table. There was no choice. It was time for the truth. “And if I don’t become like you, I’ll die.”
    William froze. “What?” His eyes flashed fire.
    “You heard me.” Her words trembled faintly. “I’ll die.” She shook her head. “Why do you think I came to you? Why do you think I spent all of that time researching you? I’m dying, William. And your kiss is the only thing that can help me.”
    He grabbed her by the arms. “You’re dying?”
    She swallowed the lump in her throat. “The doctors say that I have six months, if I’m lucky.”
    “And if you’re not?” His scar was a vivid white against his skin.
    “Two months.”
    He swore viciously and closed his eyes.
    “So, you see, I don’t have anything to lose.” She had to make him understand, had to make him listen. He must give her the kiss!
    His eyes opened slowly and he stared down at her, his expression fierce. “What’s wrong with you?”
    She rubbed her throbbing temple with a tired hand. What wasn’t wrong with her? She couldn’t remember what it was like to feel healthy,