Wake, piccola. Wake and look at your lifemate. He whispered the words softly, dreading her coming pain, a lump forming in his throat.
When she took her first breath, a soft sigh, it went straight to his heart. Her blue eyes opened, her gaze locked on his. At once her warmth surrounded him, seeping into the cold pores of his body. She smiled, a loving, sweet smile that was an arrow piercing his soul.
“What is it?” she asked. Very gently, tenderly, she lifted a hand and traced his mouth with a fingertip. “What have you been doing to yourself? You’re gray, Aidan. You need to feed.” Her voice was a soft invitation.
“Alexandria.” He said her name, nothing else.
She surprised him as she always did, her eyes darkening to a deep blue, her voice a mere thread of sound, her body very still. “Is he alive?” There was no hint of condemnation, no anger that he had not kept the child safe.
He closed his eyes, unable to meet her gaze. He simply nodded.
Alexandria took a deep breath and caressed his jaw with her palm. “Look at me, Aidan.”
“I cannot, Alexandria. I will face you when I have returned Joshua safely to our home, to your arms.”
“I said look at me.” Her fingertips were on his chin, raising it.
He could do no other than her bidding. She was tearing him up inside with her acceptance, her understanding, her gentleness. His golden eyes blazed at her. Then he felt her, merging, instantly with him, so swiftly and completely that he had no chance to hide any of it—the beasts attacking those guarding her brother, Stefan and Marie’s anguish, Joshua’s terror, his own efforts and pain in the sun, the charring of the human puppet. It was all laid out in front of her in stark, ugly detail. When she heard the soft whisper of her name on Joshua’s lips, she made a single sound.
Her pain went so deep, Aidan felt the demon rise and rush through his body, taking control. A slow, murderous hiss escaped from deep within his throat. His golden eyes glowed with deadly intent. “How dare he try this?” His voice was as lethal as his expression. “How dare he use the boy as a challenge to bring me out into the open?”
“Shh, Aidan.” She put a finger over his mouth. “You have no need to blame yourself. Come to me. Take what you need to do this thing, to get Joshua back.” She was slowly pushing aside the silk shirt she wore, her slender arm circling his neck, bringing his head down to her breast.
“I will hunt. You have need yourself.” He clenched his teeth against the hunger beating at him.
She moved her breasts against his skin, her scent enveloping him, a creamy invitation, a temptation impossible to resist. “You’re gray, Aidan, weak. It is my right and responsibility to aid you, isn’t it? I am your lifemate.” Her fingertips were massaging his neck, her mouth moving over his hair, his temple. “Give me this gift, Aidan. Let me help you.”
He swore eloquently, but the demon in him demanded blood, demanded strength, and his body was aroused and painfully full. Cursing his own weakness, he bent his golden head to her skin. So soft, so perfect. Her blood beckoned him with its heat, with the promise of addicting spice. His body clenched as his tongue swept over her pulse.
She was heat and light and the promise of paradise. His hands moved over her hips, her tiny waist, her narrow rib cage. Her breasts filled his palms with their softness. “Cara mia,” he whispered against her creamy skin, “I love you.”
His tongue touched, caressed, sending a tremor through her. Her arms tightened around him. Please, Aidan, do it now, she whispered in his mind, her lips in his hair. I need to make you strong again. I need to take away your pain. And she did. Alexandria knew his every moment in the terrible sun, what he had suffered for her, for Joshua. She had never needed to do anything more in her life than supply him with nourishment, to show her overwhelming love and support for him.