Claire looked back as Lucian began to suck.

The sensual, steady draw on her wrist made her lips part. She’d dreaded donating to Lucian, but now that he took from her, nursing at her wrist, the room started warming up. The soft suckling sound began to remind her of other things.

The first wave of desire flowed over her like the rush of a wave on the seashore. She drew a long breath, as her gaze became focused on the muscled slope of Lucian’s shoulders and back. She felt an impulse to cover his neck with her hand and caress him as he took from her.

She gave herself a shake, trying to repress the sudden desire that had taken hold of her, when suddenly, while still drawing her blood, he looked up and met her gaze. You taste of the sweetest herbs, Claire, though I think I said that before.

His voice in her head didn’t help, either, but sparked her sudden need. You did.

His gray eyes were dark with what she knew was a desire that matched her own. She found it hard to breathe and put a hand to her chest.

Thank you for this, Claire. I’m feeling much better. Stronger. And thank you for bringing me out of captivity. I owe you.

“You’re welcome.” She spoke the words aloud, but her voice sounded hoarse.

Worse, because of the blood-chains, she could feel how aroused he was. The vampire hadn’t had sex in a long time. He was very male and would have needs. Even Rumy had told her that much, trying to prepare her.

But her own case wasn’t much different. She hadn’t been with a man in over two years because of her imprisonment in Florida.

Yet what troubled her wasn’t so much that she might end up having sex with the vampire she’d just rescued, but how much she suspected she was going to like it.

A shiver ran through her.

Claire? As he continued to draw her blood into his mouth, he stroked the length of her forearm. His touch was so warm, even gentle against her skin. She didn’t mistake the invitation for what it was.

She felt tempted as she never had before and nearly offered up what right now had become an almost painful longing the entire length of her body. But it was way too soon. She looked away from him. “I’m trying to gain my bearings.”

Just as you should.

She didn’t look at him again while he fed. Instead, she looked anywhere else, trying to ignore what she really wanted to be doing.

The first thing she noticed was that someone had taken her shoes off. Then her eye was drawn to the ceiling, which she realized was quite beautiful despite the bland surroundings. A wave of what looked like light blue granite ran the entire length, but carved and polished to resemble a flow of water.

Good. She had something to focus on besides the fact that she was feeding a vampire and really liking it.

When he finished at last, he released her wrist, licking the small apertures at the same time.

She drew her arm close, looking down at the skin, expecting to see a wound. Instead the puncture marks were gone, and only a slight redness to the skin told her what he’d been doing. “This is amazing.”

“We’ve had thousands of years to evolve. And I’ve released a serum into your bloodstream that will replace the supply quickly. You shouldn’t feel faint or anything.”

She shifted to look at him, startled all over again by the fact that she was here in such a strange new environment, sharing a room with a vampire, and that she was bound to him.

He sat back in his chair, definitely more relaxed. His color looked better, and his gray eyes had a brightness they’d lacked before. He was incredibly handsome, which wasn’t going to help her desire for him at all.

“I can see that you’re feeling better.”

He nodded. “Much better. The flight here seemed to help as well. Maybe just being away from that cell.”

She glanced down her arm once more, then back to him. “So what’s it like? Feeding, I mean.”

His brows rose. “I don’t know. Like breathing, I suppose. It’s just part of my life.”

“Of course it would be.” She stared at him for a long moment, wondering so many things. She took in his new wardrobe. “You found some clothes, I see.”

He gestured with a toss of his hand toward the wall at the foot of the bed, where a tall rack sat. “Rumy had clothes for both of us brought in.”

When she’d initially arrived two days earlier, Rumy had given her a few basic garments in addition to the clothes she’d had on. It looked as though he’d since added to her wardrobe. “I can see that.”

She glanced around and for the first time noticed the bed was a little different: The far side had what looked like a low steel bar running its length with some kind of cloth attached to it.

She pushed herself to a sitting position. “What is that?”

“Restraints. Though I’ll be stable for a while, maybe even a few hours, the recovery from blood-madness takes time, and I’ll probably spiral out of control at some point. The bindings will be necessary at least once during the process. But Rumy told you this, right, or some version of it?”

“Sort of. I think he didn’t want to weigh me down with too many details.”

He glanced at her. “So your name is Claire. What did you do before you were abducted? I mean, who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Santa Fe in New Mexico. Do you know it?”

“Sure. What was your life like there?”

“Well, my family has lived in the area for three generations. I had my own place, of course, but my mom and dad were only a couple of miles from my apartment. My brothers are eighteen and twenty-one now. When Rumy brought me here I went on the Internet and found that they’re all doing well. Both the boys are in college.” She repressed a sigh. She didn’t mind sharing the details, but the conversation was reminding her way too much of her family and how much she missed them. She couldn’t imagine how hard her sudden disappearance had been on everyone.

Lucian watched her closely. “And what about your friend, Zoey, were you always close?”

She chuckled, though her throat had started to ache. “More like sisters. We grew up together. Lived on the same street. We even roomed in college. But we’re so different, I mean even physically, she’s shorter and has black hair, blue eyes. And she has a totally wicked sense of humor. She had really long fingernails though, with jewels on them.” When tears touched her eyes, she cleared her throat and changed the subject. “She majored in economics and worked for an investment firm.”

“And you?”

“I have a master’s in social work. Before being taken out of that club in Santa Fe, I worked with ex-prostitutes, not an easy job.”

He frowned. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be.”

She found it a lot easier to talk about her work rather than either her family or Zoey.

She added, “Prostitution is rarely a first choice for these women. Most of them suffered horrendous childhoods before they entered the profession, so trying to extract them from that kind of work involved treating two layers of dysfunction at the same time.”

“We have a similar problem in our world, especially working with the sex slaves we recover. There’s always a lot of damage.”

She watched his gaze slide to the floor and his jaw flex a couple of times. “What are you thinking about?—because the chains tell me you’re really upset. Of course, I can see it as well. What’s wrong?”

He met her gaze. “I’m thinking about your friend Zoey and my brothers, what we’ve all been through, including you. Daniel is the author of all this suffering, and I want him dead. You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for Daniel—and then there’s Marius.” He shaded his face for a moment as grief swelled over him. She felt ill as she recalled the event. She closed her eyes and let the moment roll through them both, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time.

When he drew a deep breath and seemed more himself, she asked, “So what exactly is Daniel’s role in your society? I mean, I know that he’s in charge right now, but what does that entail?”