Blood Bound- Book 1 of the Bonded Series- Complete

Chapter 28

 “Blood Bound”

2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 28

When Shelby opened her eyes, the first thing that she noticed was how incredibly dry the back of her throat was.  When she tried to swallow she realized it wasn't just dry, it actually burned.  It felt almost as if someone had scalded it with boiling hot water, making the unfamiliar pain that much more intense.

“Wa... water,” she croaked, trying to pull herself up.

Leo was at her side in an instant. He touched her cheek and searched her half-lidded eyes.  There was nothing but sincere concern written in the depths of his face.  “You’re finally awake,” he commented, his voice barely above a whisper.  He had been so worried about her, knowing that since she was only a newborn, she needed to feed.  He had already planned to wake her himself if she hadn't wakened by the time the sun set.  “How is your head my love?  Does it still hurt?”

Shelby brought her hand up to her neck, desperately needing something to soothe it and tried to once again sit up. “Thirsty,” she stammered.  “I’m just so thirsty.”

After watching her struggle, Leo slid over to her side and helped her sit up.  “You need to feed Shelby.  You’ve been out for three days.  That is far too long after the stress the summons put on your body.”

Shelby turned towards Leo, her face scrunched up in confusion.   “Three days? Are you seriously telling me that I have been unconscious for three whole days?”

“Yes,” Leo agreed solemnly.  “Alex had to put you under so that you could heal from the summons he sent to you.  For some reason," Leo scowled, "One that I have yet to understand, he seemed to think that I needed to be put through some sort of test and that test was you my sweet.”  He palmed her cheeks with both of his hands and turned her towards him. “I’m sorry,” he told her, guilt swimming in his eyes.  “I am so damn sorry that you had to experience that.  If I could have taken the pain from you, I would have.  I would have soaked up every drop of it, if it meant that you wouldn't have had to suffer.  The last thing that I ever want is to see you be forced to endure that kind of pain again.”

Shelby believed him. She believed every word that he said because the honesty that he spoke with was defined clearly in his tone.  “It’s okay,” she said hoarsely.  “I’m fine now, just very… thirsty.”

On cue, there was a knock at the door.  Leo glanced over her shoulder and nodded his head.  “That would be your dinner,” he announced, already moving to get off the bed.

Shelby was too exhausted to formulate any kind of response so she decided to lay her head back against the pillows and close her eyes for several minutes while it was blessedly quiet.  Lying there, she inhaled deeply to see if she could pinpoint what kind of dinner Leo would have brought up to her.  She was thinking that a nice tomato brusque sounded pretty good right about now with a tall glass of refreshing ice water to wash it all down afterwards. Just thinking about the cool water as it slid down the back of her throat left her mouth watering for more. The problem was, she didn’t smell anything.  Even with her new sense of vampire super smell, all she could decipher was Leo’s individual scent which was tantalizing to say the least, her own scent and she wrinkled her nose as she picked out an overpowering lemon scent probably reminiscent of some sort of cleaner.