“I-is there…,” Gunnar stammers and shuts his mouth; then, “Can I … taste you?” Embarrassment suffuses his expression, but he continues, “Please? I’ll be careful, I promise, but I just…”

I’m not sure what to say. I’ve always been taught to say no to a request like this, to never volunteer my blood to a vampire—because what if they lose control? But the way he asks makes my heart race, pressure building in my groin again as I consider the intimacy of such an act, and I’m holding my hand out to him before I know it.

He parts his lips, sliding his tongue across the tip of my finger, and sparks dance up my spine as his lids flutter closed in pleasure. I gurgle out a sigh when his lips close around my knuckle, as he draws a gentle trickle of blood from the puncture, and my pulse beats like a blacksmith’s hammer. After a moment, Gunnar pulls back, his eyes glowing even brighter when they open again. “Jude, you have to taste this.”

He passes my hand to his ex-boyfriend, who blinks heavily, his golden eyes fixed on mine in a stupor. When Jude accepts my finger, taking me into his mouth, my head spins with fear and desire. His cheekbones sharpen before my eyes, something about my blood pushing him deeper into his transformation.

Gunnar’s hand slides over my chest, his lips brushing my ear, his voice rough as he asks, “Can we drink from you?”

I turn to look at him, and find him wearing the face he had the night we kissed in his car—all sharp angles and strange, terrifying beauty. “Is it … safe?”

“We’ll take care of you,” Jude murmurs against my fingertip, his lips impossibly soft. “Neither of us wants you to be hurt.”

“If you have a little bit of our blood first, it’ll help your body replenish whatever you lose.” Gunnar’s mouth grazes against the side of my neck, and every part of my body that can stand up is up. “We’ll go slow, and we’ll never take so much that you’re in danger.”

“When it’s done the right way, feeding can be pleasurable for both humans and vampires.” Jude removes his jacket and then his shirt, his skin polished by candlelight. His eyes meet mine. “We’ll do it the right way.”

“Turning involves much more than all this, so you don’t have to worry,” Gunnar adds, his mouth just below my ear. “Nothing has to happen tonight that you don’t want, okay? The choice is yours—just say the word.”