Free Web NovelChapter 149: Chapter 148: Feeding Frenzy
The signs had been building for three days.
Eve knew it. Her mates knew it. Even Raphael, with his ancient incubus perception, had noticed during their last training session and quietly suggested to the brothers afterward that their mate needed to feed before her depleted state began affecting her power development.
The problem was time.
Training consumed the mornings entirely....Raphael was relentless, and Eve threw herself into every session with the kind of focused intensity that left no room for anything else. The afternoons were consumed by Court protocol studies, political strategy sessions, and the mental exercises Raphael assigned as homework. By evening, Eve was so exhausted she barely made it through dinner before her eyes started closing.
Feeding required energy she wasn’t sure she had to spare. Required presence of mind she’d been redirecting entirely toward training.
So she’d been ignoring the hunger.
Which had been, everyone was now realizing, a significant mistake.
The first sign had been the irritability....a low-level edge to her responses that wasn’t like her, a shortness that appeared in her voice when training frustrated her, a tightness around her eyes that didn’t ease even when she laughed.
The second sign had been the pallor. Eve’s skin, which had developed a healthy luminous quality since her awakening, had dulled slightly. The glow was muted, like a lamp with its voltage turned down.
The third sign had been the bracelet.
The silver bracelet that the brothers had given her early in her awakening.....the one that responded to her supernatural state.....had been shifting color for two days. The warm amber that indicated healthy feeding had been gradually cooling, moving toward a pale, washed-out tone that meant depletion.
Damon noticed the bracelet at dinner.
He didn’t say anything then. Just looked at it, looked at Eve’s face, looked at his brothers across the table. Something passed between the three of them.....that silent communication that moved through their bond like current through wire.
After dinner, when Eve had announced she was going straight to bed, Damon had said: "No."
Eve had turned to look at him.
"You’re not going to sleep," Damon said, his voice carrying that quality that meant he was done with the gentle approach. "You’re going to feed. Tonight. Right now."
"Damon, I’m exhausted....."
"I know you’re exhausted," he said, moving toward her with that loose-limbed predatory grace that always made her aware of exactly how much larger and stronger he was. "I know training has been brutal and your mind has been going constantly and you’ve barely had a moment to breathe. I know all of that."
He stopped in front of her, tilting her chin up with two fingers so she had to meet his eyes. "And none of it matters as much as the fact that your bracelet is almost white and your skin looks like winter and you’ve been snapping at Lora, who has done nothing wrong."
Eve winced. She had snapped at Lora. Over something completely inconsequential.
"I’ll apologize to her," Eve started.
"Yes, you will," Damon agreed. "Tomorrow. Tonight, you’re coming with me."
He didn’t wait for her agreement. He simply took her hand and started walking, and Eve....too tired to argue and, somewhere beneath the exhaustion, too hungry to want to....let herself be led.
Damian and Silas fell into step behind them without a word.
The master bedroom was warm and dim, the evening light coming through curtains that were not quite closed, painting the room in long gold stripes. Someone....probably Silas, who had a habit of anticipating what would be needed....had already turned the bed down, left water on the nightstand, created the kind of quiet sanctuary that said this is a space for something important.
Damon guided Eve to the center of the room and stopped, turning to face her. His green eyes moved over her with the focused attention of someone conducting an assessment....checking her color, her posture, the quality of her energy.
"You’ve been running on empty for three days," he said.
"I’ve been training," Eve said.
"You’ve been starving yourself while training," Damon corrected. "Those are different things." His hand came up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, the gesture gentle in a way that contrasted deliberately with the directness of his voice. "You wouldn’t let your body run without fuel. This is the same thing."
"I know," Eve admitted quietly.
"Then let us take care of you," he said. "That’s all this is. Let us give you what you need."
Eve looked at him....at the genuine concern beneath the dominance, at the love that ran through every interaction she’d ever had with this impossible, difficult, devoted man....and felt something in her chest loosen.
"Okay," she said softly.
"Good girl," Damon murmured, and the praise moved through her like warm honey.
He stepped back, his eyes never leaving her face. "But before we take care of you....." The warmth in his expression shifted, deepened, took on that edge that always made her breath catch. ".....you’re going to take care of Silas first."
Eve’s eyes moved to Silas, who had positioned himself at the edge of the bed, watching her with those dark, quiet eyes that saw everything. He was still fully dressed, his expression calm and warm, but his stillness had the quality of restrained intensity.....like a deep current running beneath a smooth surface.
"Me?" Eve asked. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"You," Damon confirmed. His voice dropped to that register that bypassed her rational mind entirely. "I want to watch you take him apart. Want to see what you can do when you’re not performing for anyone’s benefit. Just you and him and what you want to give him."
He moved to sit in the chair near the window, relaxed and deliberate, every line of his body communicating that he had all the time in the world and intended to use it.
Eve looked at Silas.
Her quietest mate. The one who dreamed with her, who steadied her, who had held her through nightmares and power surges and every terrifying threshold she’d crossed since her awakening. The one whose wolf.....Cain....waited with a patience that felt like the deep, inevitable tide.
She crossed to him slowly.
Silas watched her come with an expression of total openness—no performance, no dominance display, just him. Present and warm and hers.
"Hi," Eve said, stopping in front of him.
"Hi," he said back, his voice low and soft.
Eve reached up and began to unbutton his shirt....not rushing, just working through each button with steady fingers while his hands rested on her hips and his eyes stayed on her face.
