Eternal Beauty: Mark of the Vampire (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) Read Online Free

resolute.
    Even through Synjon’s extraordinary physical and mental pain, heat rumbled within his chest. How was it possible that this female fought for him? This female he didn’t know? It was extraordinary.
    Petra’s voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke again. “If you were burned and in pain and no one knew how to help you, would you expect me to turn away from you, Brodan?”
    “Come on, Pets. Our . . . friendship is different.”
    “How?” she asked. “This male could have the same kind of friends elsewhere. Family. A lover.”
    “A lover, eh?”
    The grin, the lightness, the heat, in the male’s voice inflamed Synjon, and he nearly allowed another feral growl to escape his chest. Clearly this male wanted Petra, and even clearer was her disinterest in him. Didn’t the doctor get it? Didn’t he understand what stood beside him?
    Synjon’s mind squeezed.
    What . . . ? What was he saying? What stood beside the doctor?
    A rush of heat surged into his veins.
    “All right, Pets,” the doctor said with a reluctant chuckle. “You fight for him, I fight for him. I just wish I knew what to use as a weapon.”
    His blood pumped fast and thick. What was wrong with him now? The female . . . her scent was pushing into his nostrils. No, not female.
    Veana
.
    A tsunami of pain and hunger and desire unlike anything he had ever known slammed into Synjon. He had no breath, no ability to reason or remain still and silent. With a gasp, his eyes slammed open, and when he saw the
veana
above him, he roared.
    “Oh my gods,” the female cried out and grabbed his hand.
    But Synjon saw only sustenance before him.
    “You!” he cried out, his gaze raking down her neck to her arm. “Your blood,
Veana
! I need your blood.”
    He yanked her hand to his mouth and twisted, his fangs striking the inside of her wrist with shocking force.

Three
    With a scream of pain, Petra yanked her arm away from the male and stumbled back. Clutching her stinging wrist in her hand, she watched with wide, horror-filled eyes as Brodan rushed toward the male and plunged a long needle into his neck.
    What—?
    What the hell had just happened here?
    Her gaze cut to the male’s face, looking for answers, for some kind of reaction. But apart from his eyes, he was deadly silent and still now. Fire-ravaged face and dark eyes strained with pain, his gaze locked onto hers. Petra felt her breath catch in her throat at the confusion and feral hunger that registered there. But it was his lips, stained red with her blood, that truly stalled her breath, and had her backing up another foot.
    Her blood!
    With a quiet whimper, she pressed her palm harder against the wound on her wrist, making sure she was stopping the flow. What had he done? And why? Was he angry with her—shit, she’d saved his life!
    But she would get no answer from him. Not today. On the raised pallet before her, the male’s body went limp and his eyes fell closed.
    “He’s out.” Brodan was at her side in seconds, immediately reaching for her wrist. “He bit you, broke the fucking skin.” His gaze lifted to her face and he looked furious, looked near to shifting into his bear. “I should kill him right now.”
    Her wrist stinging, Petra shook her head. “No. No. He didn’t know what he was doing.” Why was she protecting him still, after what he’d just done?
    “I don’t give a shit, Pets. Whatever he is, he’s rabid.” He hesitated, exhaled heavily, seemed to be trying to get control over himself. “Thank the gods you won’t suffer further for that bite. With all the testing I’ve done on this male, there’s been no sign of disease, so at least we’re covered there. Are you all right?”
    “Yes,” she said honestly, finding that the pain and stinging were easing. It was only the fear and confusion that remained. Well, that and this insane drive she had to keep the male alive, find a way to heal him.
    “He has incredible strength,” Brodan remarked,