Chapter 268 - Hunger & Temptation

Irene greeted her Sire, Mr. Sullivan, and Miss Alessandro, before turning her full attention towards the woman who was the only person able to help Shadow in the current situation.

She along with her other companions had been following Shadow ever since he returned from the Night City. After the huge amount of powers he used during those couple of days, they all guessed that their Master would soon need to feed.

However, Shadow refused to even touch the blood as he felt nauseous every time he looked at the blood. It was like his body kept refusing the blood while needing it at the same time.

"Miss Alessandro..." Irene started speaking to Emily but didn't get the chance to say something as Shadow interrupted her and her Sire didn't seem impressed by her actions at all.

"Irene!" Shadow's loud and commanding voice filled the room, making everyone there shudder in utter surprise and fear. 

Emily and Shadow stared at the man with surprised looks on their faces. Seeing Shadow so angry was a new sight for them considering the man usually carried a calm persona and had never raised his voice ever before, at least not in front of them.

On the other hand, Irene immediately dropped on her knees as she pleaded, "Sire, you can punish me for my stepping out of line but can you please not avoid feeding anymore. You can't keep neglecting your health like this..."

"Get out!" Shadow whispered but it was pretty clear that he was not happy about Irene exposing about his situation in front of Emily and Kaiden.

"Sire...!" The worry was clear in Irene's eyes as she looked at her Master pleadingly.

Emily moved to help Irene stand up before she turned her attention towards Shadow, "Don't be angry at her. She's worried about you." Saying that she turned back to face Irene before continuing, "Don't worry anymore. We will take care of him. Go and get some rest and if he dared to punish you or the others, just inform me about that." 

A small smile broke out on Irene's lips as she nodded her head. The look in her eyes clearly stated just how grateful she was for Emily's help. "Thank you, Miss Alessandro." 

Emily watched as Irene's silhouette disappeared from the room. If not for the fact that she knew about how fast a vampire could move, she would have thought that the woman just teleported out of there. 

"Why are you being so moody all of a sudden? If your body needs blood then why are you denying it? Just feed." Kaiden seemed pretty displeased as he questioned Shadow and stared at him with questioning eyes.

Emily too agreed with Kaiden's questions. She knew that Shadow didn't like feeding usually and that's why he only fed every once in a couple of years. Considering he was the Supreme Immortal, his body didn't require him to feed daily like the other vampires. But his current actions were not making any sense to her. Even if he didn't like to feed he still needed to since his body required the blood. 

Shadow let out a small sigh as he finally turned to look at the two of them. His eyes had returned to their normal color but he still looked a little bit pale and tired. "My body isn't accepting any blood, no matter what type of blood it is. I didn't tell them because I don't want them to worry." 

Emily knew that he was referring to Irene and the others when he said 'them'. But listening to his explanation behind avoiding feeding even when his body needed it, made her worry too. How come his body needed him to feed but refused to accept the blood? It didn't make any sense at all.

She was about to speak when Kaiden interrupted her. "Angel, how about you take the spirit bests upstairs and spend some time with them. I'll handle this here and we will come upstairs after that." He suggested.

Emily stood there looking at her mate for a couple of seconds before she took a glance in Shadow's direction. Letting out a small sigh she returned her attention to her mate and nodded her head. "Fine, I'll be waiting upstairs. Please take care of him." 

She was surely curious to know exactly what was going on with Shadow and she really hated to be kept in the dark. However, she trusted Kaiden. If her mate believed that he could help Shadow then she was going to trust him and let him handle the situation. 

Giving a last look at Shadow, she walked towards her spirit beasts that were still busy playing and then headed upstairs along with them, leaving Kaiden and Shadow behind.

Kaiden watched as Emily ascended the stairs along with her fox spirits and headed upstairs. Only after that did he turn to face Shadow and asked, "Is it because of her? Is your body refusing others' blood because it wants her blood?" 

Shadow remained silent but it seemed like Kaiden already knew the answer. At this point, he wasn't even surprised to see that Kaiden had already guessed the reason behind his current state.

"Let me guess... Your body needs her blood but that's the last thing you want..." 

"Her blood will start healing our soulmate bond. It will become stronger and will ruin all my efforts of severing our bond." Shadow spoke as he cut off Kaiden's sentence.

The room was filled with silence as Kaiden tried to process Shadow's words. "Then... what are you planning to do now? You can't ignore this anymore. Your health isn't great and you..." 

He was getting so tense that he soon started pacing around the room while Shadow remained standing next to the window in silence, not saying anything as he wasn't sure what to say. 

Kaiden suddenly stopped next to Shadow and forced the man to face him by pulling his shoulders to turn him. "I think I found a solution...."