"What are you going to do?" Shadow questioned as he watched Kaiden rolling up the sleeve of his left hand right after declaring that he had a solution for the current situation.
Instead of answering the question, Kaiden stretched his hand out and offered his wrist to the man with an assuring smile on his lips.
Shadow first stared at the bare wrist that had been pushed in front of his face and then he finally turned his attention to Kaiden while pushing his hand away. "Stop this nonsense. I'll be fine. You don't have to do this."
Kaiden immediately let out a frustrated sigh as he spoke, "Can you stop acting like it's no big deal? Since you don't want to feed from Angel, then you should try my blood. Though it's not the same as hers, there is still a chance that my blood will work. Just give it a try."
Shadow tried to turn away as he muttered, "You really don't have to worry..."
"Stop being hard and just do as I'm saying. Here, try it." Kaiden responded as he once again pushed his wrist in front of Shadow's eyes.
Once again Shadow pushed the hand away and tried to walk away but Kaiden stopped him even before he could have taken a single step away.
"You are too stubborn..." Kaiden muttered as he used his elongated nails to scratch his left wrist before placing it hurriedly against Shadow's lips.
Everything happened so suddenly that Shadow didn't even realize what Kaiden was up to until the strong metallic smell of blood entered his system, instantly enticing his hunger and making his gums itch as his fangs threatened to come out.
"Go ahead..." This time, Kaiden used a soft tone as he again pushed his bleeding wrist against Shadow's lips which had started quivering.
As seconds ticked by, the hunger started getting out of Shadow's control. Even if he wanted to resist, it seemed like his body had other plans and was no longer in the state of listening to him. His eyes that had turned dark crimson turned to look at Kaiden once again and found the man giving him a slight nod of encouragement.
Though Shadow was no longer trying to push his hand away, Kaiden could clearly see that he was still hesitant. "You are wasting my blood, Shadow. Look, it has started dripping on the floor... DAMN...!"
Kaiden was taken by surprise as Shadow suddenly captured his bleeding wrist in his hands and ran his tongue against the blood, making his skin tingle. Before he could have recovered from it, he got another shock when Shadow sank his fangs in his skin and started feeding.
*******
Emily was in the middle of writing the next episode of her series when Shadow walked into the study where she was currently sitting. Kaiden was following him right behind and looking at both the men, she was quite surprised.
While Shadow looked in a better state than before, the same couldn't be said about Kaiden. The latter not only looked a little pale but also... unhappy.
"What happened?" She asked while closing her tablet and standing up to move towards the two men who were still standing near the entrance of the study.
Shadow gave her a small smile before he nodded towards Kaiden and whispered, "He's whining. That's all."
The reply made Emily arch her eyebrows as she turned to look at Kaiden with questioning eyes. It didn't seem like the two of the men had argued but she had a feeling that Kaiden was unhappy because of Shadow.
She moved to stand next to her mate who gave her a pouting look before suddenly wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his embrace. "I'm never letting him feed from me again, even if he will be about to die. I'm just letting you know." He whispered next to her ear in his whiny voice.
Emily hurriedly pulled away from the hug to look at her mate as she asked, "Your blood worked?" She could finally understand why Shadow looked so much better than his previous self and then the reason behind Kaiden's current state also hit her which made her burst out into giggles.
"Angel...!" Kaiden sure was not happy to see the love of his life making fun of him.
"Fine, fine. I won't laugh but why are you being like this? You offered him your blood on your own, then why be whiny now?" She questioned him as she looked at Shadow and gave him a soft smile.
"I forgot about the consequences," Kaiden muttered back in response with an embarrassed look on his face. His cheeks were covered in a light blush.
Emily tried her best to hold back her smile as she softly patted her mate's head. Her eyes noticed Shadow who conjured out a glass of fresh pomegranate juice and handed it to her which she accepted before handing it over to Kaiden to drink.
"I was not in my best state of mind... but I still tried to keep everything as minimal as possible. Both the pain and... pleasure. Besides, it doesn't seem right to use compulsion on him." Shadow spoke in his defense as he scratched the back of his neck slightly to cover just how embarrassed he was also feeling at that moment.
Emily looked at both the men for a couple of seconds before she spoke, "Is this really that big of a deal? You both are grown-ups and according to Shadow, the feelings weren't that intense. I think you two should let it pass and focus on other things."
She was silent for a couple of seconds before she turned to look at Shadow and offered him her free hand which he immediately accepted. She turned to look at Kaiden who was finally looking at her now instead of staring at the floor. Brushing her fingers softly against his cheek, she gave him a warm smile. "I'm really happy to know that you both are getting closer. Thank you so much, Kaiden. Thank you for what you did today for Shadow."
She was soon gifted with a warm hug from her mate and then Shadow joined them in the hug when Kaiden pulled the man in their hug.
Only if life could always be full of such happy moments....