“What happened?” Kieran asked.
It took a couple of moments for me to gather my thoughts. “He woke up, and it was like he didn’t recognize me. He was snarling, and his eyes were pitch-black.” I left out quite a bit there as I looked at Kieran, but I was sure he already knew a great deal of what’d happened. “His eyes reminded me of an Ascended. Is he…will he be okay?”
Kieran’s face was impressively blank, considering what had just happened. “He should be once he cools down.”
“Cools down? I think he needs more than that.” I glanced at the door. “He was about to attack you.”
“In that moment, he saw me as a challenge.” He paused. “A threat.”
“To who? Him?”
“You.”
My heart turned over heavily. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Kieran folded his arms over his broad chest. “Under the right or, I suppose extreme circumstances, those of his kind can become quite possessive.”
“With what? Their meals?”
“Did he bite you?”
“Other than the first time?” I resisted the urge to touch the nearly faded mark on my throat. “No.”
Something akin to disappointment flickered over his face, and without thinking, I opened my gift and reached out to him. There would be time later to feel guilt over prying when it didn’t seem exactly necessary. What I felt wasn’t what I imagined disappointment to feel like. This was thick and cloying, reminding me of too-heavy cream. Concern. He felt concern. I pulled my senses back.
“What was wrong with him?” I asked, even though I already suspected I knew.
He watched me for a moment. “He’ll be fine. Although, I suggest you take this time to prepare yourself before he returns.”
Frustration surged, and I narrowed my eyes. “Thanks for the suggestion, but you didn’t answer my question. You said that you warned him. About what?”
Kieran said nothing.
Never able to remain seated when anger started pumping through my blood, I grabbed the dagger and shoved off the blanket, standing.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “You plan to use that?”
“Why does everyone think I’m going to stab them when I pick up anything that’s not blunt?”
“Well,” Kieran replied blandly, “you do have a habit of doing exactly that.”
I started to argue but quickly realized that, unfortunately, he had a point. “Only when it’s deserved.” I placed the dagger on the small wooden table. “And it’s not my fault that some of you deserve to be stabbed. Repeatedly.”
He inclined his head as if he agreed with the point I’d made. “You shouldn’t worry about him—”
“And you should answer my question.” I faced him. “Something was obviously wrong with him. He wasn’t in control, and I felt his hunger. He was starving.”
“So you used your abilities?” A faint smile appeared. “Glad you took my advice.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know that Atlantians need to feed off other Atlantians. He told me that they don’t need the blood of mortals, but of their own kind. That they need to feed. But he never said why. I may not be a scholar on all things Atlantian, but I’m guessing the black eyes and him being ready to bite your head off are a couple of the reasons Atlantians need to feed?”
“The black eyes, yes. But the wanting to bite my head off probably had more to do with whatever morning activities you two were indulging in.”
My face flamed hotly, and it took everything in me to ignore that. “He needs to feed—” I thought about earlier, after the Dead Bones Clan attack. “That’s why he was staring at my arm in the woods! When you asked if he was okay. He was hungry then. That’s why he was…all growly and wanted to bite your head off.”
“Part of the reason. Yes.” Kieran looked away, dragging his teeth over his lip. A long moment passed. “He needs to feed. I could tell he was getting to the edge, but he’s not about to tip over it. He’s not that close.”
Unease blossomed. “How can he not be close? He didn’t recognize you or me.”
His gaze slid back to mine. “If he was closer to the edge, he would’ve ripped my head off, and you would be Ascending as we speak, forbidden or not. Or, you’d be dead. If he was too close to the edge, one drop of your blood would’ve sent him over. You most likely would’ve died, and when he realized what he’d done, he would’ve…I don’t even want to think about what he would’ve done.”