Gabriel's Mate by Tina Folsom Page A

and all she could think of was to lick it off him and swallow it. The scent of his blood assaulted her senses, and she recognized irrevocably that she was thirsty—thirsty for blood. While she’d never been squeamish when it came to blood—as a doctor she certainly couldn’t afford that luxury—she’d never liked the smell of it, let alone felt the kind of inexplicable craving she felt for Gabriel’s blood.
    Confused, Maya scrambled off his lap.
    She couldn’t explain why she’d kissed him, kissed the very man who’d scared her when she’d first seen him, whose disfiguration had repulsed her. When she looked at him now, however, she felt no disgust. Only a deep attraction to him.
    Gabriel stood and looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. “Maya, I’m …” There was regret in his voice, or was it shame?
    She stepped back and turned away from him before she could jump him and take his blood. She wanted to ask him so many questions, but in her present state she couldn’t guarantee she could keep her hands off him. And all her fragile ego needed right now was another embarrassing situation like the one that had just happened. “It was my fault. It won’t happen again.” All he’d done was comfort her, and she’d bitten him in the process. How ungrateful was that?
    She looked at the bathroom door, searching for an escape to be alone with her thoughts and to get away from his tempting scent. If she stayed in his presence any longer, she would succumb to it and maul him like a hungry tiger. “I need to take a shower.”
    Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’ll send Yvette in to bring you fresh clothes.” She heard his footsteps as he crossed the room, and seconds later the door closed behind him. She was alone – more alone than she’d been in her entire life.
    When she stood in the shower, rivulets of warm water ran down her body as if they could cleanse her of the shocking news she’d been handed. She hoped against all hope that she was still in a dream—a completely wacko-makes-no-sense-at-all dream—and her life was still the same: she was a doctor, a pretty decent one, with aspirations to advance her career in medical research and the desire to make a difference.
    Her research in the field of human sexuality, or more precisely sexual dysfunctions in both males and females, was going well. She was on her way to breaking new ground, and her chances of winning a major federal grant to support her work were high. She couldn’t just flunk out now. This was her life’s work.
    Maya touched her arms and legs and could feel no difference in them. They felt just as human as before. And her skin color was still the same. Weren’t vampires supposed to be all pale and pasty because they couldn’t stand the rays of the sun? Or would her color fade with time?
    Maya stared at the glass enclosure of the shower and watched tiny streams of water descend along it onto the white marble beneath. There was no reflection of her in the glass. Was it enough to prove her a vampire? Couldn’t there be another explanation? As a research scientist, she knew better than to jump to conclusions or take other people’s statements at face value. She would have to tackle this whole situation the same way she approached her research: with logic, not emotion.
     Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of how hungry she was. But instead of salivating for a nice big steak, she visualized the blood on Gabriel’s lip. She’d seen the shock in his eyes when he’d realized that she’d bitten him. Gabriel had stared at her as if she’d gone crazy. And maybe she had, but she’d craved his blood. The memory of its smell made her drool even now.
    She opened her mouth and let her finger slip over her upper teeth. They were still the same, only … there, one of the incisors felt pointier. She rubbed against it trying to see if someone had stuck some plastic onto it to make it pointy, but she couldn’t detect anything