Blood Revealed Read Free Page A

to change daily. Patrick wasn’t entirely certain what the change was. Dominic seemed to have simply grown . He seemed taller. He looked people in the eye far more easily than he ever had before and, of course, he spoke.
    Dominic moved over to the group of sofas and armchairs where the four of them sat. He dug inside his leather coat as he walked and withdrew a sheet of paper and held it out to Garrett.
    Garrett unfolded the sheet and began to read.
    Kate looked at Patrick and smiled. “New information I guess.”
    Dominic stayed on his feet. He crossed his arms in an easy pose and gave a small shrug. “Nial didn’t want to risk the information being sent electronically. So he sent me instead.”
    When Patrick had first met Dominic, the man’s speech had been thick with the odd inflections and uneven modulation that marked a deaf man’s speech. In just a few short weeks, Dominic’s speech had grown smooth and even. Tenor seemed richer and deeper. His pronunciation was perfect. There was barely any hint of accent.
    The quality of his speech and voice tended to make Patrick blink. It was the most astounding change of all the changes that had happened to Dominic lately.
    Sebastian had explained that because Dominic listened to the intention behind words, the meaning that was in people’s heads as they spoke the words, it was much easier for Dominic to understand intuitively what words meant. For that reason improvements in his English and his pronunciation had been rapid.
    “There’s a change to the schedule,” Garrett said.
    “A major change?” Kate asked, sounding concerned.
    “Minor,” Dominic said. “The press conference has to be moved by fifteen minutes to reach all the major networks.”
    Patrick reflected on the irony of having to court media networks just like any other public relations team would. They were about to make an announcement that would change every human’s worldview, but had to schedule it in between network advertising. He drew in a deep breath, controlling his irritation.
    It was the breath that did it.
    The inhalation pulled air toward him and allowed him to sample Dominic’s scent. Smelling a human and reacting to it was something that Patrick was still getting used to. A vampires senses— his senses—were so much more sensitive than a human’s. A human’s scent, even their pheromones, could rouse unexpected sensations.
    He had grown used to feeling a disjointed sense of yearning when he sampled someone. Roman had explained that the sensation was an undeveloped touch of blood fever, that the human he had scented had roused his hunger for their blood, except that because he was not ready to feed, the sensation was muted.
    Muted was good. Patrick wasn’t sure he was ready to cope with a full attack of blood fever. He had been hearing stories from all of them about what it was like, about how it overrode free will and made a vampire blind to anything but the need to feed. Because Nial and Garrett were controlling his feedings with a stopwatch and a whip, the worst he had felt up until now had been a mild craving that passed within seconds.
    This was different. Strong, almost overwhelming sensations rippled through him. Patrick could barely distinguish the different emotions. It was a hot, silvered cocktail that caught at the back of his throat, squeezed his heart and made the pit of his belly clench.
    He dug his fingers into the upholstery on the arm of the chair, clenching desperately, trying hard not to let anyone else in the room see what he was doing. He controlled his breathing, keeping it as even and as slow as he could. There were four vampires in this room and all of them had extraordinary hearing. All of them would recognize what was happening to him if they took notice.
    Garrett passed the sheet of paper over to Kate, who began to read while Roman moved behind her and read over her shoulder. Garrett looked up and his glance fell upon Patrick. His eyes narrowed.
    In the back