“Alon would never—”
“He’s not your fucking Alon any longer. He’s mine.”
“I don’t under—“
“You know what else you don’t understand? You’re mine, Natalie. Your blood is mine. No one feeds from you but me, and I’ll kill anyone who tries.”
She seemed to stop breathing for a moment. He watched the meaning of what he’d said fill her eyes, saw her understand for the first time what was really happening when he drank from her. That fire in her veins when he bit her, the electric jolt that went right to her clit . . . it wasn’t just sex. It was nutrition, and she was his food. Knowing that he was vampire, and confronting what it really meant, were two different things.
He saw the shock of realization in her eyes, and he was suddenly cold. He set her away from his body, then opened his hands and let go of her arms. She wasn’t the first woman who’d rejected what he was, but she was the first one who’d mattered.
He felt his own eyes shutter, concealing whatever emotion she might read there. “I have to check on Alon,” he said quietly, and moved toward the door, but Natalie grabbed him, her grip surprisingly strong on his forearm.
“Stop that,” she demanded.
He gave her a cool look. “Stop what?”
“Stop pushing me away. You keep looking for a reason for us not to get closer. I don’t trust you, you don’t trust me, it’s too dangerous, and now this bullshit. So I didn’t understand about Alon. Okay, I’ll learn. But that has nothing to do with you and me.”
“No? What were you thinking just now? I saw it in your face. You were horrified at the very idea of what I am, and what you are to me.”
“Oh, fuck that! So I reacted, so what? I’m not as good as you at controlling every little goddamned tic on my face. I’m not a machine like you are, I want to feel—”
He grabbed her again, holding her roughly against him. “You want to feel?” he growled against her cheek, his tongue following his words as he licked her skin. “Is that you want from me, chére?” He reached between their bodies and slid his hand into her sweatpants, finding nothing but bare skin. Stroking over her smooth belly, his fingers dipped between her thighs and found her naked and wet, her soft folds welcoming as he pushed two fingers deep into her pussy. “Do you feel that?” he whispered.
She shuddered, her entire body trembling against his as the sweet fragrance of her arousal filled his senses. He began pumping his fingers in and out, his thumb playing circles around the swollen nub of her clit, teasing, never touching. He didn’t want her to climax yet. He wanted her on the edge, begging to come. She wanted to feel? He’d make her fucking feel until she was screaming for release.
“Christian.” Her voice was a needy whisper as she moved against his hand, spreading her legs wider. “I want—” She broke off with a moan, a soft sound that ended in a sobbing breath.
“What do you want?” he murmured, kissing her eyes, her cheeks, licking the salty flavor of the tears leaking from beneath her eyelids.
“I want,” she started to say again, hesitating briefly before her eyes flashed open to stare into his. “I want you to bite me,” she said with a hiccupping breath. Her tears were rolling freely down her cheeks. “I want you.”
Christian stilled, his fingers buried deep inside her, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears as he stared at her.
“Christian,” she whispered. “Please.”
His fangs slid from his gums, aching for the thick, warm taste of her blood coating his throat. “Natalie,” he said. Just her name, but so much more. It was a question, and more than one. Was she sure that she wanted this? That she wanted him? Did she know what she was asking?
“Yes,” she said, seeming to understand. “I want you, just as you are.”
Christian bent his head, his mouth going to the taut curve of her neck, sucking at the thick roll of her vein until it was plump and ready, bursting with the rich bounty of her blood. His fangs grazed over her tender skin—once, twice. And then he bit her, groaning with pleasure as the warm honey of her blood filled his mouth and slid down his throat.
Natalie buried her face against his shoulder as he bit her, sinking her teeth into the thick muscle, muffling cries of pain that quickly changed to desire, as his bite sent waves of raw need cutting through her veins. Her belly clenched under his hand, and she gasped when he stroked his thumb directly over her clit, softly at first, then pressing down until she bucked against him, her pussy squeezing his fingers as she bit back her moans, clinging to him in order to remain upright in the throes of her orgasm.
Christian’s fangs were anchored to her throat, his arm banded around her back, the fingers of one hand digging into her hip. He waited until she was nearly limp in his arms, until there was nothing but the occasional jolt as her body recovered from her orgasm. Then, holding her still, he withdrew his fangs, relishing the last few drops of her sweet blood as he licked the wounds shut. With a final teasing stroke over her sensitive clit, he pulled his fingers from her pussy. They were coated in the cream of her orgasm.
“Natalie,” he murmured. He waited until her eyes opened in a hazy focus, and then he brought his fingers up to his mouth and deliberately licked them clean, savoring every bit of her juices.
She blushed furiously, and buried her face against his chest. “You’re horrible,” she said.
“That’s not the impression I got,” he replied smugly. “Perhaps I need to try again.” He slid his hand teasingly over her belly again, but she stopped him, pressing her body tightly against his and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“I don’t think I’d survive it,” she muttered, then noticed the bloody mark of her teeth where his neck met his shoulder, just visible above his T-shirt. She touched it carefully. “I’m sorry,” she said, but he shook his head and covered her fingers with his, rubbing the injured spot.
“Don’t be sorry. It marks me as yours, just as my bite marks you. Vampires are a possessive lot, chére. You should know that before we take this any further. I’m a vampire lord, whether I have a territory yet or not, and you’re mine. If that’s not what you want, then—”
She put her fingers over his lips. “Stop. I told you. You’re what I want. And, don’t forget, it goes both ways. You’re mine, too.”