closed her eyes and sobbed from the pleasure of it. The relief.
The thick warmth slid over her tongue and down her throat, the pain easing. His blood was fragrant and dark and exquisite. Luna couldn’t think past her hunger; her thirst was too intense.
But the more her pain eased, the clearer her mind got.
She was so goddamn weak. Too weak to resist him. He had to think she was some desperate, pathetic creature. How could he not?
She needed to release him, to get the hell away, but Gunner’s wide palm at the back of her head held her firm.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Luna,” he growled out. “You take what you need, and you don’t stop until you’re done.”
She glanced down his body.
He was hard.
Her hands curled into fists as she squeezed her eyes shut. She should stop drinking, but she couldn’t. She needed him, this. The alternative was going back to Sir. She almost had. The hunger had grown too intense, had almost driven her to return to that monster.
She’d been hoping for Gunner fantasies for a little while longer, but that wouldn’t be happening anymore. Now everything would change. The reality was, for her to survive, she needed to drink, and nothing came for free. Sir had taught her that from the moment he took her from her mother.
And right now, Gunner was the only one offering her blood when she would have preferred it be anyone but him.
Mouth still attached to Gunner's throat, she quickly undid and shoved down her jeans, wriggling her legs to kick them off. The only thing she had that was her own was her body. Dhampir had been bartering their bodies for blood as far back as her kind had existed. It was a commonly accepted exchange.
Gunner had gone completely and utterly still.
Reluctantly, she pulled away, swiping her tongue over the wound she’d made.
She tilted her head back but couldn’t meet his gaze. “I need to keep drinking,” she murmured. “I need more. May I drink from your wrist?”
“Yes, you can have—”
Hooking her fingers in her panties she shoved them down, too.
“What are you doing?” he choked out.
“Would you prefer me naked?” She grabbed the bottom of her top to yank off.
“What the fuck, Luna?”
At his sharp, rough words, she made herself look at him. “While I drink from you, I thought you’d want to…”
“You thought I’d want to what?” he asked, his gaze boring into her.
Her eyes dipped to the huge bulge straining the front of his jeans, then back to him. “I owe you. You give me your blood and I give you—”
“Your body?”
A warmth she’d never experienced before grew low in her belly. “It feels good when I drink from you, right?” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “You can fuck me, it’s fine. It’s an accepted and common payment from a dhampir to their donor.”
He growled low, and the warmth in her belly morphed into a tingle. She’d never felt anything like it before.
“Azel took this barter?” he asked, that growl in every word. Something flashing through his eyes made her want to squirm.
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened, his fists clenching and unclenching as he took several deep breaths. Finally, he said in a voice that was impossibly rough, “Put your clothes back on, love.”
He was rejecting her offer?
Her cheeks burned as she quickly tugged her panties and jeans back on. “Sorry, I just thought…I thought…” She sounded hysterical, but she couldn’t stop it. “I need to repay you.” Her new emotions were all over the place, confusing and disorientating.
She was still hungry, shaking from her need, but she couldn’t bring herself to take from him again without giving something in return. When you owed people, it put you in a weak position. She didn’t want to be weak anymore. And not with Gunner, never with him.
He watched her carefully, but she couldn’t hold his penetrating gaze. “I don’t need payment, Luna.”
Her eyes stung. Not now, not more goddamn tears. How could she make him understand? She pressed her hand to his chest. “No…I need to give you something for all you’re doing…I need to, Gunner.” She was shaking now, and those tears threatened to escape from sheer frustration. She didn’t want to fucking cry, not again.
His head tilted to the side, his gaze searching hers. “You won’t drink from me unless I take payment from you?”
She bit her lip and nodded, holding back a whimper of hunger.
“Okay,” he said gruffly.
Relief fired through Luna, and she reached down to undo her