He stepped closer to her and took her arm gently in his. But as she looked up at him, she saw the deep frown between his brows, something that seemed as much a part of him as the shade of his dark hair or his flecked teal eyes. “Lily, I want to apologize for what happened before, here, when I took blood from you. I wasn’t myself and I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “I don’t regret what you did but I haven’t been able to make sense of why I enjoyed it so much. I feel very confused by all of this, especially by what Sebastien said earlier about the chains not lying.”
He stepped closer and the chain at her neck began a new vibration as desire for him rose in a crisp, sharp wave. Was it possible this was more than just a result of the blood-chain?
His desire returned as well, flowing in waves over her body, which lit her up even more despite her fatigue.
“What about what Sebastien said?”
“About how the binding with his wife made things worse between them.”
“And this hasn’t been intolerable for you? You haven’t hated this experience, hated being with a vampire?”
“I did at first and I’ve despised the situation, being forced together, but you already know the pleasure I experienced, that I…” She couldn’t finish the thought; she was too embarrassed.
But her desire for him kept building and the chain almost shook now. She felt his need and knew that, as before, he hungered for her blood.
“Do you need to feed?” Please say yes.
He thumbed her cheek. “It’s not critical, not like before. But right now, I’d give just about anything to have another taste, in every way, including your blood.” He slid his hand down her neck and over her breast, caressing her.
“Adrien,” she whispered. Her need had become an ache that echoed through her bones, her blood.
She shivered. Whatever fatigue she felt melted away, so that when he leaned into her and slanted his lips over hers, a soft warbling sounded in her throat.
Her hands found his arms. She stroked slowly upward, feeling the size and strength of his muscles, to shape her hands over his powerful shoulders. Adrien had a wonderful mouth, sensual, moist lips.
He cursed, drew back, and removed his Glock and harness. His shirt went next, which meant her hands got busy again as she smoothed her fingers over his thick, fleshy pecs. His muscles flexed and relaxed, which caused her to spasm low.
Was she doing this? Having a consensual experience, not just feeding Adrien out of his desperation, but agreeing to make love with him? What did it mean?
Confusion once more swirled through her mind.
Yet whatever bewilderment her head experienced, her body knew exactly what it wanted—to feel Adrien, to touch him. She’d never been with such a physically imposing man before.
His tongue played in her mouth, teasing every recess, thrusting, teasing a little more, showing her with each flick and push what he could do to other parts of her body.
Flames leaped at her now, teasing her deep within, heating her up, tightening one part, releasing another, building the tension, seeking the release.
She pulled back and stripped off her shirt, then her bra. She would have gotten rid of her pants at the same time, but he moved closer and put a palm between her breasts. Though she wanted to touch him, she stopped and let him look at her, to stroke her breasts with his hands and his fingers, to pinch her nipples, then to lean down and swirl his tongue over each tip.
“Sit down on the edge of the bed.”
His hoarse voice took out the remaining strength in her legs and she did what he wanted. He pushed her thighs apart and, dropping down to land on his knees, he got a better angle and suckled her breasts, taking turns.
She arched into his mouth and he took as much of each breast in as he could, suckling, licking, biting until she moaned heavily. She dove her fingers into his hair and used pressure on his head to force him to take more. He put a hand on her back and pushed at the same time as well. For several minutes, a sucking sound filled the room.
Her body contracted deep within, almost spasming at the erotic feel of his mouth as he nursed on her.
Without warning, he stopped and pushed her onto her back. He worked her pants off, struggling with her shoes for a few seconds. She sensed his mounting desire, and as he removed her thong she spread her legs wide.
You’re bare, drifted into her mind.
I am.
Without leaving his knees, he growled, slid his arms beneath her thighs, and started to feast on her low. He used his tongue to separate the folds of her body and tease the outer recess of her sex. He grunted and drove his tongue inside her, doing what he’d said he wanted to do, to taste every part of her.
He used his mouth and his tongue, devouring her hard. His tongue moved swiftly in and out, faster and faster. She’d never experienced this kind of hard, driving speed, not with a tongue.
Her body seized and she cried out. She was close.
He went faster, gripping her hips with his fingers, squeezing and driving until ecstasy tightened within and released in a driving flow of sensation that sent her cries up to the ceiling.
He sustained that incredible speed and sensation until the last of her whimpers filled the room and her knees grew lax.
Kissing her inner thighs, he was suddenly in her mind. Did that please you, Lily?
She looked down at his slow-moving head. Speaking to her telepathically, he didn’t have to stop the kisses. Yes, she responded. Adrien, that was amazing.
With his lips, he plucked on the inside of her leg, then using his right hand he massaged beneath her thigh, rubbing and smoothing her skin, kneading her muscles, and working his way to the center of her body. He began licking her low again, only this time he used two fingers to penetrate her, stimulating the outer part of her with his tongue while he began to slowly tempt her once more, thrusting his fingers into her.
She was almost too sensitive, but as he worked her, pleasure mounted once more. The tip of his tongue teased her clitoris, while his fingers worked her faster and faster.
Does this please you, Lily?
You’ll make me come again.
There’s something I want to do.
Oh, God, Anything, Adrien.
I just need to warn you. I want to take blood from your vein, here, down low. You should be prepared.
For some reason, she hadn’t considered just how many places on her body could give up the blood he sought. A shiver ran through her, increasing the pleasure of his flicking tongue and driving fingers.
May I?
And there was only one answer. Do it.
He shifted slightly, balancing his free arm across her hips and moving to the skin to the side of her mons. He began to lick in long sweeps of his tongue. All the while he kept his fingers pulsing inside her.
Deep within her body, she felt her vein respond, vibrating and swelling, as though part of what he could do was call to her blood. Maybe he could.
He breathed heavily, a raspy sound as his fingers thrust into her. Pleasure began to build once more. Her abdomen rose and fell as her vein responded to him.
Ready?
Yes.
A quick sting of fangs, a withdrawal, and she felt her blood rush from her body. A new sucking sound followed as well as a pervasive sensation of pleasure in her lower abdomen like nothing she’d known before. Flames once more licked at her, this time over every part of her.
As she listened to him suck, as she heard the wetness of her body with each drive of his fingers, as pleasure rose, her back arched and she cried out. Almost there.
I can feel you tight in your channel. Come for me, Lily.
Something about his voice in her head brought her, only this time the sensation of ecstasy ripped through so that she screamed now, her body gripping his fingers, contracting and releasing, sensations of fire and pleasure driving through her, spreading across her abdomen, unequaled sensations.
As the climax eased, and her hips grew q
uiet, she heard him grunting as he sucked down her blood.
His movements grew gentle, almost sipping at her and finally he swiped his tongue over her vein. She felt a coolness enter her bloodstream. Was that the rebuilding serum?
Yes, something our genetics created to ensure a continuous supply of blood because we feed one another.
It feels wonderful. She was grateful for telepathy. She breathed raggedly through her mouth and wasn’t sure she could speak even if she wanted to.
Adrien rose up and removed his shoes then carefully peeled away his pants from a massive erection. She lifted up on her elbows to watch. She’d always liked looking at a man’s body, at how different it was from hers, how a man’s cock was designed to fit inside her.
Not surprisingly, her mouth watered. “I want a taste before you enter me.”
He groaned heavily as he lay down beside her on the bed. She shifted to arrange herself, her hand gliding over his hip and caressing his buttocks.
He put his hand at the back of her head, a very controlling signal that weakened her all over again. He fed her his cock, one thick inch at a time. Her hands played with his ass and as he pushed inside her mouth, his buttocks flexed. She groaned as she licked her tongue over the crown, as she sucked and dragged her teeth lightly.
He sped up, thrusting into her mouth, still holding her head. She took him deep, as deep as she could, and let him do what he wanted. Her hands grew hungry sliding up and over his back then down his buttocks, his thighs, rubbing and feeling the strength of his muscles.
Do you want to come like this?
She looked up at him, still savoring him. He met her gaze and continued to thrust into her mouth. She sucked and licked and just stared into his eyes. How they glittered in the dark, heavy with passion.
“No,” he murmured, pulling out of her mouth.
She smiled as she sat up. “You have my blood on your lips.”
* * *
“Your blood tastes like nothing I’ve ever known before.”
Adrien rose from the bed, then leaned down and picked Lily up in his arms. He’d done all this while she lay on the comforter; now he wanted her in his bed while he took her the rest of the way.
Holding her in his arms, he flipped the comforter and sheet back then settled her in the center of the bed so that he could enter her the way he wanted to, face-to-face, his hips moving into hers.
“I want to watch you come, to kiss you while I bring you again.”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded as she spread her legs for him once more and held out her arms to him.
The gestures were of a woman with experience, a woman who had been married and was welcoming her man. He felt moved though he shouldn’t have been and he recalled once more what Sebastien had said about the chains—and what Alfonse had told him, that something extraordinary was happening between him and the human.
He planted his knees between her thighs. Her hips rocked as he positioned his cock against what was shedding her sweet-tasting fluids.
His jaw trembled at the memory. So many remembered sensations poured over him, of what his tongue had felt like moving deep inside her, how much he loved her folds and secret hidden place, the softness of her bare skin, the sense of her vein rising for him, reaching for him, the feel of his fangs piercing her and releasing her blood, then the blood hitting his tongue.
He groaned at the memory as he pushed inside Lily with his cock a rigid pole, as he rolled his hips and felt the answering undulations of her body, as she pushed her palms up his arms, then dug her fingers into his biceps and moaned.
Her head rocked back and forth.
Pleasure. So much pleasure.
He dipped low and began to kiss her as her head moved. He caught her cheek, her chin. He wanted her to taste what he tasted.
Once seated within her, his cock thrusting steadily now and building, he crashed his mouth down on hers.
She rewarded him with a sudden cry, an arching of her body, and her nails raking down the length of this back. She suckled the tongue that had pleasured her and his balls tightened.
These past twelve hours with Lily were almost worth his year in that hellhole. He couldn’t have planned this kind of all-consuming reward for his struggles.
He drew back just enough to look down at her as he drove into her. He’d never been with a woman like this, repeatedly in the space of several hours, looking at her, into her eyes, wanting to watch her come, to feel her pleasure through the shared chain.
He sped up, and that was something he could give her that a human couldn’t. He had speed and strength. He hit a stride that had her lips parted, her lungs dragging in air. She looked almost panicked, almost in pain, her brow slightly furrowed as he drove her toward another powerful climax. Only this time, he would come with her, giving her all that he had to give as a man, his power enhanced by the sharing of her blood.
“Adrien. So close.” Her voice was barely a breath of air.
He nodded, taking in the flush on her cheeks, the delicate sheen of perspiration on her upper lip, how her eyes were dilated. The fragrance of her sex flowed upward, making him harder.
He thrust heavily into her now, deep rolls of his hips against her, driving her to the cliff’s edge, pushing her hard.
She made a sound between a grunt and a mewl.
As she began to cry out, he felt her tighten, and sensing her low in that way, on the cusp of orgasm, triggered his release. He sped up and came, pleasure ripping through him, along all the sensitive nerves.
He heard her screaming, saw her wide-open mouth. “Look at me,” he shouted.
Her gaze latched onto his and she cried out once more as pleasure flowed up his abdomen, climbing higher and higher, his skin on fire, his chest expanding. He shouted several times but kept pushing into her.
She gripped his arms. You’ll come a second time, won’t you? I can feel it.
He nodded. Yes. God, yes.
He pumped hard now and faster. She writhed beneath him as his balls fired up once more and another shot of pleasure, more intense this time, rushed through his cock. At the same time, he felt her grip him low as she came again, tugging on him, crying out, thrashing beneath him.
Only as she started down from the heights did his body begin to settle over hers. In stages his thrusts slowed, and her hips grew quiet until at last, panting, he lay on top of her, his body rising and falling as she struggled to breathe as well.
One hand of hers slid to the back of his neck and played with his hair, the other became tangled with his left hand, their fingers entwined.
You were so beautiful when you came.
Adrien. What is this between us? I don’t understand.
Pleasure.
Understatement.
Yes. He smiled.
He didn’t want to leave her body. He felt a need to say something more to her, but nothing else came to mind.
* * *
Lily lay slack against the comforter, sated. She pulled Adrien’s palm to her mouth. She closed her eyes and kissed his damp skin, then licked. He tasted like heaven, like something she could devour over and over and still want more, a flavor very masculine, yet more, maybe vampire.
He stayed inside her, which suited her right now. She had missed this so much, the closeness, the pounding motion, the weight of a man.
Her husband had been six-two and worked out, but Adrien had so much muscle that his weight felt like the earth covering her and protecting her.
For this split moment in time she felt safe, like everything would be all right, that all would be well. She knew it wouldn’t last, but she breathed it in and savored the taste of him as she continued to lick and kiss his palm.
She sniffed his fingers. “You smell like herbs, like something I’d put in a soup to give it a strong edge. And I’m in heaven.”
He kissed her cheek gently. “Me, too. Thank you for all of this, Lily, especially your blood. You’ve saved my life repeatedly this night, and I owe you.”
r /> She finally shifted her head on the pillow so she could look at him. Tears welled. “I have you bound in chains, Adrien. You can’t be grateful to me or owe me. You’re probably going to die because of this. Kiernan and Daniel won’t let you live once they’ve gotten their hands on the weapon.”
“I’m not going to die. You should know this about me. I have a strong will to live.”
“I know. I can sense it in you.” She caressed his cheek. “I haven’t told you everything.”
“I hope you’ll be able to.”
Her thoughts turned to her family and to Josh, the hope that he truly was still alive. Maybe it was her fatigue or the simple reality of her situation, but the pain of her loss suddenly overwhelmed her.
Tears streamed down her face and with Adrien still buried inside her, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, wept, and cried out. The sounds came from so deep inside her they didn’t seem to come from her at all.
Adrien held her fast in return. He let her cry and groan and shout and weep some more.
The only thing he did was occasionally thumb tears away from her cheeks.
“Lily,” he murmured softly now and then. “So much pain.”
His tenderness, so completely unexpected because of her opinion of his kind, kept the tears coming. She wanted to tell him the truth about Josh, but the words wouldn’t come. Kiernan’s orders were clear: No one must know about Josh.
“I miss my family so much.”
He lifted her to a sitting position, held her close, and rocked her in his arms.
“I am ashamed of my kind right now. Your family should still be alive.”
She nodded against him as she continued to weep.
* * *
Adrien petted her head, rubbed her neck. So unnecessary, these deaths.
He understood earth-based accidents like an unexpected ocean wave that took down a ship or a bolt of lightning or an earthquake that closed up a living cavern. But acts of evil, designed by men whether vampires or humans, that took the lives of the innocent were among the most abhorred in his world, in both their worlds.