37
EVIE
E verything changed the moment I swallowed Kylo’s blood.
He carried me through his bedroom to the bathroom, placing me on the tile as he kissed my forehead. The bathroom was spacious and decadent, with a large bathtub and an even larger shower. The fixtures and faucets had brass finishes, and the walls were a moody forest green. Everything in Kylo’s home was so very Kylo . Dark and sophisticated, with a secret warmth and brightness underpinning it all.
All of his anger at my revenge plot had completely melted away.
Even stranger, so had mine.
And maybe it was all temporary, just the haze of dark lust and power and obsession, the natural release of buried emotion and yearning.
I didn’t know. Sometimes it felt like I didn’t know anything anymore.
And right now, that was okay.
“I would much prefer to run you a bath, baby,” Kylo said, “but it seems our new habit of rolling around in the mud has made showering the more reasonable option.”
I nodded, wrinkling my nose at the thought of bathing in a vat of dirt and blood. “Agreed.”
Kylo looked back at me with a grin, his eyes flashing for a moment. “Stop being so damn cute. It makes me want to mark every inch of you.”
My eyes widened. He let the water warm as his words infected me with heat and curiosity.
Water fell like rain from the shower head, and I approached the soothing steam and smell of mint and eucalyptus.
Kylo was quick to kiss my forehead, his hand finding mine. “May I undress you, little one?”
I nodded. He was so gentle with me that I struggled to remember the foundation of violence this house was built on, the darkness that lived under his skin.
The same as what lived under mine.
That little dimple in his cheek was a weapon of its own. I brushed my fingertips across it, and Kylo kissed my hand.
“What did I say about being cute?”
“I can’t help it. It’s just my nature.”
He rolled his eyes as he helped me out of my dress. “I’m glad you’re finally owning up to your evil little tricks. I was growing quite tired of being the only one accused of sex demon powers.”
The teasing smile evaporated the moment my dress fell to the floor. I squirmed under the weight of Kylo’s sudden silence, his stare that penetrated straight through me and into my soul. I’d never been looked at this way.
“Evie… you are perfect ,” he whispered reverently, as if he were speaking about some artistic masterpiece. He stepped closer to me, then crouched. His touch was impossibly gentle as he pulled my panties to the floor.
His fingertips skimmed back up my legs, and I shuddered when he kissed my upper thigh. When he kissed just above my pussy, inhaling deeply, my stomach fluttered in a way that was disorienting.
He kissed my stomach next, and that act felt strangely more intimate in ways I couldn’t quite put into words. He was slow to rise. His palms skated over my breasts, squeezing before he circled each nipple.
A moan escaped my lips, and my core was suddenly pulsing. It was as if he were exploring every piece of me—this body that he’d claimed by blood.
And yet, it was more than sexual. It was an act of worship. The look in his deep blue eyes was equal parts primal and adoring.
When he straightened back up, he was still silent for a moment as he grasped my chin. His other hand still explored my body, cupping my ass next as I gasped. It was as if he couldn’t stop—couldn’t get enough of me the same way I couldn’t get enough of him.
“I don’t have words for the hold you have over me, angel,” he said softly. “There is no end to the depths of my obsession. Every inch of your body, every beat of your vulnerable heart, every shade of your multitudinous soul, and every thought in your beautiful mind—I need to see it all, to possess it all. Because you already possess me. I fear the lengths I would go, the distances I would travel, the atrocities I would commit to keep you safe. Or merely to ensure you always know just how much I adore you.”
My eyes welled. Because there was no way to run from Kylo and his earnestness, the look of utter devotion in his gaze. Each of his words burrowed deep inside of me, winning over even my most distrusting parts.
I didn’t know what to say, so instead of speaking, I simply melted into his chest. He slowly wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head. He held me like this, unyielding, until I finally pulled away.
Those pools of blue were ripe with emotion, his brows slightly drawn. It looked like something hard inside him had softened. He exhaled deeply, as if with some great relief.
Wordlessly, Kylo peeled off his muddy shirt and stepped out of his pants. I had to remind myself to breathe when his boxers came off.
A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “My eyes are up here, angel.”
I cleared my throat. I dragged my gaze up from his semi-hard, frighteningly large appendage, but I didn’t make it very far. Because now I was unabashedly staring at his finely tuned abs and chest—the hardened muscles and constellation of tattoos in sigil-like structures. The midnight blue and dark purple hues of some of the designs shimmered slightly, and they reminded me of the cosmos themselves.
Kylo’s cocky grin didn’t melt an inch as he pulled me through the glass shower doors and under the inviting, steady stream of hot water that fell like rain.
“Hey—it’s my turn now. I didn’t rush you ,” I said indignantly, now staring at his stupidly beautiful nude form as water droplets streaked down his skin.
“My apologies, baby. Please do take your time.”
Kylo reached for a bottle of soap as my hands roamed his chest, tracing the sigils. I stared deeper into the magickal fabric, searching for their properties. When one of them burned my fingertip, I yelped.
“You okay?” Kylo asked, tipping my chin up. When I nodded, he shook his head with a teasing glint in his eyes. “Naughty little witch. You should know better than to pry into another crafty chaos magician’s work.”
I huffed. I didn’t enjoy being on the other end of sneaky magick, as hypocritical as it was.
“You’ll meet my maker soon enough,” Kylo said.
My heart stuttered, and I frowned.
“Don’t be afraid,” Kylo said. He lathered the soap in his hands. “He’s going to help you manage your magick. I would never let anyone near you who wasn’t loyal to me and safe for you.”
When I didn’t protest, Kylo released another breath. I could see it now—what I’d been so unwilling and much too paranoid to see before.
The sheer intensity of Kylo’s care for me.
The care that wasn’t merely words; it was in every action, every unconscious instinct, every gentle touch, every romantic gesture, every apology, every response to my desires and needs and boundaries.
I didn’t know it was possible for a man to treat me this way. Like I wasn’t too sensitive or strange or childish or irritating, unworthy of pleasure, attentiveness, and patience.
Jacob didn’t just fail to live up to my romantic ideal—as if romance was this lofty, unattainable concept only found in fiction, as he liked to remind me—but he also failed at basic human decency. If put to the test, I didn’t think Jacob would risk anything at all to shield me from danger.
He’d already made it abundantly clear that he didn’t care enough to protect my heart. Why would I think he’d protect any other piece of me?
I mulled over this sharp contrast between the past and the present as Kylo whispered for me to close my eyes. He gently massaged the soap into my face, letting his blood that he’d smeared around my lips wash away.
I could clean my own face, but I let Kylo do it anyway. Because I saw how much it satisfied him to take care of me, and now that I’d let him in, I could finally admit how much it satisfied me too.
While my eyes were closed, Kylo’s lips met mine. I was being claimed all over again, his lips dominating mine, his tongue invading my mouth before he tore himself away.
“Open.”
I opened my eyes. My stomach dropped, as it so often did when confronted with his lethal beauty.
“I’m ready,” I blurted.
Kylo blinked. He slowly lifted a brow.
My cheeks felt hot, and I knew they were reddening when a grin spread across Kylo’s lips.
“I mean, I’m not—” Oh gods. I took a deep breath and started over as Kylo searched my face with growing amusement. “I’ve never been afraid of sex. I wasn’t holding back for idealistic or religious reasons or anything. In fact, there was a time I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.”
Kylo frowned. I noted the way his jaw ticked, and his muscles hardened. “Why?”
“Do I really need to say it aloud?” I whispered.
Kylo had already hinted at what he suspected about my past—the reason I was always running, or why I hated vampires. If he was an ancient clan leader, surely he’d connected the dots on his own.
“Yes, you do,” Kylo said sternly. “Why would you want to lose your virginity as quickly as possible?”
I went utterly still. The part of me that wanted to open up to Kylo, to please him, to be vulnerable and honest—that part was at war with my overwhelming urge to keep the door to the past locked tight.
Kylo’s features softened, even as the room filled with the unmistakable hum of dark power. He held my face in his hands, forcing me to focus back on his eyes.
“Why, angel?”
The words escaped me against my will. “Because then I’d no longer be pure, which would mean I was worthless,” I said. “And therefore, safe .”
Kylo flinched as if I’d hit him. “Evie…”
He searched my eyes, but I felt farther and farther away, as if I wasn’t entirely in this room anymore. Like I was floating backward.
“Hey,” he said, his voice a sharp hook that reeled me back to the present. “You’re safe, baby. Come back to me.”
I blinked several times. I started to feel the steam again, listening for the noise of the water hitting the tile.
Kylo slowly turned me so that my back was to his chest, and he was massaging shampoo into my scalp.
I relaxed into his touch, the kisses to my temple and cheek. “I’m sor?—”
“Please don’t apologize, angel. I’m sorry for being so insistent. I only want to know where you come from so I can understand you better and protect you. Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally too.”
I swallowed. I let myself come out of fight-or-flight as Kylo continued to wash my hair.
“My point is that I don’t feel that way anymore,” I murmured. “I don’t want to get it over with. Um, I was trying to say that… I want to do that with you .”
“Duly noted,” Kylo whispered. His lips brushed the shell of my ear, and tingling pleasure radiated through my entire body. “I sort of got the message when your needy little pussy was grinding on my lap in the forest…”
More heat flushed in my cheeks, and his cock pressed against my back.
“… however, you know I need my good girl to use her words when she wants something.” He spun me around, his thumb brushing against my lips. His eyes darkened. “ That will be a whole other kind of claiming. One that I’m not ready for.”
I deflated, my stomach sinking.
Kylo must’ve immediately read the disappointment and self-doubt in my features. He grabbed my waist, pulling me against him. “Not because I’m not endlessly, irrationally devoted to you, angel. But because I fear what such an act would do to my self-control, already pushed to its absolute fucking limits.”
His cock rested against my stomach, hard and imposing. I homed in on the tips of his fangs.
“Would feeding from me help?” I asked quietly.
Kylo shut his eyes. His cock spasmed. His grip on me tightened to the point of pain. But I didn’t move, holding my breath as if that might save me from the monster who thirsted for my blood.
“Stay still,” he rasped. “Please.”
His nostrils flared. He gritted his teeth.
“I—”
His hand instantly covered my mouth. He took several deep breaths.
The sickest part of all was that I was feeding off this rare version of Kylo—the version of him that sounded desperate—that wasn’t a being of perfect authority and dominance.
It made me feel strangely powerful, to know I had this effect on him. That I was the only one capable of pushing him to his limits.
Sicker yet was this growing, multiplying curiosity.
Of what it would feel like—for me, for him—to allow him to feed from my essence, to grow stronger from my blood. To be addicted to me, irreversibly.
My sexual virginity was not the only thing that made me valuable to the born. Blood virginity was just as prized, if not more so.
I never thought that would be something I’d be willing to lose until now.
“Thank you for listening, baby,” Kylo finally said, reaching for more soap as his muscles still trembled with power and restraint. “Yes, I’d imagine that feeding from you would help.” He laughed dryly. “But that would require your words as well. And the acknowledgement that once I taste you, I will struggle to feed from any other source. I will do so, of course, for my sake and yours. But that’s not something to take lightly. And not something I will ever force upon you.”
Something unfamiliar crawled up my spine, this strange form of anger. “I don’t want you to feed from anyone else.”
Kylo halted, his sudsy hands halfway down my arms. He stared hard into my eyes. “Gods above, Evie.” He pushed me back against the wall, careful to shield my head from the impact. “My angel is greedy for my touch, my cock, my fangs, and now she wants me all to herself, hmm? How quickly things change…”
I glared at him, and he shoved my wrists up above my head. His thigh snuck between my legs, rubbing against my core. I whimpered before I could stop myself, already slick with need.
One of his hands kept my wrists in place while the other massaged soap against my breasts, kneading my flesh and playing with my nipples in ways that were equally pleasurable and painful.
Though even the pain was quick to melt into ecstasy.
“Erase that bratty look from your face or I’ll give you a reason to pout,” he hissed, though his eyes swam with amusement. “I’m yours, baby. Been yours for a while now. You’re the one who was slow to catch up.”
He rinsed the soap from his hand in the water behind him, and in a flash, he was gripping my pussy. One of his fingers plunged inside me.
I cried out, and he kissed my forehead.
“So tight around my finger, angel, yet you think you’re ready to take my cock?”
A second finger plunged inside me, and he angled and pulsed. My eyes rolled back, my legs already trembling as I was flooded with pleasure.
“Uh-uh,” Kylo said, pulling out and leaving me needy and panting. He grinned. “There’s that adorable little pout I was talking about.”
He peeled me off the wall and back under the shower head, rinsing me off as I glowered like a soaked cat.
“Shh. We’re finishing this damn shower so I can get you in my bed and devour you whole.”
My frown melted, my eyes going wide. I stared at his mouth, looking for those deadly, sharpened canines.
“Not like that,” he said with a smirk.