Chapter 28 - Cammon #2
I was in agony, and it was the most exquisite pain I’d ever suffered. I would happily endure this torture for hours if she had a mind, wanting but never giving in or reciprocating. Not until she asked.
Her fingers reached my neck, trailed along the edges of my jaw as they journeyed towards the back of my head.
And then the slightest pressure. The tiniest shift in her body as she rolled onto her toes to raise herself higher.
My eyes flew open, and she was right there.
Her green and gold eyes took up my entire worldview until my gaze dropped to her slightly parted lips.
Parted lips that revealed a hint of fang.
I remembered the pinch of her bite. How those teeth had pierced my flesh, how her tongue had pulsed against my throat while she’d drunk, the tug on my artery as she’d drawn blood.
The deep pleasure that had kicked in as soon as the brief pain had subsided.
I’d never craved a vampire’s bite, but I itched for her to drink from me again, come what may.
But she wasn’t asking to bite me. Not with her attention fixated on my mouth.
She wanted a taste of something else, and by the way her lips opened another fraction, she was inviting me to partake.
The flavour of her uncertainty remained, but now it was accompanied by a glimmer of anticipation.
She was nervous, but she was also daring herself to take this leap—to take something she wanted.
I lowered my head in offering but stopped just short of making contact, giving her control.
At my gift, she froze again, uncertainty once more taking hold, but then her eyes hardened, filled with fire, and her grip on my neck tightened as she readied herself to leap.
Yes. A deep growl resounded in my head that might have rumbled through my chest as I pictured wrapping her legs around my waist and pressing her against this wall, rolling my hips against her to eke out those noises I longed to hear again.
“Cammon…” she started, then trailed off, and in her hesitation, I understood her uncertainty wasn’t all for her own sake. She wanted to know if I was sure. If this was a lingering effect of the bond. Or a favour.
My control teetered on the edge, and she needed to know it. She’d been honest with me about the bond, and I needed to be honest with her.
“You tempt me more than anything else ever has,” I rasped.
“You have no idea how much effort it takes to stay in control around you. If I gave in to how incredible your desire tastes, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from draining you.
But by the hells, I’d ensure you knew every moment of ecstasy before I did. ”
My confession should have sent her running, should have triggered that brilliant, rational mind of hers.
But if anything, her desire grew more potent.
Sweeter, thicker—pure ambrosia. I couldn’t think straight for the smell of her.
With everything in me, I knew I should stop.
I was so close to having my wish of ten years granted, to watching my brothers and sister shatter beneath the weight of their hubris.
I couldn’t afford to let this slip of a researcher distract me.
I couldn’t let my desire put her before my revenge or create connections with a country I would likely never see again.
But I couldn’t help myself. She held me in her thrall, and I was certain that if I didn’t taste her, I would die of starvation.
I brushed my lips across hers, the merest touch.
A soft sound—of protest? Of need?—slipped from her throat, and then her mouth was on mine, her tongue darting out, her teeth catching on my lower lip as she drew me closer.
I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her tighter against me, removing every gap as I claimed her mouth.
I was hungry, ravenous, and she was the only meal that could sate me.
I wouldn’t drain her. With whatever rational thought remained to me, I would keep her safe, but hells, I would wind my way through those emotions to deliver on my other promise.
She would be nothing more than a puddle of pleasure by the time I finished with her.
The sound of someone clearing their throat wrenched us away from each other, and I whirled around, my wings snapping out as I bared my teeth. Glory clung to me, her chest rising and falling against mine, her skin warm, flushed.
Cliff stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, looking unconcerned about what he’d stepped in the middle of. “Dinner’s ready.”
It took a moment for his voice to filter through the haze of my arousal. The memory of the vampires in the room beyond came back to me. Thorn. The mutts. The amulet. All these interruptions getting in my way.
I didn’t have time to snarl at him before Glory slipped from my grasp, her eyes downcast, and followed him out of the room. They disappeared, and I waited to follow, catching my breath and allowing my body to calm down.
That fucking vampire.
If he kept this shit up, then before I left here, he’d find his head crushed through the stone wall of this room.
Grumbling, uncomfortable, and hating the void Glory’s absence had left behind—her lowered gaze making me worry she regretted what we’d almost done—I followed them into the cavern to find a wild sight awaiting me.