Chapter 25 You Have Me （Drink from Me）
YOU HAVE ME (DRINK FROM ME)
BASTIAN
Blood.
Hot, thick blood filled Bastian’s mouth.
"Careful," Az warned.
Bastian grumbled around Az’s wrist, the blood chasing away his consuming need for Luella.
They were growing closer to their destination, and with each day that passed, Bastian felt himself grow weary and desperate.
Being stuck at sea like this, he had nothing to do but think of her.
Vale said they would arrive in the next few days, so Az had forced Bastian to drink, whispering harshly, You can’t afford to be weak when we arrive. Drink from me.
Bastian shut his eyes, tasting hints of Luella’s berry softness on the demon’s skin as he drank.
He could trick himself into thinking it was her that he drank from, but he was no fool—he could not be tricked.
This was a mere bandage for the gaping wound in his soul, one that screamed out in desperation for her and the taste of her blood, needing it again. Again, again, again—
Undone by the warm rush of the essence filling his mouth, Bastian missed Az trying to shove him off—and the faint gasp that filled the room.
"Bastian… Az. What are you doing?" Luella’s voice broke through his aching hunger.
"Release me." Az shoved him away, putting her first, always.
Bastian growled around Az’s wrist, fangs sliding free as he pulled away, knowing his lips would be glistening red. He groaned at the sight of her, feeling hunger stir with such intensity he felt like he might faint from the force of it.
Her white hair curled around her shoulders, her wings folded to her back. Blue eyes like the stormy sea. She wore a simple shift, mended by him to accommodate her wings. The hem brushed her lower thighs, revealing her bruised knees, a product of her many lessons with Graves.
The lone flame flickering in the sconce bathed them all in a golden glow.
"You drank from him?" Luella asked, soft tone seeping into the blood-tinged air.
"Yes," Bastian said, watching her eyes widen. She had been there that day in the dungeons, as he had drunk from Az once, but they had taken great care to keep the rest from her.
She lifted her chin. "How often?"
"Nearly every day," Az revealed, the muscles on his bare back flexing as he stepped closer to her.
The ship was quiet this night, with the others on deck.
It was just the three of them here. Enclosed in this golden dark room, with blood on his lips and the scent of her in the air.
Gods, Bastian wanted her. He wondered what drew her here.
Had she been searching for Az, wondering why her hammock had gone cold without him?
Or had she felt Bastian and wanted to seek him out?
"You did not tell me? Bastian," Luella said, "I would have helped you. Why hide it?"
Bastian ran his tongue over the point of a fang. "You need not know of my struggles. And Vale would never allow it."
"I don’t care what Vale says." Luella walked to Az, taking his arm and turning it to the firelight, brushing the pad of her finger over the bite marks. A bead of blood stuck to the pad of her thumb, and Bastian’s mouth grew dry at the sight.
"Vale does not own me," she said with unusual fire coloring her tone.
"Are you still—no, you are. I feel it. Bastian, you still need to feed. Drink from me. I want you to."
Az grumbled, "Lu, angel, we have already discussed this, and it is not a good idea for him to drink from you."
She rose on her tiptoes, arms reaching up to cup Az’s cheeks. They were such a sight. She was so small and delicate, and he was large. Her angel wings contrasted with his demon horns. "For me, Az? You’re here to keep me safe. I know you will."
Ravenous for her, Bastian stalked closer, his shoulder brushing Az’s as he placed a hand on her soft waist. She looked at him, trust shining inside her eyes—did she know how she looked right now?
He wanted to ruin her, but not in a bad way.
He wished to turn her into an aching, wet mess, blood dripping from her neck and lids fluttering. Would she let him? Would Az?
With all the control he could muster, he murmured, "If you let me feed from you, I can make it good for you. Do you know what that means?"
"I do," she replied.
"And you still want it?"
Luella nodded.
"I can deny you nothing," Bastian whispered. "Least of all myself."
The sparse room was filled with only a few dusty crates, and Az walked to one, sitting and making the wood groan under him. "Come here, Lu."
Her head whipped to the demon, entranced as she stepped toward him. Az reached out, catching her waist, and guiding her to settle in his lap—her back to his chest as best as it could be with her wings, the tips of them draped over his legs.
Bastian stood alone in the center of the room, staring at them both. Was this truly going to happen?
Slowly, Az took Luella’s hand and rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist. Bastian’s red-tinted eyes honed in on the pulsing vein there, a roar of lust clouding his thoughts. He forced his body to still. He would not shatter her trust. Not when it was so fragile.
"Tell him to come to you," Az said to Luella, his amber eyes finding Bastian where he stood.
"Bastian, come," Luella echoed, her cheeks a tempting pink.
Bastian walked to her and knelt, his palms splayed on the purple bruises on her knees. "What do you wish me to do, pet? I do not have to drink from you. I can leave. We can act as though this never happened. Or... I can please you. I can taste you in other ways. Say the word, and it is yours."
She shifted on Az’s lap, and her scent turned ripe with desire. "You need this, need me. Please." She held out her wrist.
Just before he took it, Az stopped him with a warning:
"You stop when I tell you to—I would say when Lu does, but we both know she won’t want to give up." The last part, Az said adoringly.
Bastian nodded, holding Luella’s eyes as he said, "I understand, and I will stop whenever you wish me to.
" Finally, he took her wrist, bringing it up to his mouth as he knelt before her, where she sat on Az’s lap.
He ran his nose over the inside of her forearm and the blue-green veins there, the blood roaring through her body like an echo of the desire thrumming through him and making his cock swell.
He opened his mouth, lips teasing her flesh; he ran the point of his fangs over her skin, not biting—not yet.
As he teased her, Bastian murmured, "I will make you love the feel of my fangs inside you, pet. "
And then, the vampire bit her.
She whimpered as his fangs slid inside her wrist. He groaned as her hot blood slid inside his mouth.
A blend of pleasure and pain. His other hand kneaded the soft skin of her inner thigh. A vampire’s bite could be very pleasurable, if it were willed as such. Some could reach the pinnacle of pleasure from the bite, alone.
Bastian vowed to make her shatter from his mouth and fangs.
Blood filled Bastian’s mouth, and it was too much and not enough. Every greedy gulp he took, he inhaled her scent. His tongue lapped over her wrist as he drank, her blood like rosy berries and decadent cream.
He chased away the bloodlust that threatened to tug him under, instead focusing on her—their bond. He was so attuned to the feel of her inside his chest that he knew the precise moment her apprehension turned to desire.
"Bastian," she moaned, "I feel so…"
He was unwilling to let her go as he fed, unable to look up. But he imagined what her face might look like, and he grew harder, drank deeper.
Her thighs parted, knees brushing his shoulders, allowing him to move closer, until his fingers snaked under her shift, skimming the soft part of her inner thigh. Her hands tangled in his hair.
"Oh, g-gods," she cursed, and the sound was so unlike her. He had never heard her curse before, but the slight blasphemy on her lips sent him spiraling on his desperate task of finishing this—for her.
Az’s hand touched his shoulder in warning. Bastian slowed drawing her blood into his mouth, instead licking against her skin, fingers brushing over her thigh, not delving higher, just feeling her.
She came with a cry of both his and Az’s names on her lips. He took one lingering pull of her blood, letting the pleasure-coated tang of it fill him entirely as she came down from her high, thighs tensing on either side of his shoulders.
Her ragged breaths, joined by his own, made him pull away. As he looked up at her, strands of his disheveled hair fell into his face.
A droplet of her blood slipped down his chin as he spoke. "You’re a sight."
And she was. All flushed skin and parted lips. Az’s hand gripped her hair, the other gently brushing over the tips of her sensitive wings. The flame in the sconce spluttered as she blew out a breath, air gusting against the side of the ship.
"That was…" she sighed.
She had been undone all without them truly touching her in the places she would have burned the most.
Bastian softly kissed the mark on her wrist, placing it down gently before he pressed his lips to a bruise on her knee. "Thank you," he breathed against her.
She touched his cheek. "Don’t rely on Az alone. Drink from me, too. When you need blood, you have me," she implored.
Just like that, she offered up the last bits of her trust to him, and Bastian gathered them close to his chest, vowing to never let them break. "I will never drink from you alone, but if your demon agrees, perhaps we can find a way. You liked it?"
"I more than liked it," she shared shyly.
Behind her, Az kissed her cheek. "It’s late. Let’s go to bed."