Chapter 5
Five
Nero
Hours later, I was still pacing outside Mina’s door.
I’d left her room, but I couldn’t walk away.
I could smell her.
I could hear her breathing and the rush of her blood—the growls of her empty stomach.
The look on her face, her downcast eyes, the way she’d fled to the bathroom to escape me had been repeating over and over in my mind.
I felt as feral as I had as a young male. So out of control, I’d been brought in by our elders, recruiters of The Five, and given a choice: train under them or be put to death. The wild thing I’d been had been molded into a calculated predator, unmatched by any other in our race for my ability to track, hunt, and kill. I became The Five’s assassin, the monster they sent in when the most difficult to reach of our enemies needed to be exterminated.
Tonight, the cold, calculated predator was gone, and only the wild thing remained. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for the handle and gripping it tight. It took everything in me, but somehow I wrestled back the slavering monster inside me as I opened her door for the second time that night with a low growl.
The room was dark now, but the darkness was no barrier for me. I could see everything as if it were daylight. Mina was in bed. She lay on her side, her blond hair spread across her pillow. Yes, her face was thinner now, but her lips looked darker, her cheeks pink.
She’d refused my blood, but a little had touched her lips. That pink in her cheeks, the darker shade of her lips, told me she’d lapped up at least a small amount when she’d run into the bathroom.
Her dress was on the floor, and I picked it up. The drops that had landed on the skirt were now pale smears, almost gone completely. I scented it, and that strange sensation in my chest pinched with pain when I realized she’d sucked the fabric almost clean, desperate for my blood despite her refusals. The pain was different now, and it lingered behind my ribs. I didn’t like this pain. I took no pleasure from it.
I should stay where I was, for her own protection, but my feet carried me to her bedside. She was asleep, not pretending. Her lashes twitched, and she was breathing erratically. I scented her again, and the mouthwatering perfume of her cunt hit me in the gut, making my cock ache as deeply as the rest of my body.
A being was most vulnerable while they slept. Between the moments of sleep and wake, those mere seconds between the two, in that fog of confusion, your mind played tricks on you, your guard dropped, and instinct took over completely—especially for a young vampire like my Lalka.
Nicking my wrist, I held it in front of her nose. Her lips parted on a groan, and I swiped my finger gently over her cheek. “Lalka.”
Her eyes snapped open, wide, locking on mine. The instant relief that I felt , that those lavender eyes were finally on me again, was instant. Her gaze was dazed, disorientated, and before her brain had time to process what was happening, her instinct took over as expected. Her hands shot out of the covers, grabbing my arm, and her little fangs extended a moment before she struck, sinking them into my vein and taking a desperate suck.
My cock pulsed so fucking hard, I almost came, and with each deep draw of my blood, her pull on my vein grew more forceful. I felt each one along my shaft, as if she were sucking it hard. As if those full crimson lips were wrapped around me as desperate for my seed as she was for my blood.
I needed to get closer to her, so I sat on the side of the bed. “That’s it, Mina, drink your fill,” I said, then for some reason, brushed her pale hair back from her fevered cheek.
She was perspiring and writhing under the covers until, finally, she tossed them back, then kicked the quilt off completely. She wore only her underwear, as if she’d stripped from her dress and stumbled straight into bed. Her thin frame and starved body began to fill out, her pale skin turning pink, her body ripening before my eyes.
Her hips and belly rounded, growing softer, her thighs thicker as they rubbed and pressed together. Her panties were drenched and plastered to her flesh, outlining her pretty untouched pussy. My mouth watered, my cock was so hard and hot, the need inside me gnawed wider, growing more forceful. I dragged in an unneeded breath, filling my lungs with more of her scent. I had never felt desire like this before. It was too much all at once. If I didn’t touch her soon, I’d succumb to insanity.
As if my bonded read my mind, she spread her legs and arched. My gaze slid to her lovely face. Her eyes were on me, wide and pleading, while she continued to suck greedily.
“Do you want me to make the ache go away, little doll?”
Her eyes were hot, as wild as I felt when she nodded.
“I’ll need to touch you.”
She nodded again.
Keeping my eyes on hers, I gently tore her panties from her body, and as soon as the cool air hit her swollen, slick cunt, her lids fluttered and my shameless little doll spread wider for me.
The instinct to mate had taken her over completely. Her body knew what she needed even if Mina didn’t understand it. If I’d been a lesser male, weaker, there would be no resisting what she offered in that moment, but something else roared just as loud inside me, something I couldn’t name right then, but was strong enough to stop the wild thing I was inside from taking what was mine.
From glutting on her.
From breaking her completely.
Dragging my hand down her soft belly, I finally allowed myself to touch what was mine. Mina groaned as soon as I cupped her dripping pussy. I held her gaze while I dragged the pad of my thumb along the smooth seam, up and back before going deeper. I grazed her clit, and her hips lifted again, while she sobbed against my wrist.
“That feels good, doesn’t it?” I rubbed softly over her clit again. “Have you ever touched this part of your body, Mina?”
She shook her head, her cheeks a deep pink.
A rough, rusty sound fell from my lips. It was gritty and dark, and her eyes widened. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed, and it surprised us both. “I don’t believe you. Inquisitive, feisty little creature you are. Being told no would have only made you more curious.” I swiped again. “Did it feel this good when you touched yourself?”
She shook her head, not even trying to deny it now.
“Did you ever make yourself come, little doll?” I could tell by the look in her eyes, she didn’t know what I was asking. “What happened to you in the garden the first time you tasted my blood.”
She whimpered and shook her head again.
“You need that again now, don’t you?”
Another nod, this one subtler, but the way she lifted her hips, seeking more of my touch wasn’t.
I needed to make her come, and fast. I needed to leave this room before I got lost in all that she’d awoken in me. Before my control shattered and I accidentally killed her.
Swiping my thumb over her tight opening, I gathered her juices and continued to tease her clit. Her fangs released me, and she arched back, thrusting her breasts in the air while her thighs trembled.
My blood coated her lips, dripping down her chin, and the sight nearly undid me. A snarl slipped free as she lifted her arms and gripped the headboard, straining and rocking against my hand, her hips moving like they would if I was fucking her.
“Nero?” she gasped out, a question, a plea, it was all there in the sound of my name falling from her lips.
Blood still slid from her bite in my wrist, and I let it run down over my hand and along my finger, then held it above that incredibly tempting mouth. A drop landed between her parted lips, and she grabbed my wrist, pulling it closer. Her tongue flicked out, then she drew my blood-coated finger into her mouth, sucking and licking and moaning, while she writhed like the wanton little creature she was for me.
I felt every suck, every one of those licks along my engorged shaft, as if that lovely mouth was wrapped around my cock.
Her hips rocked frantically now, her skin flushed, body quivering, while she sucked on my finger, desperately lapping up my blood. I’d never seen anything as exquisite as my bride chasing her orgasm.
“Let go,” I said through gritted teeth, because I desperately needed it as well, probably more than even she did in that moment. “Give me what I want, Mina.”
She moaned and moved faster, and I leaned in so I could get close, so I could watch her, so I didn’t miss a thing.
Mina screamed, alarm blending with pleasure, and when her eyes opened, I saw the same. My cock wept at the mix of fear and lust in her eyes, and the way it made my little doll come even harder. My lips peeled back, my fangs elongating as a vicious snarl burst from me, surprising us both, and causing a frisson of strong emotions inside her, sending her high again. I watched the way her pussy clutched around nothing, desperate to be filled, before she crashed back down with a broken moan, coating my fingers and soaking the sheets.
Panting, she stared up at me, watching as I lifted my wrist and dragged my tongue over her puncture marks, sealing the bite before sucking the fingers of my other hand into my mouth, tasting her cunt the only way I could allow myself to.
The daze of satisfaction slipped from her eyes as reality set in. “No, little doll, this was no dream.”
She shoved herself back, yanking up the sheet to cover herself, trying to put distance between us, but there was nowhere for her to go. She swallowed convulsively. “You tricked me,” she accused. “You—”
“I did what needed to be done. You don’t get to starve yourself to death, Mina. I won’t allow it.”
Fury filled her lavender eyes. “Don’t ever do that again,” she said, voice shaking. “I never would have… I wouldn’t have let you…” Her face darkened.
“You’re a vampire. Rejecting your base instincts will only end in you losing control and hurting someone.”
“Good, then maybe I’ll hurt you.”
I stood, sliding my hands into my pockets. “You can’t hurt me, little doll, that’s impossible.”
“I don’t want you to touch me, and I don’t want your blood,” she all but snarled.
I tilted my head to the side, studying her. “We both know that’s a lie, now don’t we? The soaked sheets you’re lying in more than prove that. You crave both, but if you insist on being stubborn, you can go back to feeding from a glass. I’ll have Pretender bring you my blood with breakfast.” She should always feed from me, I realized in that moment. I wanted her to feed from me, only me, straight from my vein every fucking time, but Mina wouldn’t have me, not willingly.
She was breathing hard, her chest heaving with her outraged breaths, and her cheeks burned with what I assumed was embarrassment. “Are you finished?” she bit out.
“Are you, Lalka?” My gaze dipped to her tempting lips. How did just the sight of them drive my need for her even higher? “Your scent tells me you’re not nearly done.”
“Get out,” she hissed. “Get the hell out of my room.”
I inclined my head.
“I hate you!” she yelled as I shut the door behind me, and something crashed against the wooden surface.
Hate was the closest thing to love a being could feel, but to me, muted and cold as I’d been for so long, the sensation of all that emotion rolling off my bride and slamming into me was exhilarating. I didn’t care what caused it. I just wanted more of it. Hate was more than fine with me.