12. Wolf
Chapter 12
Wolf
S he was already backing away, but even as she shook her head and held her hands between us as a barrier, I could see it in her eyes.
The hunger. The want. The need.
I knew the feeling all too well. I also knew how disgusted she would be by this, how much she would hate herself once it was done for the first time.
The shame, the hatred. It was unavoidable. But at least I could help her through this. I could guide her through this.
“Listen to your body, Huntyr.”
“Get away from me.” Her words were merely a breath, and as soon as one breeze blew across my dripping blood and caressed her black, curly hair, she stopped backing up.
Her dark pupils widened.
“I can help you.”
I stepped forward, putting only inches of space between us as I held out my bleeding forearm.
“Wolf,” she sighed, begging. “Please.”
“Please what?” I asked. “Please stop? Please leave? Please clean the wound and leave you starving, suffering?” Her breath hitched. “You forget that I can feel this,” I put a hand over her stomach. “I can feel the hunger, Huntyr, even if you try your best to hide it from me.”
“Wolf,” she repeated, eyes darting between the blood and my face.
Tears threatened her eyes now, welling at the red rims. “Let me help you, Huntress.”
Her eyes fluttered closed, and I watched as she took a long, painful breath. When her eyes opened, the fight was gone.
“Okay,” she sighed.
Her hands reached for my forearm, but I pulled away at the last second. “Just one thing I need from you.”
“What?” Her eyes widened in panic.
“Marry me,” I demanded. “Tell me you’ll be mine, and you can take it all.”
She whimpered, and the sound alone nearly brought me to my knees.
“I’m not marrying you,” she argued.
I took a step back, taking my blood with me and clicking my tongue once. “Still so stubborn. Fine; then you’ll have to find Jessiah to help you, though he may not be as willing.”
I moved to turn away, but she stopped me with a hand on my bicep. “Wait.”
Silence lingered, heavier than any weight. “Yes, Huntress?”
One thick swallow. “I’ll do it.”
“I need to hear more than that.” Blood dripped down my elbow, landing on the forest ground beneath us. “I need to hear you say it.”
“I’ll agree to marry you.” She spit the words out as quickly as possible. “I’ll do it.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread on my face, the satisfaction that rolled through my body at the sound. Yes, this was all forced, but those words…
Huntyr would be mine. Not Jessiah’s, not my father’s. Mine.
“See?” I teased, holding my forearm back between us. “Was that so hard?”
“You’re still just as big of an asshole as ever. How do I–” She paused and looked away in shame.
I used my free hand to caress the back of her head, gently urging her forward. “You know how. Trust those fiery instincts of yours.”
I let my hand fall to her neck, feeling her rapid pulse as I rubbed my thumb over the vein there.
Fuck, Huntyr was so perfect. Everything about her, even this part of her that she hated so much, that she tried to avoid so desperately, was perfect. Watching her mouth slide closer and closer to the blood on my forearm…
I was in deep, deep trouble.
Her lips made contact with my wrist first, barely brushing over the single trail of dripping blood. It was as light as a feathered kiss, but I sucked in a sharp breath anyway.
A wave of desire rolled through me, and I let Huntyr feel it through our bond, let her feel how much I wanted her to drink .
She kissed my wrist again then, fiercer than the first time, more confident. She kissed me again and again until her tongue slipped out and slid against my skin.
My cock throbbed in my trousers, and I fought back a moan. Then, she was pushing me, keeping my forearm to her mouth with one hand while guiding me to lean against the nearest tree with the other. She licked the dripping blood until there was none left, and then she paused.
“Well?” I breathed, voice hoarse. “How is it?”
Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, and then her wild eyes met mine. “Do you want to feel?”
Her emotions slammed into me, delight and pleasure and want . But under it all was the same dark, creeping creature that lurked in me, the sleeping beast that came out only in these moments.
“Huntress,” I gasped, but she was already pulling my forearm back to her mouth so I could feel that, too, until her own pleasure mixed with mine.
Her teeth brushed my skin, hesitating.
“It’s okay.” I snaked my free arm around her waist, pulling her to me until she was flush against my body. “It’s okay.”
She moaned as fangs protruded from her teeth. It wasn’t painful for fangs to appear, but her mouth would take time to adjust each time she fed.
“I won’t let you lose control, Huntress. Feed.”
And then, she fed.
Her teeth slid into my skin with a satisfying pinch, and she kept that bond open so I could be distracted by the wave of euphoria within her. I hardly noticed the pain, hardly noticed the blood she took as her mouth moved against me.
“Fuck,” I moaned. A wave of lust hit her too, fierce and uncontrollable. She slid between my legs, grinding herself against my length and making me throw my head back against the tree bark. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
She drank more, and I let her. I let her take and take and take until that pang of hunger was gone, until that beast within crawled back into the deep, dark hole it came from.
I didn’t have to tell her to stop. She pulled away, dropping my forearm. I picked up my thumb to brush the drop of blood from her bottom lip, but quickly let it fall.
Fuck it.
My mouth crashed against hers fiercely, unapologetically. She stiffened at first but quickly wrapped her arms around my neck, pushing the rest of herself against me. I tasted my own blood against her lips and made sure to lick them clean, scraping every last drop from her mouth.
“You’re so fucking perfect, Huntyr,” I mumbled against her mouth. Her chest heaved against me, but she pulled my face down against hers, kissing me just as hungrily as I was kissing her. I didn’t care what this meant. I didn’t care if she forgave me, if this was going to change anything.
I was just happy to be here with my wicked Huntress in my arms.
“Are you two done?” Huntyr yelped in surprise and shoved herself away from me at the sound of Jessiah’s voice. “Because I’d actually like to get some sleep before we’re all killed by vampyres. I’m glad to know I won’t be the one Huntyr feeds from in my sleep, though.”
His words were joking, but I watched as Huntyr lifted a finger to her mouth.
The high of feeding was euphoric, but the crash would wreck you.
That was when the realization of it all set in.
“Oh, goddess above.”
“Don’t,” I pushed, stepping forward. Huntyr stumbled away from me like I was fire. “Don’t you dare start to feel guilty. You solved your hunger. That’s it . You don’t even have to think about it again for days.”
She couldn’t look at me. She pulled herself away from the bond, shutting herself off entirely.
“Huntyr,” I whispered.
Her voice shook as she answered, “I’m fine. I just need some sleep.”
Jessiah busied himself with his bed roll, and Huntyr moved to do the same.
Guilt wrecked through me. Should I have let Huntyr feed from someone else? No, the thought alone nearly made me sick.
She might hate me. She might be marrying me out of force. She might only feed from me because she was near starvation, but she would never feed from anyone else.
Did that make me possessive? Insane? Unhinged? I didn’t give a fuck. All I cared about was Huntyr standing there with my blood dripping from her lips.