Chapter 9
Dagon
The men aren’t bad either.
Did she really just say that to me?
I stalk her across the pool deck, slowly, intently. She backs away, but doesn’t take her eyes off me. She’s fearless. I love that about her. Love that she’s challenging me without a second of hesitation.
But she doesn’t know who she’s playing with. And despite the desire rocketing through my veins right now, I need to remind her of that.
“These men,” I say, my voice low and intentional as we stop.
The backs of her legs have touched a lounge chair in the closest cabana, but she doesn’t try to move.
Doesn’t try to run. I lean closer, dipping down so my cheek is close to hers as I whisper in her ear.
“Did they make your thighs tremble like they did when my face was between them?”
Annika shudders, her hands splaying and balling into fists over and over again, like she doesn’t know where to put them.
I know exactly where I want her to put them.
I move back, looking down at her with a gaze I hope is confident and not desperate. I haven’t been able to get her out of my head or her taste out of my mouth since the last time we were together. She’s become a craving more powerful than blood and that scares the ever-loving shit out of me.
“Maybe they did,” she fires back, but her breath is shaky. “Maybe they fed me while they fu—”
A low growl rumbles from my chest, cutting her off. Just the thought of another male feeding her while he sinks into her has my instincts roaring.
Mine.
Claim. Bite. Drink.
The torches surrounding the pool flare to life, the orange flames crackling.
Shit.
Annika has the audacity to smirk. “Having trouble controlling your power?”
I clench my jaw. “Careful,” I warn, but it’s more of a tease. Clearly, I’m the one losing control right now. She does that to me. Makes me lose all sense of anything outside of her.
She tips her chin in defiance, those perfect lips painted red and in the most lickable pout.
Need spears down my spine, my hands itching to touch her again. I let my eyes graze over every part of her I want to explore.
“You’re young,” I grumble, trying like hell to speak some sense into us both. “I haven’t been young for a long time.”
“You slept for five hundred years,” she says, exasperated. “I’m a grown female. I’m not some adolescent vampire with a crush.”
I rake my fingers over my face. God, I’ve never wanted anyone more. I’ve never had to physically stop myself from going after what I want.
But it’s the desperation that’s giving me pause. I need her on a molecular level. Every fiber of my instincts is pulsing with a need to claim her.
That’s almost as dangerous as me being out of control.
“You should go back to those men you speak so highly of.” The words are almost a roar with how much I don’t want her to do that.
But I need her to. I told her this was purely physical, but every instinct is begging to fucking differ.
I need her to be the stronger of the two of us, because I’m breaking by the minute.
She needs to turn around and go back to where she’ll be safe. Pick someone who won’t put her in danger every second just because of what I am.
“I’ve been with the men,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Noble vampires who viewed me as a prize to win over, not an individual to grow with. You think I want to spend my nights obsessing over my prick of a teacher? Trust me, I’ve tried to stop it. I can’t.”
I grin down at her. “Prick, huh?” I tilt my head. “What was the word you used to describe me moments ago to Cassandra? Enthralling?”
Her blue eyes widen. “You heard that?”
I nod, my smile deepening. She’d cut through every one of my walls with her words to Cassandra. The way she saw me for me, and admired me for it. Wanted me more for it.
Fucking hell, I’d ran because I knew if I stayed a second longer, I’d scoop her up and spend the rest of our nights on this island claiming her as mine.
“I…I…” she shakes her head. “Fine. Whatever. Maybe I did say that. Maybe I meant every word. But you can still be a prick.”
I laugh, reaching out a hand to graze down her cheek. “And you can be a spoiled brat sometimes.”
She narrows her gaze, shock flickering across her features.
The pool water next to us bubbles.
That’s her.
The torches flaring higher and hotter?
That’s all me.
She motions to them. “You want me too,” she says. “You can’t hide that.”
My resolve crumbles with her stating the words out loud, and I glide my fingers into her silken black hair. I bring our mouths a breath apart, fighting every instinct I have to devour her right that second.
“What did I teach you about our powers?” I ask, my heart pounding furiously against my chest as she tips her head back, submitting to me entirely. “It’s not about want, it’s about need.”
“Fine,” she breathes the word. “I need you, Dagon.”
Everything inside me narrows to those words. I latch onto them, burying them deep inside the recesses of my soul.
“Fuck, Annika,” I growl. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”
I crush my mouth on hers.
She opens for me immediately, and I swipe my tongue against hers, moaning at her taste. I haul her against me, bringing our bodies flush. She gasps between my lips, her fingers fisting my shirt as I take her mouth in sipping kisses and sweeping dips.
I can’t get enough of her, touch enough of her, even as my hands are roaming everywhere I can reach.
Instinct floods my body, my fangs punching out without my control. Fuck, that hasn’t happened since I was a young vampire.
Annika draws back, sucking in a sharp breath. Her fangs are out too.
Bite. Claim. Drink.
I clench my eyes shut against the demands in my head.
I can’t. We can’t. That’s the line. Sharing blood, that’s too personal.
Too much of a risk for her safety. Because if I drank from her, that would be it.
She’d be mine and then she’d become a target, a tool for my enemies to use against me. A weakness.
God, she’s already my weakness.
“Annika,” I sigh her name, kissing her again as I shift her along the cushioned lounge chair. I groan when she gathers her sundress over her head, tossing it to the side. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” I grip my shirt and haul it over my head, adding it to her pile as she unhooks her bra and throws it.
I pause, my belt partially unbuckled as I drink her in. The moonlight and torches bathe her in a warm glow that illuminates every delicious curve. She shifts on the cushioned chair, laying back slightly, her arms extended for me.
“Dagon,” she says. “Please.”
A shudder racks me, and I hurry to strip down to my boxer briefs. Then I’m between her thighs, our underwear still on, as I kiss her again.
And again.
I drag my hands along her skin, memorizing every dip and hollow, taking note of what touch makes her tremble, makes her gasp and arch for me.
Annika rocks against my hard length, her thighs clenching on either side as she seeks out the friction she needs. The fabric between us is thin and barely doing anything to hide how badly we both want each other.
I dip my hand between her thighs, beneath her underwear, bracing on my other arm to look down at her and gauge her reaction. I already had my mouth on her the other night, but with me, she’s always in control.
“Yes,” she begs, and I glide my fingers through her slit.
“Fuck,” I growl, curling my fingers. “You’re drenched.”
“More,” she says, her breaths rushed as her hands grip my back. “I need more of you.”
I slide two fingers into her heat, stretching her as I pump them in and out. She arches into the touch, chasing her pleasure with unabashed need that has all those growly instincts roaring again.
Bite. Claim. Drink.
My fangs ache to sink inside her almost as much as my cock.
Only one of them will be satisfied tonight.
I press the heal of my palm against her clit as I curl my fingers inside her, drinking her moan of pleasure as she comes on my hand. I pull back, watching her face as I work her through the throes of it, pride swelling in my chest as she melts deeper into the chair from the pleasure.
I smirk down at her, gently drawing my hand back and licking her flavor clean off my fingers. “Is that all you needed from me?” I ask genuinely. If she says that’s it, then I will put my pants back on and ask her to chill the pool for me before I jump into it.
A slow, wicked smile shapes her kiss swollen lips. “Not even close.”
My eyes widen as she lunges for me, and a laugh bursts from my chest as she shoves at me, switching our positions so my back is against the cushioned lounge chair.
She pulls off my boxer briefs, then sheds her underwear, stunning me into silence as she crawls atop where I’m laid back, straddling me.
My hands immediately fly to her hips, the words stolen from my tongue as I look up at her. She’s a goddess in vampire form, sent here to steal my soul, my heart, my mind. Whatever the fuck she wants, it’s hers.
I’m hers.
No. I can’t be. We can’t be.
Just sex. Release and sex and good chemistry. That’s enough. That’s fair and fine.
“Dagon,” she gasps as she rocks herself over my aching cock, her hands braced on my chest. “I need you.”
Goddamn it. “You have me.”
Annika shudders as she reaches between us, her delicate hands gripping my cock and lining it up with her soaked entrance. Her eyes don’t leave mine as she sinks atop me an inch, then another, until she’s fully seated to the hilt.
My jaw tenses, my hands gripping her hips a bit tighter as I hold still, giving her plenty of time to adjust to my size. And then she moves on me and I lose all sense of reality.
Because this is pure fantasy.
“Omigod,” she sighs as she arches, rocking her hips forward and back with me seated inside her. “You feel so good.”
“Goddamn,” I growl, shifting beneath her to sit up without breaking our connection. I need my mouth on her. Need to feel more of her.
I kiss up her neck, my hands roaming over her breasts as she continues to ride me.
“Yes,” she gasps when I pinch one nipple before bending to suck it into my mouth. “Dagon, yes.”
She rocks into me harder, faster, lifting up to slam home and then rocking some more. The combination is pure carnal pleasure that winds me up until I’m sure I’ll snap.
“Annika,” I growl, my fangs aching, pulsing. I kiss her so I don’t lose my grip and bite her. She’s trembling as she rides me, every beautiful move hitting me with zap of pleasure down my spine. She’s fucking perfect.
I grip her hips, helping propel her against me, her moans and how slick she is telling me everything I need to know about what she likes. I don’t stop kissing her, touching her, crashing against her.
I never want to stop.
She feels like a dream wrapped in sin and I’m helpless against her pull.
She called me enthralling, but I’m the one hooked on her.
I drive upward, meeting her moves with thrusts of my own until our chests are heaving and our bodies are slick with sweat. Until I’m sure there’s no part of her I haven’t touched, teased, worshiped.
“Dagon,” she moans. “I’m…I’m…”
“I’ve got you,” I say, shuddering as her pussy flutters around my hard cock, her pleasure slicking all over me as her orgasm tears through her.
“Fuck,” I groan, spilling inside her as I follow her release with my own. I black out for a few seconds, the pleasure so intense I see stars before snapping back to reality.
One where Annika is folded over me, limp and spent as her head rests on my shoulder.
And we sit there, clinging to a moment that feels like the start of something that has the power to destroy us both.