Saint
Her words hit me like a hammer, the force of the hit causing thin cracks to form in the ice around my heart.
“Fucking hell.” I utter the words in defeat, and her eyes light up like I’ve handed her a platter topped with those chocolate croissants she loves so much.
“Thank you,” she hurries to say.
“Don’t.” I take a breath. “Don’t thank me yet.”
She presses her lips together.
Fuck, her quick obedience sets my blood on fire. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted another being in my entire existence. I don’t know what I’ll do when her fangs sink into my flesh.
Just thinking about it has blood rushing to my cock. Images of sliding into her sweet, soft heat—
No. Can’t.
I shut down the fantasy, and focus instead on her face. There’s a dusting of purple beneath her eyes. She’s so hungry, and I’m the asshole who’s denied her too long because I’m afraid of my own self-control. Fuck that, I’ll be whatever she needs me to be for her.
“Slowly,” I tell her as she approaches me. Instinct has me backing away, like she’s the predator and I’m the prey. The backs of my knees hit the armchair I’ve long since claimed as mine, and I drop into it.
She pauses just before me, eyes scanning my body like she’s hunting for a place to strike. It’s fucking hot as hell. If I wasn’t so worried, I’d tell her to bite me wherever she feels like it.
Instead, I roll up the sleeve of my left arm, turning my wrist up. “Here.”
That quickly, she’s on her knees before me, her delicate fingers reaching for my wrist. Lava streaks through my veins at the sight of her blue eyes flickering up to meet mine.
Her strawberry blond hair is down, falling over her shoulders in soft waves, and I’m desperate to run my fingers through it.
I grip the armrest with my free hand, ensuring I don’t.
“You’ll need your fangs out,” I remind her when she’s held my wrist near her mouth for a few seconds.
“Right.” She blinks a few times.
“It’s my fault,” I admit. “I’ve always given you your blood in a glass. I should’ve prepared you better—”
“You’ve done more for me than anyone has my entire life, Saint. None of this is your fault.” She cringes. “I really am the worst vampire. Can’t summon my fangs at will. Can’t use my power for anything other than destroying things.”
“You’re learning. It’s not easy, being what we are. Especially when you were once half-human.” I swallow hard, my entire body flexing at how close she is to me. “I want to help you. Can I…are you comfortable if I touch you?”
“Yes,” she breathes the word so quickly, it’s all I can do not to dip down and claim her mouth. “I trust you,” she adds.
The words fill me with warmth I’m not used to. It’s consuming and intoxicating and I want more. I carefully shift my free hand and swipe my thumb over her bottom lip. “Aurora,” I whisper her name like a prayer.
She trembles under my possessive touch, and her fangs punch out a second later. Her eyes fly wide.
I can’t stop the small, prideful smile that curves my lips. Can’t stop myself from carefully grazing my thumb over one of those fangs. She tips her head back even farther, giving me better access to them as her eyes close.
Fuck, she’s on her knees, eyes closed, fangs out. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The most vulnerable too. I lock down every instinct begging me to take her mouth with mine and clear my throat as I pull my hand away.
She focuses, looking from me to my wrist and back again. Inching forward, she stops a breath away, the anticipation curling between us sharp and heady.
“Will I hurt you?” she asks in the most innocent voice I’ve ever heard.
A laugh rips from me. “No, Aurora,” I answer. “You can’t hurt me.”
Relief pools from her as she wets her lips. “Will you make me see something else?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Maybe?”
I nod, unable to speak as I grip my power. It’s natural to slip into her mind. I spin an image of her drinking wine, holding it on the cusp of her reality. “You have to bite me first.”
She takes an encouraging breath and then presses her fangs into my skin.
It’s a good, clean bite. Her fangs sink into my flesh, and the small stab of pain makes my cock strain against my zipper.
Fire floods my body, desire sharp enough to cut.
I want to thrust off the chair, want to kiss her neck, her breasts, every inch of her.
Want to tuck her underneath me and lick her into oblivion.
Fuck, the image. I wrangle my power, sending her the vision, erasing her biting me and replacing it with her relaxing in bed, drinking from a wine glass.
She moans as my blood fills her mouth, her little sucks turning greedy as she takes mouthful after mouthful. Her grip on me tightens as she moves closer to me, her body slipping between my spread legs.
She smells good and looks even better with her mouth on me, my blood spilling into her. I’d give anything to have her mouth on mine. Give anything to have her under me, moaning because my cock fills her in every way she doesn’t realize she needs.
I’d take my time with her too. Lay her on the bed next to us, spread her out and worship every inch of her delicate skin.
I wouldn’t bite her until I was deep inside her and she was begging me to.
I’d make her come on my tongue first, then my fingers, and only when I was certain she was primed for me would I slide into her heat, pumping into her until she was limp with pleasure—
Aurora jerks back, eyes lust-hazed as she blinks a few times and looks up at me. My blood dribbles from the corner of her mouth, and I swear I might come from the sight.
“Saint,” she says my name with an edge of need to it. “You…you…”
Oh, fuck me. The vision I conjured for her shifted, revealing to her my fantasies where she’s the star.
“I’m sorry—”
Aurora climbs into my lap so fast I can’t track it, and her mouth is on mine even faster. Instinct has my arms encircling her, drawing her flush against me.
Goddamn, she tastes like a dream. Her flavor mixed with my blood is intoxicating. She slips her tongue between my lips, demanding and needy. And fuck me if I don’t open for her. I can’t deny her.
She arches against me, her hands framing my face as she kisses me like she’s starved for me.
Like my kiss is bringing her life. I wrap my arms tight around her, relishing the feel of her against me.
I take control of the kiss, sliding my fingers into her silken hair, tilting her head back to take her mouth at a better angle.
“Saint.” She says my name like a plea, and I’m helpless against her call.
Nothing has ever felt like this. This is fire, an inferno I want to burn in every single night for the rest of forever. This delicate, beautiful female is my world, my undoing, my everything. Her taste is my newest addiction, her little sighs my favorite sound.
I rub my tongue against hers before sucking her bottom lip into my mouth.
She trembles atop me, whimpering slightly when I do it again.
That sound has my head emptying. There’s nothing else in existence beyond this kiss.
Beyond this incredible creature who somehow trusts me enough to get this reckless with me.
Fuck. This is reckless.
I kiss her again, harder and longer, before jerking away.
“Aurora.”
Her breasts graze my chest, her eyes hooded, her fangs still punched out.
“You need more.” I turn my head, gently nudging her mouth toward my neck. “Take what you need from me.”
Her fangs sink into my neck without hesitation. Lightning crackles beneath my skin as she sucks my blood into her mouth. My cock is rock hard and pulsing in time with my heartbeat, her bite the best sensation in the world.
She rocks her hips over me as she sips from my neck, chasing that need.
My hands fly to her hips, holding her there but not stopping her.
She’s finally giving in to her instincts, and the last thing I want to do is deter her from them.
And fuck me, I just want her to keep doing it.
She feels so damn good rocking against me.
The mere fabric separating us is the only thing stopping me from sinking into her and making her come so many times no one will ever be able to replace me.
“You’re doing so good.” The words wrench out of me, my entire body flexed against the instinct to take control.
To slip my hands beneath her clothes and send her flying over the edge.
She’s drinking from me with no help from my visions.
She’s feeding because she needs to, because she wants to, and I’m the lucky fuck she trusts enough to do it with.
“Saint. You taste so good.” She moans while she drinks, swallowing more of me down.
My head swims and my fingers start to tingle. My little vampire is starved for me.
Not my anything. I need to get that out of my head, but all my instincts are shouting at me, demanding the opposite.
Aurora draws back, tilting her head toward the ceiling with a contented sigh before looking at me. We’re nose to nose as she straddles my lap, and I can’t tell what’s sexier, the feel of her atop me or the blood-tinted lips that are swollen from my kiss.
“Better?” I ask, my voice low and rough.
She nods slowly, her body relaxed, like she has no intention of moving. Her eyes trail to my neck, then my wrist, the wounds on each. “Did I hurt you?”
I shake my head. “You can lick these closed, or if you don’t want—”
She immediately laps the wounds, drawing a pleasure strained hiss from me as she draws back to look at me again. “Like that?” she asks.
I blow out a breath, nodding.
A brilliant smile shapes her blood-stained lips. “Saint,” she says, eyes shining. “I did it.”
I can’t help but grin right back, showing her an uncaged smile that no one else ever draws from me. “You did amazing.”
“You showed me I can feed,” she says. “I can feed like a regular vampire.”
“Like you were born for it,” I say, my head swimming a bit from how much blood she took. She could’ve taken it all and I would’ve thanked her for it.
She inches toward my mouth, and I have to use all of my willpower to pick her up and gently place her on her feet.
She has the audacity to pout.
“If you kiss me again,” I say, taking a step toward her door. “There will be more firsts happening than just your first bite.”
“What if I want more firsts?”
“What if I can’t trust myself enough right now?”
I hold her gaze, the energy between us like a live fucking wire. Would it be so bad to give in? To let myself sink into her? To drown in her? To consume her in the way I’ve dreamed about since the moment I laid eyes on her?
“I trust you,” she says. “But I’ll never force you to do something you don’t want to do.”
Instincts sharper than my blades demand I claim, bite, fuck. If I give in to them, there may be nothing left of her when I’m done. I can’t do that to her. She’s already been used enough.
“I want what’s best for you, Aurora.” And I’m in no way what’s best for her.
Her shoulders drop a little. “Thank you for feeding me.”
I dip my head, then run the fuck out of there before I do something stupid.
Like take everything she’s offering and never look back.
“Easy,” Dagon warns a few hours later. He insisted he come with me to the volunteer feeder house, and for the first time in weeks, I didn’t argue.
The human man’s heart rate slows, but I keep drinking. I have to. Aurora took so much because she’d been practically starved, and I know I’ll need to feed her again soon. I need to replenish myself, even if this guy tastes like absolute garbage.
Seriously, what are these humans eating recently to get them to taste like this?
“Saint.” Dagon’s hand touches my shoulder. “That’s enough on this one.” He taps me again. “We can get another one if you need more.”
I jerk away from the man, swallowing down the last of his blood. I lock my muscles, forcing myself to stop before striking him again.
I meet Dagon’s eyes as he helps the guy across the room, leading him out the door and toward the medical staff, who will need to keep an eye on him. Guilt snakes into me, but I shove it away. I didn’t take that much. Not enough to kill him, anyway. He’ll be fine…in a day.
“You good?” Dagon asks when he returns.
I shake my head. “Bring me another one.”
Dagon’s eyebrows raise high over his head. “Really?”
I shoot him a glare.
“Okay. Another one.”
A few moments later, a new man comes in and offers his arm.
I don’t hesitate, striking clean and quick.
I almost wretch. This one tastes like shit too.
I don’t pause to worry about it. As much as I enjoyed Aurora taking whatever she needed from me, I have to replenish.
Samuel is still out there, and I need to be at my strongest when I finally catch him.