Aurora
Waking up stretched over a sexy hunter who fucked me senseless the day before is certainly a dream come true.
I can’t stop the smile stretching over my lips as I shift against Saint’s chest to look up at him. He’s stunning like this—bare, open, and just this side of vulnerable. There’s a pleasant soreness between my thighs and a sense of contentment I didn’t know existed.
“I really wish you wouldn’t look at me like that,” Saint says, and my smile falters.
“Like what?” I prop up on my elbow to look down at him.
He grazes a fingertip down the line of my jaw. “Like I’m worthy.”
I furrow my brow.
“Like we have a future together.”
Those words suck the joy right out of my heart, drenching everything in gray. We finally cut through the sexual tension between us and now he’s done with me? I never thought he’d pull something like this—
“Because I likely won’t survive killing my brother,” he hurries to say. “Not because I don’t want a future with you.”
Confusion and hope and sadness swirl in my heart. “What?”
“The bond we have as twins has never been tested like this,” he explains. “I’m not certain, because the history is scarce on twins killing each other, but I’m doubtful it will end well for me. You understand that, right?”
“Wait…” I scrunch my brow, too many questions spearing through my mind. “Are you saying that if either one of you naturally died, the other would too?”
“No,” he answers. “That wouldn’t forcefully snap the twin bond. Even if one of us would’ve been killed in battle, the other would be okay. It’s the act of one twin murdering the other that has the ability to break the bond.”
“And the history around the rare act suggests breaking the bond like that will kill you too?”
Saint visibly swallows.
My stomach plummets. The past few weeks race behind my eyes, the way he kept denying himself happiness with me, the worries he had regarding feeding me. It wasn’t all about his control.
“That’s why you’ve tried to keep so much distance between us.” Realization crashes over me like an icy wave.
“It’s one of many reasons, Aurora,” he says. “You deserve more—”
“You think you’re going to die.” I need to say it out loud. “You’ve resolved to it happening.”
“I’m not looking forward to it,” he counters. “But Samuel has to be stopped and I’m the only one who’s capable of stopping him.”
My mind spins as I sit up, holding the sheet around my body. “There are others,” I continue. “Who want him stopped. Want him dead.”
“Killing one of our own isn’t a burden I’d ever ask my brothers to bear.” He shakes his head. “Samuel is mine. After what he did to you, what he did to me, to countless others…” He sighs. “It has to be me.”
“This was not the wakeup I was expecting.” I force a laugh, but it doesn’t help the heavy situation.
“I want to be honest with you,” he says, shifting some pillows beneath his head to prop him up a bit.
At least he’s not running away from me. From what happened between us. That’s…everything. And it tells me a whole lot more than I think he realizes.
“I appreciate you being honest with me.” I let the sheet fall from my breasts, moving to lean over him.
“So let me be honest with you.” I dip down, kissing him quick and hard enough that his fangs punch out.
“When you’re so sure of things, when you think the bad will certainly happen, then it will happen.
” I capture his mouth again, sucking hard on his bottom lip.
“I’m asking you to think differently.” I kiss his jawline, then down his neck, working my way over his chest and lower.
“Aurora,” he warns in that growly tone of his.
I flick my eyes up to his, my entire body going hot and tight at the same time at the sight of him. This powerful male bends to me, whether he wants to admit it or not.
“There is more between us than the darkness we met in,” I tell him.
“You are worthy. You are kind and brilliant and dangerous. You’re so many different things, all of which I adore.
You are everything to me.” I plant kisses over his hips as I grip his massive thighs.
“You need to understand that.” I tug the sheets down, grinning at the sight of his hard length.
I grip it, stroking it gently before I guide his thick head into my mouth.
“Fuck.” Saint’s hips thrust off the bed, and he glides deeper into my mouth.
I groan around him as he fills me and do my best to relax my jaw as I take him deeper. I slide one hand over his thigh, the other stroking his shaft as I pull up and suck on his head.
“Aurora, baby.” His hands fly to my hair, tangling in the strands as I flick my tongue along the underside of his cock. “Your mouth.”
I suck on him harder, glancing up at him as I take him deeper. I pull back and go down, heat licking my skin as he watches me take him this way. Worship him in this way. He may not believe he’s worthy. He may not have any hope for a future between us.
But I do. I have enough hope for the both of us. And I’m prepared to show him over and over again until he believes it.
“Shit,” he groans, hips rising as he thrusts into my mouth. I take his cues, going faster, harder. My eyes water from his sheer size, but my mind is spinning with power at how lost in me he is. “I’m going to come.”
I moan my response, resisting his gentle tug on my hair to move off of him. I keep him right where he is. He hardens another degree before spilling into my mouth. I swallow him down before pulling back, sucking in a sharp breath.
“Clever little vampire. You can distract me all you want, but we both know what’s coming is inevitable.” Saint sits up, swiping the tears from the corners of my eyes with his thumb.
“We’re inevitable,” I argue. “We’re—”
“My turn,” he cuts me off, giving me a taste of my own medicine. Distracting me so thoroughly, I forget everything we’re arguing about.