Chapter 29
DANTE
Istared doubtfully at the tiny bed, the rickety frame that looked ready to give way.
On the other side of the bathroom door, water splashed as Emberline washed off dirt and blood, and I despised the fact that so much as a speck of the Fossa’s filth had touched her perfect skin.
I hoisted the tiny towel higher around my waist, filled by a stark, desperate fear I couldn’t do anything to quench. The demon inside me was wily and cruel, and I couldn’t bear having him this close to Emberline.
A normal husband would already be in there with his wife, and fuck knew I wanted to be, but I’d come out here to get my shit together because I didn’t know what to do with all of this… rage right now.
My wife—Gabriel and Nico—thought I’d cracked under the strain of the Fossa, when the opposite was true. I’d never been more in control of myself than I was right now. But I had to stay in control.
I had to protect Emberline, no matter the cost.
There were some monsters I could keep her safe from, and some I couldn’t.
The truth was, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep the demon contained. It was one thing to lose control in a penal colony made of stone, quite another to be surrounded by wood and the people you loved.
I looked at the door, wondering how much of a shit husband I would be if I just slipped into the night and disappeared without a trace.
I sighed. Chances were high she’d find me, drag me back, and chain me to the bed.
A rush of heat flooded through me, my balls tingling.
Yeah. My cock liked that idea, already rock hard from that bath, the friction of her hands rubbing over my body, the brush of those soft breasts across my skin, every time she reached for shampoo or the cloth or… Fuck, I was dying to pin her down and lick every delicious inch of her.
Dying to drive my cock deep inside her pussy and make her scream my name.
My entire body was on fire, flushed full of pure, male need, yet all I thought about was running.
Putting as much distance between us as I could.
The door opened, steam poured out in a white cloud, and from that billowing mist stepped my wife, like a godsdamned angel.
Naked. Beads of water shivering on her pale skin. Long, wet hair cascading down around her shoulders, hard, pink nipples peeking out between the dark strands. And that scent. Like summertime and lemons.
I’d never felt so godsdamned alive, and I knew I wasn’t running anywhere.
“Fuck.” I licked my lips, my cock thick and throbbing between my legs. “I dreamed about you every night. Kept reminding myself of how sweet you tasted, those little sounds you made when you came, but…” I stared down at her, looking my fill, trying to decide where to start.
Fucking everywhere.
“This is better than any fantasy.” I caught her wrist, and that was when I noticed the bruises. Fingerprints, covering every inch of her. Purple and blue, some of them so dark, they had to hurt.
The need to ravish her like a fucking savage died away. No, my wife deserved gentle. She deserved to be worshipped like a fucking queen. And worship her I would.
“Better than anything I could ever imagine. And I’ve imagined a lot of fucking things, Emberline.” I pressed my lips to her ear. “And now that I’m back, I intend to treat you like the queen you are.”
She swayed toward me, fangs down, the scent of arousal thick between us as I claimed her sweet mouth, tremors of pleasure running through her body with every stroke of my tongue against hers, and when she moaned, I lapped that up, too. Because everything she was, I wanted.
Every sound, every fucking drop of her essence.
And in return, she would have all of me.
I broke the kiss, hand wrapped around her throat, thumb rubbing her bottom lip, brown eyes hazy with need, pupils blown wide, pulse racing beneath my fingers like a rabbit’s.
“Do you know what I was thinking about? In the bathtub, with my fingers between my legs?” Her raw and husky voice scraped down my spine like fingernails, and my cock throbbed, leaking from the end, the greedy bastard.
“No.” Yes. I couldn’t look away, hyperaware of the water pooled in the hollow of her throat, the way her vein beat a steady rhythm, of how much I wanted her and how I couldn’t live a day without her.
“Having your cock in my mouth. Tasting you. Watching you come completely undone for me.” Emberline dropped to her knees and reached up, tugging at the towel.
Like an idiot, I hung on tight.
“Let go, Dante.” Her gaze was raw, filled with so much longing, my fingers relaxed. “Let me give you this. I want to taste you.”
The towel slipped away, and Emberline leaned forward, took my cock in her mouth, and swirled her tongue around the crown. Fire flooded through my veins like a storm, my low, broken curse scraping up my throat as she took me deeper.
Dangerous, some other voice whispered inside my head. So, so dangerous. But so delicious.
She teased and licked, her clever, clever mouth pure heaven, and when I groaned out her name, she surged forward, taking me all the way down her throat.
My bad knee shook as I threaded my fingers through her wet hair, gently holding her in place as she sucked and teased.
Pressure built at my spine. Her nails dug into my thighs as she withdrew, tonguing the slit before going down on me again.
She was so godsdamned beautiful, I couldn’t take my eyes off her, lust racing up and down my spine, my balls drawing up, stars dancing on my eyelids… I never wanted this to end.
But some depraved part of me demanded I come inside her.
“That's enough,” I rasped, panting, pushing her away before I emptied myself down her throat. “Come here.”
I caught her wrists and pulled her up against me.
“My turn,” I purred, licking up her neck, alternating between gentle nibbles and the sharp nip of fangs, careful of every bruise and scrape.
“I dreamed of tasting you again.” I buried my face into her hair and breathed deep, filling my lungs with her.
“Get on the bed,” I panted, nudging her toward the narrow mattress. “I need to put my mouth on your pussy.” I was losing control, lost in the white-hot burn of lust and need and something more primal, something so purely vampire, I couldn’t put a name to it.
She was mine. Mine.
I had a dangerous, primal need to claim her, mark her, to cover her in my scent.
But… I paused, rubbing my thumb over the bruises, my throat closing up with that overwhelming need to protect her.
Emberline was mine to cherish. Mine to keep safe. Mine to keep forever.
Something purred, deep inside me, pleased and filled with wonder.
“Get on the bed, Emberline.” I nudged her into place, easing her back so I could look into her eyes, so the world was only the two of us, and nothing else mattered. “I’m going to make love to you, kiss every beautiful, gorgeous inch of your exquisite body until you can’t remember your name.”
“That’s… okay,” she breathed, looking slightly dazed.
I leaned down to kiss those swollen lips, tasting a hint of my salt on her tongue. Cupping her breast, I rolled the hard nipple between my fingers until she moaned into my mouth.
Yes, that’s a sound I could listen to for the rest of my life.
“You are so fucking beautiful.” I switched to her other breast, and she gasped when I took the whole thing into my mouth, swirled my tongue around the hard point, lashing back and forth until her nails dug into my forearm.
“I’m going to make you feel so good, Emberline, with my fingers and my mouth and my tongue.
” I gazed down at her. “And then you’ll take my cock, won’t you?
You’ll take me, like a good little wife. ”
Her cheeks blazing, she nodded.
I was panting for her. Starving. I dropped between her knees, and she watched with glowing eyes as I pushed her legs apart and ran my palms up the insides of her soft, creamy thighs. Inhaled her sweet, citrusy smell.
Her pussy was dripping, my mouth watering for that first taste. All I wanted was to devour her whole, but I held myself back, taking a moment to just look, like some love-struck teenager.
How could a few simple touches make me come apart?
How could she make me feel like a fucking king?
“Put your arms up over your head, la mia dolce moglie,” I purred, my voice rough as she obeyed instantly, putting those perfect breasts on full display.
My fingers dug into perfect, creamy thighs, then I licked, from her bottom to her clit, pressing in deep, gathering up every drop of her cream as fast as I could.
Her taste was addictive. Like heroin and karma and fucking immortality all rolled into one.
I licked again. Deeper.
I could fucking die right now, and I wouldn’t mind.
Emberline’s fingers tangled in my hair, pulling so hard, she was ripping out strands, but I didn’t give a fuck. I savored the pain. Lifting her to my mouth, I fucking feasted, driving my tongue, then my fingers into her pussy until she chanted my name, until her hips were grinding against my face.
“That’s it, my beautiful girl, come. Scream my name when you come.”
She went still, her body surrendering, pussy clenching around my fingers as she fell apart, and I drank her down like a savage, the sweetest nectar I’d ever tasted.
We were both breathing raggedly when her hands slipped out of my hair. She stared down the length of her trembling body at me, something like awe on her face. I ran my fingers through her folds, then shoved them into my mouth, licking up every last drop.
I was addicted to her, hopelessly addicted.
“Come here, Dante. I want you inside me,” she breathed.
I crawled over her, leaning in to kiss her flushed cheeks, those red lips, her hooded eyes. My bad leg ached like a motherfucker, but I wasn’t messing this up.
“Hold on, Emberline,” I whispered, lining myself up. “Hold on tight.”
“I don’t have anything to hold on to,” she moaned.
My crown brushed her swollen entrance, then I nudged inside, biting back my groan at how godsdamned perfect she felt on my cock. How this moment felt like I’d finally found my way back home.
“Hold on to me,” I breathed into her ear. “I won’t ever let you fall.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I slid in slow and gentle, savoring how tight she was, how she fit like a hot, velvet glove, squeezing my shaft until all I wanted to do was fill her up with my seed.
Our hips tided in perfect rhythm, as if we’d never been apart, as I slid out, almost to the tip, then thrust back in, pleasure building with every stroke.
I went deeper still, my head bowed beside hers, breaths coming in rasping gasps as pressure built, my release coiled like a bomb, waiting to explode. Emberline wrapped her legs around my hips, heels digging into my ass.
“You feel so good inside me, Dante.” She ran her tongue up my throat. “Give me all of you.”
“Fucking gods, Emberline, I wanted this to last.” I thrust faster and faster, broken sounds spilling between my lips, her name, a curse, a plea for this to never end.
“Oh my gods,” Ember moaned, and her cunt clenched around my cock, and then I was falling. Plummeting down and down, roaring out her name as I shattered into a thousand broken pieces, fire flooding into my veins and up my throat in a gush of heat.
Panicked, I clamped down on my self-control, throwing up every shield I could manage, using the last of my strength to shove the demon back down to the darkness where he belonged. A puff of smoke drifted out of my mouth, evaporating into the air.
“Are you okay?” Emberline was watching me, concerned. Her hand was flattened on my chest, over the old scars, the ruined tattoos, pressed against my racing heart.
“I’m fine,” I lied, gathering her up in my arms and tucking her close as I nuzzled my wife’s neck. “I told you. I’ll never let you fall.”
“You need to feed,” she bent her head back, and my lips skimmed over tendons, that throbbing vein rushing beneath my mouth. “And I’m dying to feel your fangs in me, amato marito,” she urged, hand cupped on the back of my head, urging me to her throat.
My fangs were already down, bloodlust rising, hunger burning in my belly. I bit down gently, and the taste of her…
The taste of my wife was heaven to a starving male, but to me, it was life itself.
Every swallow brought me back, my head clearing, hyperaware of every inch of my body as muscles slowly mended, flesh regenerated. Even my leg ached less by the time I ran my tongue up the side of her beautiful throat, kissing the edge of her delicate jaw.
“You need to feed, too,” I murmured, but I couldn’t be the one to feed my own wife. Not for a few weeks, and it suddenly occurred to me that my wife had been feeding… from Nico or Gabriel.
Jealousy rose like a blinding tide…
Then the full effect of Emberline’s blood, weeks of exhaustion, and injuries hit me like a hammer, and the last thing I remembered was my wife’s arms going around me, and her lips brushing my cheek as she made me a promise.
“I’ll never let you fall, either, Dante. We’re in this together, amore mio, until the very end, whatever that might be.”