Chapter 17 #2
“Want something to eat? It’s a bar, so everything is fried, but the food is still really good. And maybe…” he trailed off. “You should stick with water? Wouldn’t want you to collapse on us like before.” He offered me a grin and a wink.
I shrugged. “Probably a good idea.”
Tate waved down the waiter and placed an order for us before turning back to me. The whole time, Kyren bore a hole through my face with his gaze.
“So…” Tate began, tapping his thumb on the table. “Want to tell me the real reason you came here?”
My mouth fell open. “Pfft, I… you… I told you. I was meeting someone.”
“Who?” Kyren asked.
My brows furrowed at his threatening tone. “None of your business.”
“What he means to say,” Tate reached out to touch my hand, “is we’re concerned about you coming here alone, even if it was to meet someone.”
My eyes bounced between the two of them. “But it’s a school bar.”
“There are still some unsavory characters who frequent it, looking specifically for students of the academy.” Tate’s gaze slid over the crowd, his brows pinched. “It would kill me if something happened to you.”
“Oh.” I sank back against the booth. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
We were quiet for a moment as the waiter placed our order down on the table.
“Did you order the whole menu?” I laughed, watching as they laid out about a dozen different fried dishes before us.
Tate grinned, popping a fry into his mouth. “What? I’m a growing boy, and I didn’t know what you liked. This way, I can find out.”
I shook my head and smiled. “You could have just asked.”
Leaning toward me, Tate booped me on the nose. “Where’s the fun in that? Anyway…” He crunched on what looked like fried mushrooms. “If you weren’t meeting someone for a date,” Kyren made a sort of low growl that made Tate frown, “then who were you meeting?”
Shit.
Tate wasn’t going to let this go. I hadn’t prepared a cover beyond meeting a friend. Of course, I hadn’t expected to see Tate or Kyren here either. Tate knew I didn’t know anyone in the area, and Alora wasn’t even in the country right now, so I couldn’t use her as an excuse.
I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I was meeting someone about a... donor arrangement.”
Tate and Kyren stiffened next to me. The tension in the booth rose tenfold.
“What was that now?” Tate’s voice dropped low, predatory.
I fiddled with a fry in the basket, not meeting their eyes. “I was meeting someone to bite me.”
Why in the world had I picked that? Of all the things! I could have just said I was getting some answers to the upcoming tests. Or drugs. Anything but fucking biting.
“Why?” Kyren asked this time, and I shrugged.
“I don’t know. Alora only bit me the one time. Then she took off and dumped me here.” I twirled my fry in ketchup and then popped it into my mouth, hoping to give myself enough time to come up with something better than this bullshit.
Tate blew out a breath, his eyes flicking over to Kyren before they returned to me. “Princess, if you wanted someone to bite you, you could have done that back at the academy.”
I snorted. “And have that embarrassment following me around? No thank you.”
“You could have asked me. Kyren would have done it. Fuck, I’m sure Iris would have been more than happy to bite you.” Tate grabbed my hand and turned me toward him.
“And make it weird?” I shot a look at Kyren. “No offense but letting someone bite me isn’t like asking someone to fix the tag in your shirt.”
Kyren didn’t respond, his eyes watching my face.
“Exactly.” Tate drew me closer to him. “That’s exactly why you shouldn’t have come here.”
I huffed. “I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”
“Damn it, Jack. I’m trying to make you understand how dangerous having some rando vampire bite you. You have no idea if they would have stopped or they could have…” He swallowing down the words he couldn’t say.
I lifted my hand and cupped the side of his face, my finger playing with the barbell in his eyebrow. “I’m a human servant. It’s not like they can drain me dry. I mean they could try, but we regenerate faster than most. It would take them a while.” I let out a small laugh that Tate didn’t return.
Tate’s jaw flexed, and for the first time ever, I thought he looked angry. “You wanted to get bit?”
My lips drew down. “Uh… yeah I thought we just —”
“Kyren,” Tate said before grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the booth.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I glanced over my shoulder to see Kyren following us.
I could break Tate’s hold on me, put him down on his face, and while part of me didn’t want to hurt him, the more rational part reminded me that I wasn’t supposed to be stronger than him.
And yet, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop him. Something told me I knew where this was going, and I was more than a little curious.
So I let them lead me down a back hallway and then out the back door. Tate pushed me up against the back of the building, his chest heaving as if the walk had gotten him out of breath.
“You know, without sex, being bitten isn’t pleasant,” Tate explained. “Not unless you’re into that sort of thing. Are you?”
“Am I what?” My eyes flickered to where Kyren stood to the side.
“Into pain.”
Gaze jerking back to Tate, I frowned. “No, not really.”
“Then you need sex to make it feel good,” Tate said matter-of-factly, like we were just discussing our preferred pizza toppings.
“Why are we even talking about this?” My eyes darted between them.
Tate prowled toward me, boxing me in against the building. “You want someone to bite you, so Kyren is going to.”
“Wait, what?” My eyes widened and I let out a nervous laugh. “I… he doesn’t have to do that. It was a silly idea. Forget about it.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed.” Tate’s voice was low as he slid a finger along my jaw.
“We’re human servants. That’s what we were made for.
We crave it really and your mistress…” His finger continued lower, trailing down the line of my throat.
“She’s neglected you. It’s only natural that you’d want it. ”
“I don’t…” I stuttered out, licking my lips.
“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay,” Tate brushed my hair away from my neck, pressing his lips to the pulse throbbing there. “I’ll help you.”
His hand moved down my body, cupping my breast through the dress. My back arched into his touch, every craving and desire that had been on the edge flared to life at his touch. Every inch of me breathed out a sigh of finally.
The edge of my dress was drawn up my thighs, fingers slipping between. My eyes fluttered shut, letting Tate tease along my skin. Then he was touching me. Lightly, just through the fabric of my panties. A slow, barely there circle that stoked my need and made a whimper escape my lips.
“That’s it, princess,” Tate’s voice murmured in my ear. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“Please, Tate,” I gasped, needing more.
His finger pressed down my clit and my hips jerked. Tate’s other hand lifted my thigh up, wrapping it around his waist, opening me up for him. He shifted beneath my panties, and the rough pad of his thumb circled me, making everything slicken and tighten to a point.
“Hold out your arm, princess.”
My eyelashes fluttered open, the words furrowing my brows. Then I felt Kyren’s presence next to me, so dark compared to Tate’s light that I almost didn’t notice him until he was right there, inches from my quivering body.
Panting, I licked my lips and lifted my arm.
This was for the mission. It was part of my cover. If I didn’t act like a human servant, they’d find me out.
No matter what I told myself in my head, it sounded like a lie.
I wanted this. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Every vampire who’d ever bitten me had been doing it out of self-defense. I wanted to know what made my mom decide forever sounded damn good to her. What made all these humans throw away their mortality for the monsters in the dark?
And maybe… a sick part of me just wanted to know the sting of his fangs for no other reason than because he wanted me.
Kyren cupped my arm in his grasp, those dark eyes locked with mine, hypnotic in a way that kept me from looking away. Tate continued to murmur encouraging words in my ears, his fingers driving me closer and closer to edge and yet not giving me what I really needed.
Not until Kyren’s lips parted and his fangs sank into my arm, making me cry out. Then Tate’s fingers thrust inside of me at the same time, pumping two thick digits while his palm ground against me.
The combination of the pain and pleasure overwhelmed my system to the point where I didn’t know if I wanted them to stop or keep going.
“Oh, princess, you’re squeezing my fingers so tight.” Tate lifted his head to stare down at where he touched me.
My head lulled to the side. My eyes barely focused enough to catch the sight of a blond head at the other end of the building.
Julian. Shit.
I tried to shake my head, to tell him not to interfere. He’d blow my cover. Whether or not he saw me, he hesitated, his foot stepping forward before he paused and then backed away around the building until he was gone.
Tate brought his forehead against mine, breathing the words on me. “God, I can’t wait to taste you.”
I didn’t know if it was the danger that I’d almost gotten caught or the pain and pleasure pumping through my body, but my release snuck up on me in a crashing wave. In that moment, I didn’t care who heard.
Tate’s mouth captured my scream, sucking it down as he thrust his fingers deeper, faster, drawing out my release until I was a puddle against the wall.
Kyren lazily lapped at my wrist until it stopped bleeding.
My body shook, my knees growing weak enough that Tate had to hold me up against the wall. I let out a shuddery laugh. “That was…”
“Perfect,” Tate murmured. “You were perfect. Wasn’t she, Kyren?”
My eyes fluttered to the vampire. He drew a thumb along his lips before sucking it into his mouth, something passing over his eyes. I sucked in a gasp, the act far more sensual than I’d have thought it’d be.
“Delicious.”
I huffed a laugh. “Thanks. I guess.”
Tate chuckled. “Come on, princess. Let’s get you home and to bed. I think you’ve had enough adventures for one night.”
I tried to protest because I still had a mission that had once again been derailed because of these two, but my legs wouldn’t stand straight, and I felt a bit lightheaded.
There were questions that needed answers. About myself. About the rebels. Certainly about the strange look Kyren had given me after he’d tasted my blood.
I knew waiting wasn’t going to save me from what Julian had seen. How I was going to explain this away was too big for my brain to process right now.
There was only one thing I could handle right now, and that was four walls and a twin bed.