Chapter 30
MARA
Iblink back tears and waste no time ripping the knife from my belt, swiping it across my wrist. Crew studies me, on the brink of passing out again, and I lower my wrist to his mouth.
I stretch my wings out wide beside me and allow a light to illuminate my chest, casting a halo of light around my body.
He watches in awe and hesitates to touch me.
“Go ahead," I say as I extend my arm, letting the ethereal light wash over his darkness. “Take it, Crew. Take me. Drink.”
“I’ll hurt you,” he rasps.
I stare into his piercing eyes and gently smile. “Any pain you cause me is only fair.”
His hands wrap around my arm as he pulls it closer to his lips. His eyes bore into mine as he inhales deeply, taking in the scent of my blood. His soft lips cover the cut, and I feel his teeth pierce my skin.
I gasp and tilt my head back as he begins to suck down my blood.
Something within me begins to hum, and I can feel our blood mixing like the sweetest darkness I’ve ever known.
Every cell in my body comes alive, and I feel a rush of something fill my veins, but it’s not smoke nor the taste of deadly nightshade—it’s him.
Purely Crew and deliciously dark.
His grip tightens around my wrist, and I can’t help the moan that escapes my mouth as he drinks from me.
Is this what he felt?
I fall from my knees to my side next to Crew, and gaze at his face. His eyes are clouded with desire, and a tingle sends my body into shock.
Crew leans up, never breaking his lips from my wrist, and wraps his other arm under me tightly, pressing his body against mine.
Another wave of pain mixed with pleasure surges through me, and he growls against my skin as if he can feel it.
I glance at his neck, watching the wound form together, and another tear rolls down my cheek.
“Take it,” I rasp. “I owe you it all.”
Another guttural groan leaves his lips, and before I can react, he flips me on my back, pressing me against the ground with his hips.
His large body looms over me, and he continues to drink me dry.
My eyes roll to the back of my head, and I can’t help but adore the feeling of his heavy body drowning mine.
I don’t try to move—I don’t even breathe.
I just close my eyes and feel Crew forming around my soul.
His teeth gnaw at my skin, and I wince from the sharp pain that moves through my arm, but with every gnash of his teeth, I feel my skin healing immediately, as if being together makes us unstoppable.
Oh… my god.
I wrap my other hand around his head and begin to run my fingers through his sweat-soaked hair. Crew presses his hips against me harder in response, and I grab his hair and tighten my grip, letting another whimper leave my lips.
“Crew,” I gasp.
One last wave of pain blinds me for a moment before my skin immediately heals, and he removes his blood-stained, swollen lips from my wrist. I watch in awe as my near-golden blood drips from his mouth, and his razor-sharp teeth disappear, bringing forward his normal features.
His eyes stare into mine like a full moon, and I can’t even think.
He’s beautifully terrifying, covered in blood—my blood—and I blink in shock.
Oh, shit.
Crew licks his lips as if he’s desperate to taste me once more.
I can’t help but move my hand to his face, tracing my fingers along his sharp jawline, and his chest heaves.
He slowly turns his head to the side, dragging his tongue up my wrist one last time, and I look at his injury, smiling as I see the knife wound closed and healing quickly.
He watches me, and I feel his hand slowly lift the bottom of my shirt. Crew breaks his gaze to look at my stomach, where the bullet marked my skin, and grins. I glance down at my stomach and see that in the process of what just happened, it has healed completely, leaving no scar.
Our eyes meet again, and we remain silent.
His hips stay pressed against mine, and I shiver as I feel his hand slowly move from my stomach farther into my shirt.
His blood-soaked hand takes its time, running his rough fingers up my ribs, waiting for me to stop him, but I don’t.
Crew’s hand cups one of my breasts, squeezing it as a deep, needy groan leaves his lips.
I gasp and arch my back against his touch.
“I can feel you pulsing through my body,” he rasps. “I knew you would be fucking delicious, but this is something else.”
Oh, boy.
Blood coats his mouth, and his eyes are wild with a deep hunger. I can’t help but wonder if it’s just the intensity of the moment driving us wild or the bond snapping into place between us—whatever that means.
“Are… you alright?” I whisper.
Crew glances at his own body, knowing the wound is closed from successfully healing, and squeezes my breast again.
“Should I lie to myself or be honest with you?”
I blink, feeling the weight of him on top of me. “Please be honest.”
His lips curl in the corner of his mouth, and he removes his hand from my shirt. “I feel like I’m seconds away from losing fucking control.”
I shift under his weight, and he lets me slip from underneath him. I slide to the side and prop myself on my elbows, glancing back at him. His chest rises rapidly, and the look of hunger in his eyes hasn’t disappeared with the small distance I created.
“We should talk about this, right?” I whisper.
I move to stand, and he observes me intensely, as if every small movement of my body rattles his soul. I press my back against the wall, understanding what’s happened between us, and I feel Crew growing stronger as the seconds pass, as if his emotions are mine.
Like he is mine.
He moves to stand, allowing each muscle to stretch with him, and a vibration rattles my core. His head rises, and his eyes find mine. I watch as his fingers flex beside his body like he is trying everything to stop himself right now.
“You should take it easy.” I extend my hand, signaling him to go slow. “You just went through a lot.”
Crew’s burning gaze locks onto mine, and I inhale sharply.
A surge of power courses through him, and I watch as his veins swell and pulse on his body.
His emotions crash into my chest, and I feel the desperation driving him to ignore the soreness to get closer to me.
Yet the stronger emotion I sense now is pure desire.
My stomach flips, and I lower my hands to grip the wall behind me.
“I don’t need to take it easy right now,” Crew says quietly, stepping forward.
My back presses more firmly against the wall, and my hands begin to tremble as the growing emotions settle into my soul. Crew closes the distance between us, and his heaving chest nearly touches my chin, but I keep my gaze fixed forward.
“Crew,” I whisper. “We shouldn’t have done this.”
“Why?” he asks.
“I… I don’t know.”
“Why?” he shouts this time.
“Because of what it means. What it means for us.”
He slowly lifts my chin with his finger, and I tilt my head to see silver flames dancing in his jet-black eyes, as if both parts of him are desperate to take over. A shock moves through my body, rattling me as Crew’s blood pulses through mine.
“I’ve been desperate for you, blood slinger,” Crew whispers. “Everything has screamed at me to run from you, but I can only run to you. It’s as if I were created solely for the torture you will inflict on me.”
I blink.
“I’ve been dying for your attention, even at the cost of my own agony. Attention never mattered to me before, until it was yours.” His fingers wrap around my jaw. “It has always been yours.”
My hands move to his chest, and I feel his heart pounding against his ribs from our proximity. My skin tingles as I run my fingers down his torso, and I press harder, feeling his body shiver against my touch. He tips his head back for a second, feeling the heavy vibration between us.
I stare at his chest, as if I can see where his heart crashes against his ribs. “I can feel you.”
“And I fucking need you,” Crew responds sharply.
My eyes widen.
“I’ve been desperate for you to talk to me, Mara. Desperate,” he says.
“Then we should talk.” I swallow, letting my thoughts consume me.
“What? What could you possibly want to talk about?” Crew leans closer.
“Us? You?” I stammer and quickly fold in my wings.
He exhales sharply and collects himself, as if it’s painful. “Go ahead then.”
Shit. What do I even say?
“What’s… your favorite color?” I blurt as sheer panic takes over.
What the actual fuck, Mara?
Crew blinks in shock, but smirks. “Black. What’s yours?”
“…Green, I… think,” I respond as Crew bends down, pressing his lips softly against my neck, and my legs nearly give out.
Focus, you skank.
“What else, Mara?” Crew asks, and I feel his tongue drag down my neck. “Want to keep talking?”
“…No.” I can barely form words. “We should… go to sleep now, right?”
“Wrong.” He steps even closer, and a darkness vibrates around him. “Very. Very. Wrong.”
“We need to think about this.”
“I’m not thinking about this,” Crew says. “I’m only thinking about you. Your blood. Your fucking tits. And everything I want to do to you.”
A heavy exhale leaves my lips, and a need blossoms within me that I never knew existed. Heat flushes my cheeks, and I quiver in his presence. He is all-consuming, and to be honest, I’m having to hold myself back at this point.
I open my mouth to speak, and Crew moves closer, his lips nearly touching mine.
“Mara Castten,” he rasps. “I can feel your needs.”
“I…” My words stumble, unable to respond as the need for him is nearly driving me wild. “I don’t want you to regret this.”
“Me?” Crew nearly laughs. “I’ll only regret what I don’t do when it comes to you.”
I meet his gaze, feeling the heat spread between my thighs and his eyes go wild.
“I won’t regret this,” I whisper.
His presence consumes me.
“Then say it.”
“Things have changed. Many things.” I swallow hard but don’t hold back.
“And?”