Chapter Six #2
I’m on her before she can finish the sentence, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand while the other rips open the buttons of my jeans. My cock is so hard it’s painful, and when I line myself up and thrust into her in one brutal stroke, she screams.
Perfect.
She’s so tight around me, so hot, so alive, and I can feel her heartbeat everywhere, in her throat, her wrists, the walls of her cunt clenching around my cock. I fuck her like an animal, all teeth and claws and desperate hunger, and she takes every inch of it with a ferocity that matches my own.
“Mine,” I snarl against her throat. “Say it again.”
“Yours,” she moans, wrapping her legs around my waist. “Yours, Vex, please don’t stop—”
I don’t.
I take her hard and fast and deep, one hand fisted in her hair to hold her still while I mark her throat with bites that don’t quite break skin.
The bed frame cracks under us, wood splintering, but I don’t care.
Nothing matters except the way she feels beneath me, the way she cries my name, the way her blood sings in my veins.
When she comes again, it triggers my own release, and I bite down hard on her shoulder, right over the ice-devourer’s mark, and claim her fully.
The bond roars to life between us, a living thing that ties her soul to mine in ways that can never be undone. I can feel everything she feels, taste every emotion, and the love-terror-need pouring from her is so intense it nearly brings me to my knees.
“I love you,” she whispers, her hands cupping my face. “Monster and all.”
And God help me, I believe her.
Reality crashes back like ice water.
I’m still in the hallway. Still standing outside her door with my fists clenched and my fangs aching and my cock so hard it hurts. The fantasy fades, leaving only the cold truth behind.
If I touch her like that, I’ll kill her.
Just like I killed Catherine.
A sound escapes my throat, half-growl, half-snarl, and I slam my fist into my thigh. Pain radiates up my arm, and into my thigh muscle but I welcome it. Use it to ground myself.
Control yourself. She’s not yours. She’ll never be yours.
Behind the door, Tessa’s heartbeat slows gradually, her breathing evening out as she comes down from her climax. I stand there listening, torturing myself with the knowledge of what I can never have, and hate every second of it.
Then I hear something else.
Footsteps. Soft and deliberate.
I turn to find Prophet standing at the end of the hallway, his dark eyes unreadable in the shadows. He’s dressed in his usual black, hands clasped loosely in front of him, and there’s something in his expression that makes my stomach drop.
“Walk with me,” he says quietly.
It’s not a request.
We end up on the back deck of the clubhouse, the cold Alaskan air doing nothing to cool the fire burning under my skin. Prophet leans against the railing, his gaze fixed on the dark forest beyond the compound, and for a long moment, neither of us speaks.
“Heaven is watching,” he says finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “They’ve been watching since the moment the mark appeared on her skin.”
I go still. “What are you talking about?”
“The ice-devourer isn’t the only ancient power stirring.
” Prophet turns to face me, and there’s genuine fear in his eyes.
“Tessa’s bloodline was chosen by angels centuries ago to guard the seal.
Her ancestors made a covenant, their lives in exchange for protection, their deaths to maintain the binding.
The devourer breaking through now isn’t random.
It’s a consequence of the covenant failing. ”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because your bond with her isn’t an accident, Vex.
” He steps closer, his voice dropping even lower.
“The angels are watching to see if you’ll break her.
If you’ll prove monsters can’t be trusted with sacred things.
If you claim her fully, if you take too much and she dies because of it, heaven will use it as justification to wipe out every vampire on this continent. ”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut.
“You’re saying I’m being tested.”
“We all are.” Prophet’s jaw tightens. “But you most of all. They’re waiting for you to fail.”
“Then why did they let me near her in the first place?”
“Because maybe they want you to succeed.” He pauses, something like hope flickering across his face. “Maybe they want to believe even monsters can choose something greater than their own hunger. That love can be stronger than nature.”
Love.
The word sits heavy in the air between us, and I can’t bring myself to say it out loud. Can’t admit what I feel for Tessa has already crossed every line I swore I’d never cross again.
“What if I can’t?” My voice comes out rough. “What if I touch her and can’t stop?”
“Then you’ll destroy her.” Prophet doesn’t soften the blow. “And heaven will destroy you. And the devourer will break free and devour everything in its path because there’ll be no one left strong enough to stop it.”
“No pressure.”
“None at all.”
I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “You know what the worst part is? I’m already breaking my own rules just by being near her. Every night I stand outside her door, listening to her breathe, and I tell myself I’m protecting her. But the truth is, I just can’t fucking walk away.”
“Then don’t.”
I look at him sharply. “What?”
“Don’t walk away.” Prophet’s expression softens slightly. “But don’t claim her either. Find the line between the two and hold it. Protect her without consuming her. Love her without destroying her. It’s possible, Vex. Difficult, but possible.”
“You’re asking me to be something I’m not.”
“No,” he says gently. “I’m asking you to be exactly what you are, a vampire with enough humanity left to care about something more than blood. That’s what makes you different from the others. That’s what gives you a chance.”
The words settle into my chest like stones, heavy and uncomfortable.
“If I fail—”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I have faith.”
“In me?”
“In her.” Prophet glances back toward the clubhouse, toward Tessa’s window. “She’s stronger than you think. And she’s already chosen you, whether either of you wants to admit it yet.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I say nothing.
We stand there in silence as the first hints of dawn begin to creep over the horizon, and I make myself a promise.
I won’t claim Tessa. Won’t feed from her, won’t bind her to me in ways she can’t escape. I’ll protect her from the devourer, from heaven’s tests, from my own goddamn nature if I have to.
Even if it kills me.
Because Prophet is right about one thing: Tessa deserves better than a monster who can’t control himself.
And maybe—just maybe—I can be better.
For her.
By the time I head back inside, the sun is starting to rise and the clubhouse is stirring. I can hear boots on the stairs, voices in the common room, the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen.
Blade’s voice cuts through the noise, sharp and commanding. “Church in twenty minutes. Everyone.”
I pause outside Tessa’s door one last time, listening.
Her heartbeat is steady now, calm. She’s awake but still in bed, probably dreading the day ahead. I can almost feel her anxiety through the wall, and it takes everything I have not to knock and check on her.
Instead, I force myself to turn away.
Rule number one: Never feed from Tessa.
Rule number two: Never touch more than necessary.
Rule number three: Never fully claim her.
Three simple rules.
And I’m already breaking every single one.
God help us both.