Chapter 30 Hannah
Hannah
Julia grips my shoulders and pushes me back. I let myself fall onto the rug in front of the fireplace, her on top, and for a moment, I just stare at her, taking in how unbelievably beautiful she is.
Something shifted between us when she surrendered. I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t just saying the words. She meant it.
But now, as she pins me down with this hungry look in her eyes, it’s clear my moment of asking her to surrender to me is over. All I can hope is that it was enough. That after she drinks her fill of me, the binding spell will be satiated.
“You must feel smug, getting me to say those words.” Julia pins my wrists above my head with one hand, her hair falling down and forming a curtain around our faces.
Her voice is low. “But don’t forget where you belong, pet.
Spread out under me, at my mercy. You got what you wanted, and now I get my end of the bargain.
You’re going to let me take from you until I’m satisfied. ”
The firelight dances across her face, highlighting the feral gleam in her eyes. This is the Julia I met in my backyard—dangerous, powerful, wild. There’s something even more intense now, like all this time we’ve spent together has only made her hungrier.
It ignites a blazing fire deep inside me.
When did I start finding Julia’s threats seductive instead of terrifying?
When did the thought of her power start making me ache with want instead of fear?
I should be fleeing, horrified by what I’m becoming.
But as Julia’s eyes lock onto mine, predatory and possessive, all I can think is how much I want her to look at me that way forever.
“Take me,” I whisper, and I’m sure my tone betrays that I’ve never wanted anything more.
“I’m going to devour you.” She hooks two fingers under my chin like claws. “Every drop of pleasure, every gasp, every tremor. You gave yourself to me so beautifully in the forest, and now I’m going to take everything—slowly, thoroughly, until you’re shaking with how good it feels to feed me.”
My pulse races, and that intoxicating rush of fear and arousal makes my head swim. Somewhere between the forest and this moment, she’s become the only thing I want.
She kisses my neck roughly, trailing downward. At my breasts, she sucks and bites until I’m arching beneath her.
With her free hand, she reaches between my legs. She teases me, circling but never quite touching where I need her most. I rock my hips, trying to guide her, but she just smiles that wicked smile I’ve come to crave.
“So impatient,” she purrs. “You made me wait. Now it’s your turn.”
“Julia—” Her name comes out broken.
“Beg for it.” The command is softer than usual. Her eyes search mine, like she needs to hear it. She needs to know that I meant what I said: I want her for who she is.
I tug at her hold on my wrists, my whole body aching for her. “Please touch me. I need you, Julia.”
Only then does she slide her fingers between my folds, and the relief is so intense I cry out. I’m already soaking wet, my desire having pooled there while I was pleasuring her. The evidence of my arousal makes her eyes gleam.
“You’re practically dripping just from tasting me,” she purrs, gliding her fingers up and down. “Did you like kneeling between my legs? Thrusting your tongue inside me?”
I nod.
“Good. Because I expect you to do that for me again and again.”
My heart skips. She’s talking like there will be more of this. Like tonight isn’t all the time we have together.
She toys with me with expert fingers, building me higher while beginning to murmur the feeding incantation. Every cell in my body tingles as her power trickles into my veins.
I moan, rocking my hips, desperate for a release.
She takes her fingers away to examine them. They’ve turned as dark as shadows from feeding and are glistening with my arousal.
She pushes them into my mouth, making me taste them. I suck on her fingers, swirling my tongue around and between them. The way her eyes glint makes me burn.
As she brings her hand back down and her fingers enter me, I can feel my life force beginning to flow into her.
It’s different this time—deeper, more intimate.
The pleasure and feeding intertwine until I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
Every slide of her fingers sends waves through me while feeding her magic in a continuous cycle of give and take.
The incantation grows stronger on Julia’s lips as she moves her fingers, and I’m climbing higher, the pleasure building to an unbearable peak. My vision blurs at the edges, that familiar darkness threatening to creep in as my life force drains.
But then—
Julia’s movements falter. Her fingers are still inside me, but the incantation dies on her lips. She breathes hard, staring down at me with something new there: fear.
“Hannah, I’m going to hurt you.”
She lets go of my wrists and tries to pull away, but I wrap my legs around her waist, keeping her close. The feeding has stopped, leaving me aching, but this moment feels more important than any physical release.
“Julia.” I reach up with both hands, cupping her face, forcing her to look at me. Her winter-blue eyes are glossy and vulnerable in a way that makes my chest ache. “I’m not Charlotte. And you’re not the same person you were then.”
“You don’t understand. When feeding feels this good, I lose control. I cannot stop myself from taking everything.”
“I trust you, Julia. I know you can stop because you’ve done it before.”
“I’ve only been able to stop because I have to. Because of the binding spell.”
“The spell is still there. You’re safe. But I think you can stop because you want to, not because you’re forced to.”
Something shifts in her expression. Her eyebrows pull down, like she’s letting herself hope.
“Keep going,” I breathe, rolling my hips against her hand. “I’m not afraid.”
She searches my face for a long moment, then begins stroking me again, slower and gentler. The incantation flows from her lips like a prayer rather than a demand.
Dark tendrils bloom from her skin and snake toward me, wrapping around me and holding me to her.
I keep my hands on her face, maintaining eye contact as the pleasure builds. The feeding resumes, but it’s calmer, more controlled, more careful.
“Just like that,” I gasp, my every muscle coming alive. “Don’t stop.”
She kisses me deeply, letting out a sigh into my mouth.
The slowness awakens something new inside me. The desire is just as fierce, but it’s so different from before. The tendrils of magic tighten around me, awakening every cell in my body. A flutter builds in my chest, and then my belly, until I reach a peak and there’s nothing left to do but freefall.
She gives one more slow stroke, and my climax crashes over me like a wave.
I cry out. Julia stops kissing me to watch my face, and I hold her gaze as my body convulses with ecstasy.
My essence flows into her, and relief floods her features as she realizes she’s in control, and she’s not destroying me.
The air shimmers, like heat rising from summer pavement. The fire flares brighter. Shadows writhe on the walls. My chest grows hot, something deep inside me pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Julia’s eyes widen.
“Do you feel that too?” I whisper.
She nods.
My heartbeat quickens. “Is it the binding spell?”
“I—I believe so.”
The warmth expands, radiating from where the binding has lived all night.
“Kiss me,” I whisper, pulling her face toward mine.
The words spill out, almost frantic. I just want her lips on mine one last time before the spell that’s been keeping us together breaks.
She does.
The kiss is desperate, but I no longer feel my essence draining. She’s just kissing me for the sake of kissing me.
The room warms, like the sun is rising. Every cell in my body hums with energy. The spell strains inside me.
“What have you done to me?” Julia whispers against my lips, her words so broken and vulnerable I can hardly bear it.
I open my mouth and deepen the kiss, holding her face gently between my palms.
She slides her hand up my waist, chest, and neck, stopping to cup my cheek. For once, her touch isn’t rough and possessive, but careful.
The heat intensifies until it’s unbearable. Light bursts behind my closed eyelids. The spell pulls at my chest, wanting me to be flush against her. It brings me closer, closer, until I can’t get any closer without being inside her. And then—
CRACK!
The sound echoes through the room like thunder. The binding breaks in my chest like a rope snapping under too much tension. The force of it makes me arch, crying out into Julia’s mouth.
She bites back a cry too, gripping my shoulder so tight it hurts.
The windows rattle. The fire surges, threatening to reach out of the hearth and burn the house down.
Abruptly, the room falls silent.
I go limp, too exhausted to move. I can only lie there as Julia collapses next to me, her body warm and comforting against mine.
We stare at each other in shock, breathing hard.
The fire has settled back to normal, crackling softly. The shadows on the walls grow still again. Everything feels too quiet after the explosion of magic.
“We broke the binding,” Julia finally whispers.
“Yes.” The word barely comes out.
I wait for relief to flood through me. For the joy of being free.
Instead, there’s just…emptiness. It’s like something has been surgically removed from my chest, leaving a hollow space where it used to live.
Which is ridiculous. We severed a curse that would have bound us until death.
Then, to my surprise, Julia smiles. It’s not her usual smirk or sneer, just a genuine, pure smile that transforms her whole face. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
She leans closer and kisses me.
It’s different from before, gentle and unhurried.
No teeth, no bruising pressure. She tilts her head to fit us together better, and her hand comes up to cup my cheek with a tenderness I didn’t know she possessed, her thumb stroking my cheekbone.
I kiss her back just as carefully, hardly daring to move and shatter the moment.
When she pulls back, we both freeze.
Her eyes widen as she realizes what she’s done.
We just kissed. Without any spell forcing us together. Just her lips on mine because she wanted them there.
I search her face, looking for regret or horror. But all I see is the same confusion I feel.
Should we be pulling away from each other, embarrassed by what the spell made us do? Because instead, that kiss feels like the most real thing that’s happened all night.
I wait for her to say something. To acknowledge what happened between us and reaffirm that she meant what she said.
But she just lies back down next to me and stares at the ceiling, her jaw tight.
I’m suddenly hyperaware of our nakedness, of the marks covering our bodies, of the lingering taste of her on my tongue. The spell is gone, but I still want to be close to her.
“So.” My voice comes out too high. “That’s it, then. We’re free.”
“Yes.” She spots her discarded clothes and summons them with magic. “Free.”
The word hangs between us like a question neither of us knows how to answer. Without the binding spell, what are we? What do we want to be?
Julia pulls on her chemise, still not looking at me. “I suppose I wasn’t the only one who needed to surrender.”
My face heats up. Of course she figured out what I was doing.
She doesn’t say anything else, and the silence feels worse than an argument. Is she angry? Does she regret what she said?
Through the window, the sky is brightening from black to deep purple. Dawn is coming. We broke the spell just in time.
So why does the thought of leaving this room make my chest ache worse than the binding spell ever did?