Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Nigel
“I mean it. So long as I’m here, you’re in danger.
I’d never hurt you on purpose, but the thirst is maddening.
It’s driven me out of my mind once before.
” Telling the tale has served the memories up so ripe they’re bitter, tightening my throat.
I squeeze the next words out anyway. “You should go before it happens again.”
Charlie sits forward in his chair and frowns. “But—”
“No buts.” A clean break will be hard for both of us, but in the end, for the better. “I must insist.”
“In that case, so must I.” He’s over the table and half in my lap before I gather the wherewithal to resist. He slams his lips against mine, and I couldn’t resist if I wanted to. It’s too good. Too perfect. Too right.
All I want is more of him.
His mouth is hot and eager. I return the kiss, parting my lips for his tongue. He tastes of life, both sweet and savory at once, a decadent flavor all his own. I grip his waist as he cups the back of my neck and holds me still for his exploration.
I’m powerless in the heat of Charlie’s stolen kiss. All I can do is sink farther into his embrace and moan my pleasure. The sheet around him shifts and falls in heaps around his hips. His fire-warmed bare skin feels amazing beneath my questing fingers.
His heart beats like a drum, pounding my sensitive ears. I hear blood raging through his veins like a roaring river.
My fangs ache. My mouth waters. My thoughts blur around the edges.
The thirst crashes through me, tensing my muscles and stiffening my cock, where Charlie wriggles in my lap. I crave him. Everything he has to give and more. I crave what I shouldn’t. What he can’t live without. The very essence of his being.
When he runs his curious tongue carelessly over my razor-sharp teeth, a spark of pure ambrosia lights my taste buds like wildfire.
I lose control, whipping my head sideways and jerking out of his grasp. He spills to the floor in my rush to gain distance.
He gazes up at me, confusion warring with hurt in his sky-blue eyes.
Leaning against the wall for support, I savor the drop of blood that lingers on my tongue, eager to swallow but also wishing the taste could last forever.
It’s like nothing I’ve ever had the pleasure to consume.
Spicy and smooth, bursting with flavor, that metallic hint I’ve come to need, but better than that. As if it were meant only for me.
My throat burns for more. The thirst demands gluttony. I long to bite, to tear, to suck, to swallow until I’m so stuffed I couldn’t possibly take another sip.
“Nigel?” Charlie climbs to his feet, and the sheet slips off entirely. “I’m sorry. That was my fault, wasn’t it?”
I hold my hand out to stop him from coming any closer. “We share the blame.” I could have stopped him. Pushed him away. But I didn’t.
“Are you all right?” He doesn’t approach, but it looks like it’s killing him not to. “You’re shaking.”
I hadn’t realized. I make an effort to still the tremors. Take a calming breath. Bite the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the taste of him. As the seconds pass, I piece myself back together, reining in the desire to feed. “I’m all right.”
He lets out a breath of relief. “You did it, don’t you see? You fought the urge and won.”
“Perhaps.” It doesn’t feel that way. Like I’ve won. It feels precarious. Like the ground beneath us could shift and plummet at any moment.
“Would it be so bad if you drank from me?”
I blink. “What?”
“If you just drank a bit. You know. To take the edge off?”
I cannot be hearing him right. “You would trust me to bite you?”
“Of course. You’re my mate. I would be honored to feed you.”
“You’re crazy.”
“That may be true, but you’ll have to hang around to find out. Get to know me, as I would get to know you. Be crazy together.”
It sounds too good to be true. But his steady gaze holds a wealth of sincerity.
He doesn’t understand how terrible the hunger is. How dangerous.
“Other than that first time, when I was out of my mind with thirst, I’ve only ever had animal blood. What if I can’t control myself?”
“You can. You will. Believe in our bond. We cannot hurt each other, you and I. It’s against the very nature of mates.” Charlie presses in close, tilting his head to reveal a tantalizing view of his throat. “Go on. Drink.”
He’s gorgeous. Trusting. Generous. And very, very naked.
Again.
My resolve crackles.
I lean in and inhale. His scent overwhelms me. I lick a long strip up the delicate curve of his neck, press a kiss behind his ear, suck his earlobe into my mouth.
Charlie lets out a soft little sigh and tugs me in farther, pressing our bodies tight together. He stands on tiptoes. His body, small and precious, against me is warm and inviting. His cock hardens, nudging mine.
“Do it, Nigel,” he murmurs, breath soft on my cheek. “I want you to.”
I’m powerless to resist. I sink my fangs into his tender flesh and moan. Blood pumps to the surface and burns a fiery streak down my throat.
Charlie gasps, a sound I barely register as I swallow the gift he so fearlessly offers. Hot, thick, savory nectar pulses fresh life through my undead veins, warming my body and stiffening my cock.
Charlie writhes against me, and the motion tips us against the wall. My back hits the wood with a thud.
Stopping isn’t the impossible task I was so afraid of.
Rather, it’s simple and easy to retract my fangs, lick his wounds closed, and travel my mouth up his jaw to his waiting lips.
If he minds the taste of his own blood on my tongue, he doesn’t say.
I’m flooded with relief. Not a danger to my intended after all.
I have to do something with all this energy coursing through me. Have to take. To give. To fuck. Maybe all three.
I flip us around, lift Charlie, and pin him to the wall. He muffles an approving sound into my mouth and clenches his legs around me. We grind against each other, cocks sparring. Only the thin layer of my trousers separates us.
But not for long because Charlie fumbles with my belt. “Can I?”
“Yes.” I reclaim his mouth with mine, not anywhere close to finishing my exploration of him.
He tugs the leather free of its clasp and unbuttons the fall. Using hands and thighs at once, he shoves the fabric down and writhes closer still.
I grip his bottom, holding him up while he works both our cocks in the tight circle of his nimble fingers. Our kiss never breaks, mouths sliding together as the rest of our bodies become acquainted.
Mate, mate, mate, the wolf inside me growls our pleasure. We are of the same mind. Charlie belongs to us and we to him.
“You feel so good,” he says, treating us both to a firm stroke.
“Not as good as you.” I palm his ass and give each globe a push-and-pull massage, fingers mapping the supple flesh. “I want…”
“What, Nigel? Anything. I’ll give you anything.”
His pledge lights my courage. I separate his cheeks and caress his entrance. “This?”
“Oh, yes. Definitely, yes.” He rolls his hips and squirms in as much as he can while pinned against a wall. “Please.”
His sweet voice, laced with need, stokes a fire deep within me. My wolf is desperate to claim him. As am I. But not against the wall. At least not for our first time.
I heft him closer and walk us toward the bed, where I deposit him on his back. His eyes have gone dark, midnight ocean blue, black pupils blown wide. It’s a good look on him. Lovely.
“Let me.” Charlie shuffles onto his knees and reaches for the hem of my shirt.
I raise my arms, and he lifts the fabric over my head.
Together, we get rid of my clothes. As each piece hits the floors, his gentle hands explore the revealed places.
My shoulders, my arms, my chest, where he teases my nipples until they pebble.
Then he teases them some more. I arch into his touch.
“Oh.” He grins. “You like that.”
“Very much.”
“So do I.” He leans in and licks them, twin warm stripes that cool as he moves on to kiss my throat.
My hunger for blood has been entirely displaced by my hunger for him. His hands on me, mine buried in his hair, our lips meeting again and again and again as I settle between his legs.
I revel in the sensation of his skin, so warm and alive against my cool flesh. There’s no place else I’d rather be than in the welcoming cradle of his thighs. I pin his lean body with mine and relish the way he goes pliant beneath me. A pleasured gasp escapes his lips.
Distantly, the fire hisses and crackles as we explore each other.
I can’t believe my luck. To have found my mate, and for that mate to be Charlie.
Beautiful, brave, bullheaded Charlie. And to think, we’d have lost this if he hadn’t been so doggedly persistent.
I’d have let our bond slip right through my fingers.
“Thank the moon and stars for you,” I whisper against his cheek and press a kiss there for good measure.
“And for you.” He turns his head to capture my lips in a searing kiss, digging his heels into my backside.
To feel so wanted is beyond my comprehension.
Past lovers have come and gone, yet none have entranced me as much as Charlie.
His kiss burns a path to my heart… and other places. Other very hard, very insistent places.
I writhe against him, craving more. I want to be inside him, but… “I have no oil.”
“Me neither, but let’s not let that stop us.” He nips my lower lip. “Make me come, Nigel, then use that.”
A wave of lust courses through me. “You have the best ideas.”
He grins. “I don’t, normally, but I find you quite inspiring.”
“Can I use my mouth?”
“I might die if you don’t.”
“I’ll be careful.” This will be my first time performing this act with fangs where my normal incisors used to be.
“I’m not worried,” he says, and he doesn’t look it either. He looks as excited as I feel.
I slide down his beautiful body because I want to taste him everywhere, starting with his flushed cock. The liquid beaded on the tip is sweet and salty on my tongue—divine—and so is Charlie’s moan as I lick him all over.
As I grab his sensitive inner thigh and press his legs wider, his pulse jumps. Though the blood pumping beneath my hand is alluring, it won’t distract me from my purpose. I’m going to make him come so hard he sees stars. “I want to see you fall apart.”
“And I want to fall apart for you.”
“Put your hands on my head. Show me how you like it.”
He does, curling fingers in my hair and guiding my movements. I close my eyes and lose myself to his rhythm, focusing only on his pleasure. I revel in taking care of him in this way, even while the wolf inside me eagerly awaits our claiming of his body.
The noises he makes—little grunts and sighs followed by a high-pitch whine and a low moan—urge me on.
“Oh, oh, close, Nigel. I’m close.” He comes in my mouth with a moan, hands clenching, body shaking. I rub my cock against the sheets and try not to follow. It’s too soon for that.
I want to swallow, but I don’t. We have plans for his cum. Dirty, naughty, sticky plans that involve his ass and my cock.
I spit into my hand and lay my head on his thigh as he catches his breath. His slick cock glistens where it rests, spent, against his abdomen. I can be generous. I’ll give him this moment. But I would see him hard again before the night is over. Hard and begging for his next release.
He doesn’t take long to recover, carding fingers through my hair and murmuring praise for my efforts. “So good, Nigel. So sweet for me. Give me the rest. I want more of you.”
“Already?”
“Mmm-hmm.” He pulls his knees to his chest, dislodging me from his thigh but also offering himself with such open desire as to steal my breath anew. “Take me. Mate me.”
An eager growl vibrates low in my throat. I won’t say no. I can’t. And by some miracle, I don’t have to. Because Charlie was right. We’re meant for this. I could never hurt him.
But pleasure him? Yes. That I can do, and I set to the task with the enthusiasm of a young bull in rut. I wet us both with his spend, pressing slick fingers into the tight warmth of his body.
“Yes.” He hisses the word through kiss-swollen lips.
At my urging, he settles his calves on my shoulders. I line up our bodies and enter him. We lock gazes and moan in tandem as I press in deep.
The wolf inside me basks in this victory, this sweet conquering, given freely and taken with gratitude. My heart thuds merrily. Together, we find a rhythm and chase bliss.
“Kiss me.” He opens his thighs to make room for me between them. I settle my weight against him, chest to chest, and press my mouth to his.
Neither of us lasts long. I wrap him in my arms. He clings right back. Our motions become frantic as we race over the edge, first me, then him, both breathless and shivering with delight.
We lie curled together, filling any space between us until there’s none, a warm cocoon of shallow breaths and deep kisses.
At some point, in a daze, we part for air and to tidy up, but not for long.
Pulled together like a shooting star to the steadfast earth, settling in the shimmering dust after the explosion, we embrace beneath the linens and close our eyes.
For the first time since becoming a vampire, I fall asleep feeling safe.
Some hours later, I wake up feeling the opposite.
“Wha—?” Charlie jostles at my side and is yanked from the bed. “What’s happening?”
I grab the bedsheets, but I’m hustled in the opposite direction by two sets of iron fists clamped around my biceps. My muscles tense rigid. Panic claws at my throat.
Must protect my mate!
Then Charlie says possibly the worst thing I could imagine in this predicament.
“Mom?”