Chapter 16
ELIAS
Nights had passed since he had stolen her away to the enclave. And each night, he found comfort in her warmth, in her bed, on the floor—each time tasting her pleasure upon his tongue, his need for her only intensifying.
Elias walked along the rooftops, silent as the night. Below, the town slept unaware of him, unaware of the pull that made him linger here. In his hand, a black rose, its petals curled. He had been like that for some time, plucking off thorns and discarding them on the roof as he watched her.
Through her bedroom window, he saw Penelope.
She was getting ready for bed, moving slowly, unaware to his presence.
He realized at some point, that more than anything, he wanted to be there with her.
Not hidden in shadows. Not apart. To belong.
To stand next to her without having to run away each time they risked being caught.
But to do that… it would mean killing her. Turning her. It would mean she would have to leave her family. Would she accept it? Could she even understand what eternity would mean?
He stayed there, watching, caught between desire and fear. And for the first time, it seemed like everything he had ever wanted might be within reach. That perhaps, he could allow himself to trust her.
Then—she came to the window. Penelope pressed against the windowsill, her eyes roaming the shadows and the many rooftops that lined her street. She was looking for him…
Such a cunning little Lamb.
Finally, she found him. She held his gaze only for a moment before turning away, disappearing into her room. Yet—the window was left open. Elias’s chest tightened. She had made him a fool. A reckless, hopeless fool. Bewitched him beyond any reason. Beyond any sense.
He waited until the light vanished from her room, until she had crawled into bed.
Elias dropped from the roof, staying within the shadows as he crossed the street. Making his way to below her window, jumping until he could lift himself onto the sill.
At her window, he lingered, the open pane yawning before him. The curtains stirred with the night breeze, beckoning him inside, while the scent of her wrapped around him, warm and heady.
His Lamb. His undoing.
He leaned against the frame, letting the shadows conceal him, listening. She was there, her breathing unsteady, as though she knew what she had done—what she had invited.
“You leave yourself exposed,” he murmured into the dark, knowing she could hear him. His voice threaded through the silence. “Do you know what sort of monsters come creeping when a window is left open?”
The silence that followed was answer enough.
And so, slowly, deliberately, Elias stepped inside.
The risk of being caught, the thrill of the forbidden, the ache of desire—it was intoxicating. And in that suspended moment, everything he had ever wanted seemed close enough to touch.
Penelope rolled over, her eyes never once opening, laying on her stomach as a soft breath escaped her.
She threatened to destroy every ounce of sanity he held within himself.
Elias stalked closer, the air shifting with his weight as he leaned against the bed frame.
The mattress dipped beneath him, enough that her eyes fluttered open as he straddled her back.
A sharp gasp slipped from her lips before his hand slipped over her mouth as she began thrashing wildly beneath him.
He caught her gaze, steady and unyielding.
“Such violence, Lamb,” he murmured, voice low and silken. “I came only to speak with you. Yet you make it far too easy, leaving your window open, begging monsters to come inside. Should I teach you what such carelessness earns?”
Elias removed his hand from her mouth, leaving her a gasping mess as she fought to catch her breath.
“No,” she spat.
Elias released his hold on her, though before he could pull away completely, her taunts fell upon him like a curse, stilling his already dead heart.
“You are a vampire. How dare you break into a ladies quarters,” she said with her sharp tongue all the while lifting her hips to grind against him, pressing the curve of her ass against his hardening cock. “Leave now, before my father comes.”
Ah—his Lamb. His cunning, eager Lamb. So this was the play she wished for? The same play he had mocked her with the first night he had broken in…
Elias growled, finding her hands and pinning them behind her back as she fought against him.
“Well, Miss Adams,” he said, his voice low, edged with something cold and dangerous. “I am a vampire. Care is not in my nature. You are my prey tonight. And if you wish to see the sunrise—” his mouth brushed close to her ear, “I suggest you stay very, very quiet.”
“I do not want this—want you!”
The frantic thunder of her heart, the way her scent flowered sharp with desire—it dragged him closer to that dangerous, delicious edge.
“Protest all you wish, no one will hear you scream,” he advised, placing kiss on her ear, he whispered, “if it becomes too much, say red and we will stop immediately. Blue means you are okay.”
And there it was—
The corners of her mouth betrayed her, lifting despite her effort to hide it from him.
“Say it,” he ordered, his voice a low snarl. “Tell me you want me, Mortal.” Freeing his cock from the tight restraint of his pants, he slowly ran his hand up and down, making sure she could see what she was antagonizing.
“Never,” she whispered.
Elias chuckled, dragging the fabric of her dress up her legs until her bared sex was exposed to him, already slick with her pleasure.
“You should be more honest with yourself,” he chuckled.
“Call for your father, then—if that’s what you truly want.
Be a good little daddy’s girl, and alert him to the vampire defiling his daughter…
or, be still, and be quiet, and take my cock like the good girl you are.
And then no one will know the way your face looks when a monster is using your body for his own pleasure. ”
“Fuck you—”
Penelope gasped, burying her head in her pillow as Elias parted her legs and slammed inside her, pushing deeper and deeper without remorse until she had taken all of him at once.
“Wrong answer, Miss Adams,” Elias moaned as he felt her pussy pulsing around his cock. “Now, tell me, what color?” he asked, giving her a moment to adjust to his size while still pushing himself impossibly deeper.
“Stop,” she begged, a muffled pleading whimper as she tightened around him.
“I am going to need a color, darling. Else our play stops now.”
She still did not answer.
Elias started to pull out and then—
“Blue,” she breathed.
Elias’ mouth curved, sharp and knowing.
“Well,” he drawled, “it seems the Mayor’s daughter isn’t nearly as well behaved as she has her town believe.”
Elias pulled back before thrusting forward again, finding a relentless and unforgiving rhythm as she cried out beneath him, her moans and whimpers muffled by the pillow she bit into.
Elias lifted her leg, sinking his teeth into her ankle as he continued to ruthlessly edge himself deeper and deeper within his Penelope. Her blood rushed into his mouth, coating his tongue in the sweetest taste.
He stopped biting her only to lick and suck at where his fangs had been embedded, groaning as her wound disappeared and healed itself. Biting his own hand to stop himself from taking from her further, the metallic taste of his blood mixed with hers across his tongue.
“Fuck, Penelope,” he growled, taking his hand from his mouth and covering hers as he ploughed into her deeper. Harder. Faster. Until her pussy pulsed around him and her teeth bit into his hand as her release—her pleasure, ran down his legs, marking him as hers.
Then with a final thrust, he let his own release take over as his cock throbbed, filling her completely with his scent.
Elias fell down on the bed beside her, pulling her in close as her soft laugh filled the room.
“Perhaps you should break in more often,” she laughed, curling into his embrace.
“Perhaps,” he echoed.