Chapter 31
Dis-moi que tu me détestes
BASTIEN
Ishould’ve left for the council meeting already. Decisions waited. Documents waited. But with Claire’s hands locked behind my neck and her breasts pressed to my chest, everything else fell away.
My palms skimmed down her spine, curving over the smooth rise of her backside, a thumb catching on the black lace of her garter belt. I’d already divulged too much tonight, and I had no idea what else I might say or do the longer I stayed. “Tell me to get my hands off you.”
Her nails bit into my skin and her back arched, but she said nothing. Only gasped my name. “Bastien.”
My cock was heavy with need, straining against her as I steered us slowly across the room toward her bed. Every step pressed her tighter to me, her body molded against mine. I was consumed with the need to please her. To give her exactly what she wanted.
And the closer I got, the less everything else seemed to matter. When the back of her knees hit the bed, I lifted her up and tossed her on the mattress. Her tits bouncing as she landed on the quilt. “Tell me you didn’t mean what you said. Tell me the thought of me between your legs disgusts you.”
One easy motion and the buttons on my trousers were undone; my aching cock sprang free, the tip already slick with need.
Claire propped herself up on her elbows, legs spread, unable to tear her eyes away from my hard length as I gripped it and stroked it up and down.
I tried to restrain myself before I did something foolish. “Dammit, Claire! Tell me to stop.”
She wetted her lower lip. “No.”
I had to bite my lip to keep a groan from slipping out. Working my length up and down, I tried to make the want, the need, go away. If I just finished, then it wouldn’t be so hard to be around her.
Claire rose up onto her knees. All her silver lilac hair flowing loose down her shoulders. Cheeks pink with a pretty flush. “Do you want me to lie?”
Why would she put that idea in my head? Just tell me the lie and push me away.
But she didn’t. No. Instead, her warm hands eased down my chest, tracing scars.
Her lips only inches away from mine. Her scent intoxicating as it surrounded me.
She set a hand on top of mine, squeezing me.
I groaned, my head falling forward against her shoulder.
“Lie to me if that’s what it takes,” I begged as we both slid our hands up and down my cock. Squeezing at the top. Pausing every time. The pad of her thumb rubbing over my slickness.
With her lips brushing my ear, Claire whispered, “Go, Bastien. Leave.”
The sound of her low voice and the gentle sigh of her breath had every one of my nerves screaming her name.
I was a dying man, pleading for the mercy of a quick death, but only getting a cup of water.
I lifted my head, needing to see her. Needing to see if she wanted to stop, but the look of pure ecstasy on her face undid me.
Slowly, I tangled my fingers in her silky hair, grasping the strands and tilting her head back—exposing her throat to me.
“Tell me you hate me,” I rasped, gazing into the depths of her eyes. “Say it.”
“I hate you.”
The admission was breathy. Her chest rising and falling in heaving gasps that told me she didn’t hate me or what I was doing. No, not at all. She was enthralled by me. By the attention I was lavishing on her.
By the feel of my cock in her hand.
I leaned forward, pressing my lips against her throat, kissing her deeply. Sucking when she gasped as another bolt of pleasure tore through me. If she kept going, I was going to come all over her pretty stomach and ruin the black lace.
Each kiss had her squirming for me. Trying to get closer, to move my cock closer to her sweet center, but by some miracle, I held her hair fast in my grip, not allowing her to get that close. “Say it like you mean it,” I said in a commanding voice as my mouth wandered down to her cleavage
“I hate—” The words broke on a shuddering cry of pleasure as I licked one nipple into my mouth. I sucked on her, letting my tongue toy with the hard little peak. Flicking it back and forth in my mouth until she cried out, then giving the other the same attention. Drawing her into my mouth again.
“What was that?” I prompted her. “Be a good girl and tell me what you hate, my little moonflower.”
She grabbed my wrist and moved my hand off my cock, taking over with both of hers. I growled like the beast I was. “I hate when you touch me,” she said.
I released her hair and leaned forward, guiding her backward to the mattress.
Caging her hips with my knees. All the while, she held onto my cock like it might save her life.
Working me up and down until I was so close.
I grabbed her wrist, stilling her. Not wanting to finish just yet.
There was no going back for me, now. Not unless she told me to stop.
No matter how bad of an idea this was for everything and everyone around me, she was a cosmic force.
Gravity. The sun. The moon. Pulling me in.
My kisses floated down, down, down. Past her belly button. Not stopping until I reached the hem of her undergarments.
“I hate the way you feed from me,” Claire whispered, without a drop of anger. “Hate the way you drink from my thigh.”
“It doesn’t sound like you hate it,” I said, covering the damp heat of her sex with my mouth, and reveling in the taste of her through the thin material.
She moaned louder. “Please. Bastien. Please.”
“Convince me, Claire.” I ran the flat of my tongue over the lace, dragging it back and forth before carefully sliding the damp fabric aside.
“Hate—” was all she could say before it tapered into a moan. She twisted in the sheets. Her thighs snapping around my neck. I pressed them open again and held them down. Licking her, tasting her. “Oh, Bastien!” she cried.
“Will you let the man you hate make you come?”
Her chest rose and fell. Her hips rocked forward. “Please. Please, Bastien! Don’t stop.”
I’d been between her legs dozens of times, it had never been to taste this. The forbidden sweetness of her.
Mine. Mine. Mine. She was mine.
My cock wanted to be where my tongue was, but we weren’t there yet.
No. Not even close. I wanted her to have every experience she’d been missing out on.
Starting with this one. Licking. Sucking.
Dragging out her pleasure until she was quivering and whispering my name like she was talking to her moon goddess, begging for a long-held wish.
Gently, I slid a finger inside her tight pussy, just far enough in to tease her. “Give it to me, Claire. Give me all that hate.”
Quicker strokes. Gentle, but fast against her clit.
Rubbing. Moving my finger inside her heat.
Over and over. Back and forth. In and out.
Until my hand was covered in her and she finally screamed.
I slipped inside her mind just to feel the pleasure—the ecstasy of her release.
Like a depraved man, I grabbed my cock and worked my own free, pumping hard, pushing my pleasure to her so she could feel it. Feel how good she made me feel.
“Show me,” Claire gasped. “Let me see you.”
I sat up, unable to deny her anything, and worked my cock hard with her release on my hand, until I groaned and thick, hot lines shot across her belly.
Her breasts. Covering her in my mark. My breath was locked inside my chest. My head swam with sensations and feelings I’d never experienced before.
It wasn’t just a release, but a coming home.
Claire ran her fingers through my cum, and I imagined her licking them. Her eyes met mine. “I’m ready now.”
Ready for me to fuck her. To be her first. Her last. Her only. I teetered on the edge of a decision that couldn’t be undone.
“Please, Bastien.” She hooked her hands around the back of my legs and pulled me onto her. My length slid through her wetness. Her hips bucked into me, pressing my tip right there.
One movement, and it would be done. One little thrust, and she’d be mine. I grabbed her knee, and opened her up wider for me, draping her leg around my hip.
“This is what you want?” I asked, my body trembling with the restraint needed for this moment.
She nodded. “I want to feel you. All of you.”
Gently, foolishly, I sank a breath closer, barely nudging her open.
Her mouth rounded in shock, and tears gathered in her eyes.
I bit my lip. She was so tight. Too tight.
But that wasn’t what was holding me back.
If I did this, I’d be more than just her first time.
If I did this, I’d be more than mated to her.
According to our laws, if I did this, I’d be making Claire my wife.
“D-don’t stop,” she said. “I can take it.” I was so lost in her eyes, lost in the war raging inside me, that I almost didn’t hear someone knocking at the door. Claire stilled. “Someone’s here.”
I blew out a long breath. “It’s Natalia.” She was looking for me. I knew without slipping inside her mind and asking. I was late for my meeting. All it would take was one look at me and she’d know the truth.
My gaze settled on Claire, whose cheeks were bright red, and who was covering her chest with her hands. “You should go.”
She was right. I shouldn’t have even let it go this far.
Kissing her was torture, but I could endure it.
Sealing my bond, making her my wife, was selfish.
I needed to go. However, I couldn’t just leave her like this.
Alone and questioning what happened. Thinking I meant to abandon her again after intimacy just to hurt her.
She knew of our mate bond now, so it felt imperative that I give her more than just words.
If I was going to be able to maintain any sanity inside this castle, I was going to need to know she was safe.
And there was one way to do that. Another knock.
More impatient this time. I returned my attention to Claire.
Lacing my fingers through hers, I pulled her into a seated position. “I have something for you.”
Her eyes connected with mine, and in the soft light of the fire, they looked like liquid fire.
I unhooked the chain from around my neck, and carefully turned my bloodstone over, opening the locket and removing the small necklace that had been stored inside.
With care, I removed the thin gold chain with a pea-sized red stone attached, then donned my own necklace once again.
Taking her hand in mine, I let the chain coil into her open palm.
“What is it?” she asked, staring at the red gem.
“It’s a bloodstone.”
A bloodstone that was harvested from the mountains surrounding this very chateau and imbued with both light and dark magick.
She drew in a surprised breath before suspicion creased her brow, touching the lace choker that had nearly taken her life. She was leery of collars, and I understood why.
“This necklace isn’t like yours. It’s not meant to hurt you. For centuries, vampires have given their mates a bloodstone. A twin cut from mine. If you need me, touch the stone and say my name.” She said nothing, only stared at the stone. Her eyes going glassy with tears. “Is something wrong?”
“It’s just… no one has ever given me something like this before.”
“If you don’t want it—”
“No, I do. I do want it.”
Hesitantly, I asked, “May I?”
Once again, she nodded.
Pulling back her long hair and gathering it in one hand, I draped the necklace around her delicate neck, fastening the clasp.
As soon as I did, I felt the tether between us strengthen.
Our bond deepening. The gem sat just above her cleavage, and it brought me unimaginable pleasure to see her wearing it.
I wondered if she felt the same thing. If she could feel how this tied us tighter together.
“Keep it concealed,” I told her. “Under your dress, if possible.”
Another, more insistent knock came. I gritted my teeth. “Why do I need to conceal it?” she asked.
There was so much more to explain but now wasn’t the time. I had to speak with Natalia and tend to the council. “I promise I’ll answer all your questions. But right now, I need your word that you’ll keep it out of sight.”
Nodding, she said, “I promise.”
I took her face between my hands and placed a slow kiss on her lips. One that stirred more than my desire, but my deep and growing affection for this brave, beautiful creature. When I pulled back, I found it difficult to leave, even though I knew I had to.
“Goodnight, Claire.”
“Goodnight, Bastien.”
With that, I buttoned up my shirt and fastened my trousers, then made my way to the door, casting one last glance at her before leaving her alone. At least I knew she would be safe. If she needed me, she’d call for me. And if she didn’t, well, I’d always know how to find her.