13. Chapter 13
13
J avier and I were deep in the woods on Tiger Mountain, about a mile away from the cabin we had holed up in after fleeing from the horrific massacre. I was eight, and he had fed me some of his pure, untreated blood for once instead of that bland tincture. The instant his blood touched my tongue, the world brightened. The colors, the sounds, even the feel of the crisp breeze against my skin—it was all more .
“Focus, Luna,” Javier said, his voice gentle but firm. “Reach out with your mind, feel the energy around you. The life force of the birds up above, the trees all around you, and the bugs beneath your feet.”
I closed my eyes, doing as he instructed. Or, at least, trying. At first, there was nothing, just the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze. But then, gradually, I sensed something else, a pulsing, vibrant force that seemed to sparkle all around me.
“I think—I think I feel it,” I whispered, opening my eyes to look at Javier. “It’s like everything is connected.”
He smiled, his dark eyes warm with pride. “That’s your power, Luna. Your connection to the world around you. It’s what makes you special, what will make you a great High Queen someday.”
I bit my lip, suddenly uncertain. “But what if—”
Javier held up one hand, his head cocking to the side. His nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed. He touched his straightened index finger to his lips, silently telling me to remain quiet.
My heart hammered, and I was afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. Only one thing would cause such a reaction.
A heartbeat later, a trio of wolves stalked out from among overgrown ferns. Not wolves. Shifters. Assassins. They circled us, forming a triangle.
My entire body trembled, fear holding me captive, and warmth dripped down the insides of my legs.
Javier grasped my hand. “Close your eyes, Luna,” he said, his voice soft. Deadly.
I squeezed my eyes shut, every breath shuddering through my body hard enough to make my teeth chatter.
Growls and snarls filled the woods, and the air shifted around me. Whatever energy I had tapped into earlier might as well never have existed for all I could feel now. There were only the horrific sounds of a fight between a single vampire guardian and three vicious shifters. The tearing and crunching and sloppy wet sounds made my stomach turn. There was only the tang of blood and the stench of viscera. There was only the silence. The awful silence.
“Luna,” Javier rasped, his hand gripping my shoulder. “Keep your eyes shut.” He scooped me up with an arm behind my knees and one curled around my shoulders. “It’s over.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on to him like he was life itself as he carried me away. “Are we going home?” I asked, my voice thready.
“No,” he said. “We have to leave. To start over.”
“Again?” I whimpered.
Javier was quiet for a long time. “This time will be different. We’ll go to the city. It will be better there—safer. I promise.”
My head pounded as I stared out at the glittering water, memories playing out in my mind like a film reel. Javier was always so patient with me, so kind and gentle, fiercely protecting me from the immortal world as he guided me through the intricacies of the mortal world. I missed him more than I could bear sometimes, and I wondered if I would ever feel that same sense of safety and belonging again that I had always felt around him.
I blinked, tears catching in my lashes, and glanced at the clock on the wall, a minimalist, numberless analog device affixed directly to the concrete wall above the fireplace. Micah’s lecture didn’t start for another hour. Time seemed to slow with each passing minute. I sighed. How many more moments from my past would I relive while I waited? It felt like my whole life could fit into this endless hour.
I recognized this feeling—the headache, not the time-slowing. It happened every time I stretched the time between doses of Javier’s tincture further, which in this instance made little sense because I’d had raw immortal blood barely three hours ago. I should have been fine for another week, if not longer. The dimming glow of the ward sigils on the walls confirmed it. They were barely visible now. My magic was waning—fast.
“You’re entering a bloodfade ,” Gavin said. “You need a communion .”
I turned away from the window partway to peer at him from across the room. He sat with his arms stretched out along the back of the couch and his knees spread wide. I crossed my arms over my chest and sucked in a breath to argue.
But before I could say anything, he added, “Your mature powers are awakening for the first time after being suppressed for far too long, and they’re consuming the dopamine that is fueling them at a rapid rate. Your body cannot keep up, Sophie. Come here. Let me help you.”
I huffed out a laugh and turned to face him fully, my fingers gripping my sides under my arms. “I don’t know what a communion is,” I admitted.
His lips spread into a devilish grin. “You’ll like it. I promise.”
I gulped, realizing what he meant. Sex. This communion he kept mentioning was sex— likely with a side helping of blood.
“I’m not having sex with you,” I said, ashamed by how uncertain I sounded. Like I was trying to convince myself. “I just met you.”
If I was being honest with myself though, I wanted that vampire to take me, just as he had in my dream. Just thinking about it made me instantly wet and ready. I wanted Gavin to thrust deep inside me while I sank my teeth into him, while I drank deeply of his blood. I wanted all he had to give me.
“Come here,” he said, patting the sofa cushion beside him. “We don’t even have to take off any clothing, and I swear I will stop the instant you tell me to. But if we don’t commune , you’re going to pass out, and I’m going to have to force-feed you, which will be much less pleasant for both of us.”
I blew out a breath and relaxed my arms, letting them hang limply at my sides. I trudged across the living room toward him, making my way around the coffee table to drop down beside him on the couch and curl my legs under me.
“Can I touch you?” he asked, his gaze skimming over me.
I licked my lips, only hesitating for a moment before nodding.
Gavin moved one hand to my shoulder, stroking the crook of my neck with his thumb. He licked his lips, and I wondered if he was imagining biting me there. I hoped so, because that was suddenly all I could think about. Desire pooled low in my belly, and I shifted my legs, self-conscious of the scents Gavin was likely picking up from my body.
A low, knowing growl rumbled in his chest, and he removed his other arm from the back of the couch and leaned closer. He placed his hand on my hip, his fingers digging in with tantalizing pressure. “Come here,” he said roughly, pulling me closer.
I raised up on my knees and lifted one leg to straddle both of his. He shifted lower on the couch, settling me against him so my aching core pressed directly against the hardness palpable through his trousers. He gripped my hips with both hands and rocked my pelvis, grinding my most sensitive places against his long, hard length.
“Oh,” I gasped, needing no further coaxing. My body’s instincts took over, guiding the rhythm of our movement. “Mmm . . .” I dropped my head, nuzzling Gavin’s neck.
He released my hips to unfasten the top few buttons of his shirt and tug his collar aside. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said, his voice rougher than before.
I was too needy. Too greedy. I couldn’t wait. I bit down, enjoying the sensation of Gavin’s skin resisting.
“Fuck,” Gavin groaned. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my enjoyment. His hands returned to my hips, and he ground me against him harder and faster.
Finally, my teeth broke through the skin, and his hot, rich blood filled my mouth, carrying that tantalizing taste of chocolate and spice. For the briefest moment, a mere fraction of a second, I wondered if the distinct flavor was a characteristic of immortals or vampires, or if the chocolate and spice taste was unique to Gavin.
But then I was shuddering with pleasure, and the sudden climax washed away all coherent thought. I rode the waves of bliss, each draw on Gavin’s neck seeming to hit a reset button on the orgasm.
Without warning, Gavin released a harsh growl and gripped the fabric of my leggings stretched over my ass, jerking his hands apart. The pants tore down the middle, following the seam. Gavin yanked the crotch of my underwear aside and plunged at least two fingers inside me. Maybe three. Honestly, I couldn’t tell, lost as I was to the pleasure racking my body.
He fucked me with his fingers as I continued to drink from him. I came again and again, or maybe it was one long orgasm. I didn’t care, so long as it didn’t stop.
“Fuck me,” I rasped, breaking the seal on Gavin’s neck just long enough to get the words out.
“You don’t really want that.”
“Fuck me, Gavin,” I demanded.
Gavin’s entire body went tense beneath me, like he was fighting against his own desire to do it, but still, he resisted. “You don’t want that, Sophie,” he said, his voice strained. “It’s the blood. You’re not thinking straight. Remember? You said—”
“Shut up,” I hissed.
I reached one hand between our bodies, feeling the wetness staining the front of his slacks from his own release, but I could also feel his erection, hard and ready for me. I unbuckled his belt and jerked his pants open, freeing that glorious cock. I pushed his hand away from between my legs and shifted forward, sinking onto him.
The pleasure, the fullness from having Gavin inside me while I drank his blood, was incredible. The waves of ecstasy compounded as I rode him. It didn’t take him long to stop resisting. Once again, he gripped my hips, slamming me up and down that gloriously hard length.
The pleasure changed suddenly, reversing. Ecstasy no longer spread out in waves but narrowed to the place where we were joined, shrinking down and growing more intense each time we came together.
I broke away from Gavin’s neck and sucked in a breath. My heartbeat slowed, and time stuttered.
Silver moonlight exploded out of me, and I gasped, completely overwhelmed by the force of the ecstasy radiating out from my core. Gavin gripped my hips and held me flush against him, throwing his head back and groaning out his pleasure. The sigils seared into his skin blazed to blinding brilliance in my otherworldly light.
As the pleasure faded, so did the light, and I collapsed against Gavin, both of us breathing hard and utterly spent.
Gavin slipped a hand under my shirt and skimmed his fingertips up and down along the length of my spine. “I always wondered what it would be like to commune with a queen.”
“I’m your first?” I asked as I licked the few smears of blood that remained on his neck. I couldn’t resist. It would have been a crime to waste it.
“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” he said lazily.
I pulled back so I could see his face, my brows bunched together. “What do you mean?”
Gavin narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Javier kept you in the dark about a lot of things, didn’t he?”
“He said he would explain everything when I came of age,” I said, my tone slightly defensive. “It’s not his fault that he was gone by then.”
Gavin sighed. “A successful communion between a queen and an immortal creates an unbreakable blood bond. When the queen’s mortal life ends, so does the immortal’s life.”
I looked at him, horrified. “You just gave up your immortality for me?”
Gavin chuckled and shook his head. “Regular communions will share an immortal’s longevity with their queen. She will live as long as the last remaining member of her harem. And if the queen deigns to share more of her blood with her immortals than is needed for a mere communion , their gifts will be enhanced, making them the strongest and most powerful of their kind.”
“But—” Again, I shook my head. “You don’t even know me. Why would you bind yourself to me in such a permanent way?”
But before Gavin could respond, his phone rang. He answered, listened for about fifteen seconds, then thanked whoever was on the other end and hung up.
His eyes locked with mine. “Micah is on his way here. He should arrive in a half hour.”
“I—” I opened my mouth, then closed it and shook my head, at a loss for words.
“Take a shower,” Gavin said, standing and setting me on my feet. My legs were more than a little wobbly. “Prepare yourself to see your son.”
He guided me toward the hallway where Thane had taken Bastian and opened a door to a luxurious bedroom. We passed through the room and entered the en suite bathroom.
Once I was in the enormous shower, Gavin headed for the door. “I’ll return in a moment with fresh clothes.”