Chapter 31 #2
Then he’s kissing my throat first, just below my jaw, softening me, tasting skin, making me arch into him with a helpless sound. His hand slides into my hair and tilts my head back then to the side with perfect control. Exposing my neck and the very centre of my vulnerability.
Then the long lick, like I’m salt to his pre-tequila blood shot.
And hell, even that faintest graze of his teeth when he licks me is beyond blissful.
Valentin makes a low sound against my bare throat, like a groan dragged out of a creature who doesn’t groan for anyone.
Iron arms hold me upright, and I feel the pull of it – his hunger and mine tangling together, my blood calling to him and his beast answering.
It’s intimate in a way I’m uncertain that sex will even touch; terrifying in the way truth is terrifying.
And somewhere inside it, a craving sparks – wild, reciprocal, wanting more than just being taken.
I clutch at him, nails biting his shoulders, and he pulls back just enough to look at my face, fangs still visible, face stark with otherworldly hunter.
‘Eira,’ he says, voice wrecked. Like he cannot find the words for whatever he’s feeling.
I barely recognise the sound I make. ‘Don’t… don’t look at me like that.’
‘How else,’ he whispers, ‘am I meant to look at you?’
Then he lifts me before I can respond. Carries me to the bed like I’m something precious and doomed.
Lays me down with a reverence that makes my throat tighten again.
He strips me of every last layer of leather and lace, kissing each new inch of skin as it’s revealed, mapping me into memory. My hands fumble at him, desperate, impatient, and he catches my wrists and kisses my knuckles.
‘Easy,’ he murmurs. ‘I will not rush our first time.’
My breath catches. ‘You—’ I barely stop myself.
Our. Not your.
He looks up. ‘Yes? What is it, Eira?’
He doesn’t know. And I should probably tell him. Should be mortified at the confession that sits on my tongue because society is a giant asshole that would judge a woman for not getting dicked down at the grand old age of twenty-four.
But fuck society if this feeling of being seen like this makes something in my chest ache. Makes me feel powerful and proud and hell, euphoric that I waited to do this with him.
I shake my head and say nothing because the words feel too thick, too emotional to spill.
Thankfully, he doesn’t press me.
He simply straightens, then begins to undress too without releasing me from his fierce stare.
Piece by piece, until he’s bare.
A towering column of jaw-dropping, Gods-like masculinity – marked, scarred, beautiful and dangerous.
Seeing his cock for the second time doesn’t stop the belly-hollowing, heart sprinting, blood-rushing-everywhere majesty of him. And yeah, I’m totally applauding myself for having had the courage to take that thing in my hand, in my mouth, before.
But tasting him and writhing on top of it is one thing. Taking it inside me?
I swallow, hoping to blunt my nerves by looking away from it. But my gaze only meets the disgustingly perfect face that belongs to that dick.
And he’s watching me with a feral seriousness, with only a hint of amusement. ‘That heart is beating way too fast, little hunter.’
I swallow and attempt a shrug. ‘I’m sure you’ll find a compliment in there if you look hard enough.’
‘Hmm, but your inability to suddenly control your heart rate risks pushing me to the edge of my control. Is that what you desire, bella?’
Yes. No. Gods, I don’t know.
And indecision drives me to fidget, another fucking first. I’m almost thankful it draws his attention from my face, which he reads far too well for my liking, to my throat, my shamefully peaked nipples. The shadow beneath the strip of hair guarding my pussy.
He licks his lips again and his cock jumps he prowls onto the bed.
When he settles between my thighs I tense despite myself, nerves flaring.
He kisses me again – deep, slow, anchoring – and slides his hand down between us, touching me with skill that makes my body arch off the bed, a soft gasp spilling into his mouth.
Somehow my arms are pinned above my head before I clock his intent and the smooth edges of his fangs tease over my collarbone, the rise of one breast, then the other, all without breaking skin.
He looks enraptured when he rolls the tip of his tongue over one nipple.
I cry out as the sight and sensation of those glistening fangs and roving tongue on my body sends me wild and wet. I squirm beneath him as he takes his time to torture one peak. The other. Back and forth.
‘When you’ve learned to take me in all ways, I will take pleasure in biting you right… here…’ He licks the underside of my breast with a thick groan and I squirm harder when his cock thickens even more against my thigh.
‘Valentin.’
He releases my hands and travels lower, circling my belly button with his tongue as he parts my thighs. He takes a bold, brazenly hungry sniff of my pussy. ‘Gods, you smell like the very sweetest, blood-touched madness.’
My hips seem to surge towards his mouth of their own accord, and Valentin doesn’t hesitate.
He buries his mouth between my thighs, parting me with broad strokes of his tongue, lapping up my shameless wetness so ravenously, I hear the gulps of his swallows.
And okay, yeah, I blush to the roots of my hair because this is wild in a way that stuns me.
Wilder even that I want to give him more, so when I roll my hips and he grunts his approval, I deepen the movement, writhing his mouth, gasping and shuddering when he licks me deeper.
‘That’s it, cacciatrice, give me more of your nectar.’
He pulls back a fraction to toy with my clit, igniting indescribable pleasure that gives him exactly what he wants.
I lose sense of time as Valentin spins me through cycles of cliff-edge pleasure, only to draw back and start all over again.
Drinking me down with guttural, ravenous pleasure of his own that would seem almost indecent if I wasn’t enjoying every second of it.
And when his large hands cup my breasts, when he catches my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and he squeezes while he laps at my clit, I know there’s no stepping back from the edge this time.
A scream rips from my throat as stars explode across my vision. My thighs close around his head and I lock them in place as pleasure explodes through me.
The giant vampire between my legs doesn’t need to breathe and I want, want, want, more of this.
‘Please!’
He drags out endless minutes of climax until I’m as weak as cheap noodles.
And I’m still gasping and blinking for focus when he grips my thighs and pries them apart.
When he raises his head, his lips and chin are wet and another furious blush eats my face.
‘It’s time for me to fuck you, little hunter,’ he announces gutturally. ‘Holding back is no longer an option for me.’
He prowls back up my body, muscles rippling with endless power, his mark blood red and stark against his skin. Gripped with a compulsion I can’t control, I whisper my fingers over the vivid mark. He throws his head back, baring his fangs as he hisses through his teeth.
And my stars, but that sight alone is enough to keep me enthralled.
Then his head descends and he spears me with bright silver eyes. ‘I will take care with you,’ he murmurs, his tone surprisingly gentle. Or hey, as gentle as a savage apex predator can be in this unhinged moment. ‘You will not bleed for me unless you choose it.’
Emotion punches through the lust so hard I nearly cry. I blink it back viciously. ‘I’m not crying.’
His mouth curves. ‘No. Of course not. We will say that I’m the monster who does not have it in him to be gentle but is striving for it, and you are the sceptical hunter attempting not to laugh till you cry because of my outrageous need for you, yes?’
My voice is husky as fuck when I say, ‘Yes, let’s say that.’
Then he touches me again, and my body forgets pride. I arch into him and humour flees his face.
‘Gods, you’re beautiful. So responsive. I hear the rush of your blood with every touch, with every pump of your heart. You should be thankful I have age and experience on my side, Eira. Or I would ravage you into eternity.’
He settles with a touch of impatience, deeper between my parted thighs, his gaze darting between my mouth and the pulse throbbing at my throat. He drops onto one elbow and with his other hand, he drags my hair up.
Out of the way.
Here we fucking go. ‘Valentin, I… There’s something you should know.’
‘What is it, Eira?’
My tongue darts out. He growls. ‘So, I may not have done this before,’ I blurt.
Silver whirls and blazes uncontrollably for a wild few seconds and I have a front row seat of what it’ll be like to be hurled into a raging vortex.
The thick bicep next to my head trembles, then a shudder moves through his whole body, before he goes deathly still. ‘Fuck, little hunter.’
‘Would… would you have preferred I didn’t tell you?’ I whisper.
‘I would’ve preferred you not add three dozen more things to the list of ways I wish to ravish you.
Same goes for wishing you not further shred my paper-thin control.
But yes, Eira, I’m glad you told me.’ He drops his head, sucks my lower lip into his mouth with a thick groan.
‘Because now,’ he murmurs against my lips, ‘I will taste your virgin blood as well as the blood that flows through your veins.’
I’m computing his words when he notches his broad crown against my slick core.
And I don’t even care whether I’m breathing or not when Valentin pushes himself, inexorable and steady, inside me.
It’s slow and reverent. At first. Pain at his insane size and pleasure braided together in a way that makes my vision blur and drags a cry from me.
I gasp and cling to him, nails digging into his back.
‘That’s it,’ he growls in feral command. ‘Look at me. Stay with me.’
I’m mesmerised by the expanding silver in his eyes. And if he’s glamouring me right now, I don’t even care. Because that blend of sensation is followed immediately by something else.
His hips punch forwards and I scream.