Chapter 45 Raven
Raven
The murmur of voices filtered up from downstairs, where the others had stayed to talk. I harbored some concerns that one of them might kill Alaric, but so far there had been no yelling.
Okay, so perhaps concern was a stretch.
The mage had not tried to talk to me since we arrived at the giant bear’s cabin, other than to berate me for my continued lack of control over my magic.
I guess it was dumb of me to expect he might have had a change of heart. Or even better, a personality transplant.
My legs trembled from exhaustion as I stared at my wan reflection in the bathroom mirror. I’d lost all my tan since moving up north. Back on our compound, where every day dawned bright and hot, my skin had always been golden brown.
Now it was the color of milk, with a faint tinge of green. My violet eyes were the only colorful thing about me these days.
Being a vampire’s food source was not great for my health, it seemed. I wondered whether there were supplements I should take. Foods that would help keep me healthy.
As I gripped the edge of the sink, the bathroom door opened to reveal Rasmus. He’d showered before me, and his wet hair hung in thick black waves over his shoulders. Someone must have lent him some pants. The thick fabric hung low on his hips, so low they were positively indecent.
I tried really hard not to stare at his slab of a chest or the sharp lines of his abs, but he lured me in like a siren. Was that a vampire trait? Or just a Rasmus trait?
“Little witch,” he crooned. “Come to bed.”
Before I could come up with an excuse for why sleeping with the vampire was a terrible idea, my feet stumbled toward him.
“Are you using vampire magic to compel me?” My eyes narrowed. Glynda had told me vampires could compel other magicals to do their bidding. It was partly why they’d been the most powerful species before the bloodborne virus wiped them out.
“No, little witch. It’s impossible to compel one’s mates.”
“Oh.” So this was all me. I guessed my libido was back in the driver’s seat. My gaze slid down Rasmus’s bare chest before I shook my head in disgust. What was wrong with me? Anyone would think I was a sex-mad wolf shifter!
A faint howl followed by a feminine giggle made me stop and listen. Was that the bear’s wolf shifter mate, or a wild wolf?
Neither option filled me with joy. I hoped Kenji was safe.
I looked up to find Rasmus towering over me. In the short time I’d zoned out, he’d crossed the bathroom.
“Bed.”
With a grumble, I dragged myself out of the bathroom and crawled under the covers. Wet snow slapped against the window, while the wind howled across the cabin’s roof. Even though it was still early, no light filtered in through the thick drapes. Every day was dark this far north.
I longed to see the warm sun again. Feel the heat against my skin.
A cool hand brushed my hair away from my cheek, and the mattress sank under the weight of a large male. Even though I knew I needed to sleep, I rolled toward him, unable to resist his magnetic allure.
The fire burning in the grate crackled, warming the small room. Rasmus pulled me close, wrapping his large body around mine like a glove. His very naked body.
I tilted my head up to say something about how I needed to sleep, but his mouth captured mine, erasing the words in my head. Razor-sharp fangs cut my lip, filling my mouth with coppery blood. He groaned and rolled us, forcing me beneath him.
The weight of his thickly muscled body pressed me into the soft mattress, my breasts squashed between us. My core ached. I needed more than a kiss. I wanted all of him. My fatigue evaporated, eclipsed by a throbbing pulse between my legs.
Rasmus slid down, kissing my neck and then the slope of my breasts. I still wore a tee, but he tore it from me, tossing the ruined garment aside.
“Hey!”
“I’ll buy you more,” he purred before latching a hot mouth around my nipple.
I gasped when his fangs pierced the soft skin. It should have been painful, but all I felt was intense pleasure. I moaned, desperate for more.
“You taste so sweet,” Rasmus groaned. A thick erection throbbed against my thigh, hard yet cool. I dug my nails into his shoulders, but he resisted my incoherent pleas. Instead he slid further down the bed and sank his teeth into my inner thigh, taking another mouthful of blood.
At this rate, I’d end up with bite marks all over my body. Maverick would be furious when he saw the state of me, but I didn’t care. The bite marks would fade overnight.
“Please,” I cried when sharp fangs brushed across my clit. A thick finger pressed inside me, stretching me, before he bit me just above my clit. I howled with a mixture of pleasure and pain.
A loud thump from somewhere below made me jump, but nobody came crashing through the bedroom door, and even better, they all stayed out of my head.
Rasmus sucked hard while pumping his fingers inside me. The orgasm I’d been chasing since he first touched me hit hard and fast.
I detonated. Waves of pleasure blasted through me while my magic burst free. Fire and shadow eclipsed everything for a few seconds before I came to my senses and pulled my magic back inside my chest.
Rasmus’s eyes glittered in the dark as he sank into my pulsing body. He groaned as I stretched around him. “So tight, little witch. Is your ass this tight?”
My eyes widened as I pictured him spreading my cheeks and pushing inside while Maverick fucked my pussy. Or Zane. Or…no. I couldn’t think about my merman. Not after he’d left me.
Cool fingers gripped my chin. “Focus on me, little witch.”
I gasped when he slid out and thrust back inside me with a snap of his hips. Ohh.
“I can’t…” I cried. It was too much. My body had nothing left to give.
“You can,” he growled before sinking his fangs into my throat. The first pull on my vein sent me crashing over the edge once again, his venom hitting me harder than any human drug. Glynda hadn’t been exaggerating when she said a vampire’s bite was orgasmic.
It truly was.
Someone screamed. It might have been me.
There was another loud crash from downstairs before Rasmus’s fangs slid from my neck and a hot tongue sealed the wounds. He claimed my mouth and pumped hard into me, faster than a mortal man, taking what he wanted as I climaxed all over again.
When he found his release, he tensed and groaned before withdrawing and rolling to the side.
“Now you can sleep,” he whispered.
The amulet resting between my breasts burned my skin as my body cooled. When I reached down to touch it, I gasped. The tips of my fingers traced the cracks marring the once-smooth stone.
“What’s wrong?” Rasmus lifted his head from the pillow in concern.
“My amulet. It’s damaged.” My eyes welled with tears. This was my only connection to my mother. If it broke, I’d have nothing left of her.
Rasmus lifted the stone and examined it, even though it was dark. Like shifters, vampires had exceptional night vision.
“It’s made from satanite,” he said with a frown. “Why are you wearing a stone from the hell realm?”
I froze in his arms. My vampire mate didn’t know about the demons and what the ugly one had told me weeks ago.
“Um…”
The bedroom door swung open to reveal an angry bear, saving me from a conversation I wasn’t in the mood to have.
“If you’ve quite finished,” Maverick snarled. “My mate needs sleep. I can sense her exhaustion, and taking more blood has only made it worse!”
“Jealous?” Rasmus propped himself up on one arm and smirked.
“Need a stake, care bear?” Zane quipped over Maverick’s shoulder. “There’s a broken chair leg downstairs that would do the job.”
I closed my eyes with a yawn. Stupid males. Maybe mating more than one of them was a bad idea. Oh well. They could figure it out. Maverick was right. I needed to sleep.
“You have terrible taste in mates,” Kenji said in my head. “They’re all idiots.”
“At least they don’t keep secrets from me,” I snarled back before slamming my shields down.
Silence was golden.