Chapter 25
Blackthorn kicked the bedroom door open, and the wood smacked against the wall, making me jump in his arms. He grinned wolfishly down at me, his fangs flashing in the dim light of the room.
My heart raced, a nervous smile on my lips.
The door clicked shut behind us. I clung to him, each step rocking me against his chest. Then we were by the bed, and he was lowering me. My back pressed into the softness of the mattress. I held fast, not allowing Blackthorn to separate from me just yet.
“My love,” Blackthorn chuckled, brushing his lips against my forehead, “I’m not going anywhere. However, I want to see you.”
I frowned. “You can see me now.”
His large hand came up and cupped my breast through my dress, making me gasp and arch my back. “I want to see all of you.”
Slowly, I uncurled my fingers from around his neck, letting my arms fall to my sides. My eyes tracked his every movement, my chest rising and falling rapidly.
Fear wasn’t what I felt. Instead, it was excitement. Eagerness. A quiet, simmering desperation to have his hands on me.
His thumb brushed over where my nipple pressed against the fabric, teasing the tip until I panted and squirmed. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the swell of my breast before moving away.
“Sebastian!” I cried out, a hand reaching out for him.
Blackthorn knelt at the end of the bed, his hands grasping my foot in his hand, slipping my shoe off and dropping it over the side of the bed before pressing his mouth to the arch of my foot. My toes wiggled as a strange electricity zipped through me from where his mouth touched my foot.
He lowered my leg to the mattress before giving the same reverence to my other foot.
He didn’t release this leg, his long fingers moving up my calf, stroking and caressing as my skirt moved up my thighs.
My legs parted, making room for him, his mouth making a wet tingling path up my inner calf and thigh until my skirts were at my waist.
“Sebastian,” I breathed, his face hovering where I ached for him most. “Please. I need...”
He groaned, looping his fingers at the sides of my undergarments, drawing them down my legs. His breath was cool against my flesh.
I shuddered. He hadn’t fed. Maybe not since I fed him last.
“Wha... what are you doing?” I stuttered, leaning up on my elbows.
Blackthorn’s gaze lifted to mine, his fingers tracing the inside of my thighs. “I wish to taste you. I’ve dreamed of tasting you.”
“But...” I swallowed. “You’ve already—”
“Your blood, yes,” Blackthorn purred, his attention falling between my legs again. “But not the sweetest nectar of all.”
The first touch of his tongue made me jerk. My hand fell, fingers curling into his dark hair. A strangled cry escaped my throat. This was definitely not the same as the boy back on my island.
Blackthorn’s tongue swept up my folds, circling my clit before sucking it into his mouth.
My legs tried to close on him with the intensity in which he tasted me.
Something tight wrapped around each of my thighs, forcing them to stay open for him.
Vines. He had his vines holding me down.
Something about them made it so much more provocative than having his mouth on my aching center.
His fingers held my folds open, exposing me further to his assault and I knew I couldn’t take it much longer.
“Se...Sebastian,” I croaked, my eyes closing tight. “I... too much.”
His mouth lifted off, giving me a final lick before letting out a low chuckle. “Oh, yes, you can, Mara.” Fingers prodded at my entrance, a single digit slipping inside of me with such ease. My inner walls clenched around it, already wanting something else, something bigger.
“That’s it,” Blackthorn cooed, shifting the digit when I made a particular sound he liked. “You’re doing so well. I think you’re ready for more.”
I pressed my lips together, my head shaking from side to side unable to imagine anything more would be possible. It felt as if my insides were spinning into a tight ball and, at any moment, I’d explode. This was a new extreme feeling compared to the sweet love making I had experienced before.
Suddenly, something wrapped around my neck. Another vine. It wasn’t choking, just letting me feel the heavy weight of it on my throat, the threat or promise of it, however one chose to look at it. The feel of it somehow made everything Blackthorn was doing to me more intense.
“Yes, I think you can,” he groaned, another digit pressing at my entrance.
I was so wet now that it barely had to struggle to make room for it alongside its brother. A deep ache followed.
Blackthorn’s mouth returning to my pulsating clit, fingers curling inside of me until I was grappling at the sheets.
My hands grabbed at his head, unsure if I meant to pull him closer or to push him away until that tightening ball inside of me reached a pinnacle.
A raw scream ripped from my throat. My back arched as my hips jerked and my thighs shook.
Blackthorn lifted his mouth. “That’s it, beautiful. Give me a little bit more.”
My heart raced, my chest heaving up and down, unable to get enough air into my lungs as sheer pleasure overcame my senses. Blackthorn’s fingers eased inside of me, dragging out the last bits of my release before removing them.
Eyes locking with mine, he lifted his fingers and sucked them into his mouth. He groaned, his eyes closing briefly. When they opened, he looked, if possible, even hungrier than before.
“I...” I breathed, licking my lips. “I’ve never... I mean, I’ve had sex, but I’ve never felt... that before.”
“Oh, my love, you shouldn’t talk about others now,” he growled, crawling from between my legs and hovering over me, the vine tightening slightly around my neck in warning. “The only one you will remember after tonight is me.”
More vines slipped beneath my back and lifted me up. With very little effort, he made quick work of the ties at the back of my dress, releasing my breasts from its confinement. Blackthorn’s face dropped to my chest, sucking one nipple into his mouth before giving its twin equal attention.
My hands fell onto his shoulders, tugging at his hair.
Blackthorn’s head lifted, and he smirked. “Impatient little thing.”
With more courage than I thought I had, I sat up and reached for him, my hand grabbing at his cock. My brows furrowed, my hand squeezed slightly. He was soft.
Seeing my confusion, Blackthorn pressed himself further into my hand. “I’m a vampire, Mara. Without blood, I’m little more than a walking corpse.”
My mouth dropped open, cheeks burning. “Oh.”
Blackthorn traced a finger around my nipple. “If you would like us to continue...” He plucked at the bud, eyes locking with mine.
I swallowed, licking my suddenly dry lips.
He was giving me an out. Had it been a week ago, I would have taken it. But this time apart had only driven my growing feelings for my captor higher. His words and actions — destroying her image for me — soothed any doubts I had about taking this final step with him.
Even if it didn’t last. It couldn’t last. This, I would at least have to remember for the rest of my days laboring in that factory.
My fingers curved along his jaw as I leaned back, drawing his face down to my breast once more. “Feed from me, Sebastian.”
Hand cupped beneath my breast, he placed a gentle kiss on the swell of my breast. He teased the skin with his fangs before he sank them into my flesh.
I cried out. My hand gripped his hair, my already sensitive body growing wet and aching once more.
Blackthorn held my hand to his length, pressing into my palm as he swallowed my blood down. Had I been in my right mind and not consumed by the pleasure of his bite, I would have wondered at how he grew beneath my touch, hardening and lengthening with every pull of my blood.
Just when my body was about to break upon the shores of my release once more, Blackthorn released me. He lapped at the wound briefly before capturing my mouth with his own.
He tasted of blood and something earthier. Me.
Rocking into my hand, his kisses became more urgent. I pulled at the snaps of his pants, wanting to feel him heavy in my hand. To know what he felt like inside of me. To make him lose control the way I did.
Blackthorn released my mouth with a groan, leaning back as his eyes dipped to where my hand reached into his pants.
The blood had turned his skin hot, his length hard and twitching in my hand.
Much larger than the only other I’d ever touched, I marveled at the feel of it, my hand moving up and down, capturing the liquid that came from the tip.
Eyes lifting to meet his, I lifted my hand and sucked the taste of him into my mouth.
A low growl was my own warning before Blackthorn’s vines lifted my legs up, spreading me wide. His cock notched at my center, the blunt head of him pressing but not yet entering. He practically vibrated, holding himself there as if waiting for me to stop him.
But I’d had enough waiting.
Hands on his forearms, I bucked my hips, sinking the tip of him inside of me with a gasp. He shifted and pressed deeper, his pants sliding down his hips. My mouth fell open in a silent cry, eyes closing as he sank to the hilt.
Then we were moving. Slow precise movements that made me scratch at his arms, whimpering for more. Blackthorn never changed pace, driving into me with practiced thrusts that had me burning from the inside out.
I grabbed at his shirt, pulling at it until the buttons popped open baring his chest to me. My hand pressed to his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath.
It was my blood that made it beat. Beating for me, beating because of me.
Blackthorn released one of my legs and placed his hand on top of mine, our eyes locked together. Each thrust a message to me.
I need you.
Thrust.
You’re mine.
Thrust.
I’ll protect you.
Thrust.
I love you.
Thrust.
All the things he had said to me and hadn’t. Each one made a promise that sent me higher and higher until I cried out his name, my thighs fighting against the vines’ hold on me.
Blackthorn thrust a few more times before his body stiffened, a long, drawn-out groan coming from his lips. He lowered his head to my chest, stilling inside of me while I caught my breath. The vines fell away, their lengths caressing me as they went.
“Mara,” he hummed, rubbing his face against my breasts. “Never leave me.”
He hadn’t asked a question, so I didn’t answer him. Blackthorn rolled to the side, dragging me into his arms, his heart beating against my back.
For the first time in years, I felt safe, desired, and I wished more than anything to give him what he wanted.
My eyes closed, my body sated, and my heart full. Every ounce of me begged to stay right where I was. Where I belonged. In Blackthorn’s arms.