Chapter 6
Sam
After my shower, I drank half a bottle of blood, in the hopes that Lock wouldn’t notice anything strange. He was already suspicious and I knew that was never a good thing, but if I could just get through training with him, maybe it would allay his concerns. The last thing I needed was him finding out I’d been rationing my blood so severely.
With the half bottle, I felt the magic teeming under the surface. After days of keeping it weakened, the power was overwhelming. This wasn’t even half of my strength and I couldn’t bear it. I was utterly terrified of this thing that lurked inside me.
When I got to the training room, he was already inside. I stopped in the doorway, feeling frozen. I’d seen Lock’s body countless times, but it never got old.
He was wearing running shorts and a black cut out tank top that gave me a delicious view of his abs. As he reared a knife over his shoulder, my eyes caught on his flexing bicep. It wasn’t the first time I’d wondered if it was weird to lick that bulging muscle. Speaking of bulging…
Fuck. We still hadn’t slept together since I changed, excluding that one oral session. I felt starved for his touch.
Pushing back the raging horniness, I continued into the room, heading to the opposite side. I grabbed the hanging rope and climbed it until I reached the rafters. It was significantly easier than it had been a few weeks ago. After taking a moment to get my footing, I began walking across the beam, carefully placing one foot in front of the other, heel to toe.
I was no gymnast and contrary to popular belief, becoming a vampire didn’t automatically make you graceful. That was still a skill you had to learn; at least there was all of eternity to work on it.
A blade sunk into the side of the rafter just as I put my foot down, startling me. I immediately dropped my hands to the beam to keep from falling. Lock was aiming his knives at the target, as if he was completely innocent. I pulled it free from the wood and threw it in his direction, but my aim was significantly worse than his and it just clattered to the floor a couple feet from him. He didn’t look up, but I saw the corner of his mouth raise.
“Dickwad,” I muttered.
A sharp pain spread outward from the side of my thigh and this time I couldn’t regain my balance. Taking the weight off the leg with the knife sticking out of it made me topple over. Even though the rational part of me knew the fall wouldn’t kill me, I was filled with fear as I tumbled the fifty feet to the bottom.
Instead of hitting the floor, I landed in Lock’s arms. It still hurt like a bitch, especially when it pushed the blade deeper into my leg. He grabbed the hilt and yanked it free, making me cry out. My pain turned to anger and I dropped my feet before shoving against his chest.
“Why would you do that?”
“I like live targets.”
“Most people would agree that your fiancé isn’t a good option for target practice.”
“I’m not most people.”
“Clearly.”
He hummed thoughtfully and walked in a circle around me. When he came around the second time, he locked a hand around my throat from behind, pulling me into his chest. Cold steel brushed my jaw, tracing its way up to my cheek.
“I’ve had enough of this broodiness. You’ve been a vampire for all of a few days. You haven’t earned the right to this sort of melancholy.”
“Maybe I learned it from you.”
He chuckled in my ear, making me shiver. “I happen to think I’m a delight to be around.”
“Should we have all the covens vote on that?”
“Anyone who disagrees will have the honor of dying by my hand. It’s the closest they’ll ever come to divinity.”
I laughed, naturally leaning into him more. “You’re not a god.”
As soon as I said it, I knew I’d fucked up. A growl rumbled deep in his chest as his grip tightened on my throat, taking away my air.
“Maybe you’d like to try that again.”
“No,” I breathed through my constricted airway.
When the tip of his blade trailed behind my ear, a nervous excitement rose in my chest. It still felt strange that there was no rhythm there. Most of the time I’d been hardly aware of my heartbeat, but now that it was nonexistent, I felt its absence acutely. It didn’t speed up when I was nervous or skip when Lock did something that stole my breath.
Before I got too close to losing consciousness, I pulled my dagger free and thrust it behind me. He grunted, his grip loosening enough for me to spin around and kick him where I’d stabbed him. It barely took him a second to recover, then he was behind me. He tried to put me in a chokehold, but I ducked and pivoted, swinging my leg out to collide with his ankles.
He shifted to smoke and I lost track of him. There was a dark laugh that seemed to come from everywhere all at once, echoing off the walls. I looked in every direction and came up empty. Just as I began to lose hope, my senses honed in on something out of the corner of my eyes. I turned and caught his dagger out of the air, immediately sending it back in the direction it’d come from.
There was a muttered curse, then he leapt down, landing in front of me. “Look at that. You aren’t nearly as pitiful as you were the last time.”
“Gee, thanks. How easy did you go on me?”
He grinned. “At first, I was slowing myself down, but that last move caught me off guard. Very few people can say they’ve landed a blow against me.”
I bounced up and down on my toes. “Can I get that on a sticker? ‘I survived stabbing the infamous Hemlock.’”
“No. You might start a rebellion. Never give your enemies hope.”
“Wow. I got to stab you and you blessed me with words of wisdom. How’d I get so lucky?”
“I’m extremely generous.”
When I smiled, he suddenly looked like he was starving. I took a step back, which just made the corner of his mouth lift in a dangerous smirk. Even though I tried to take off as fast as I could, he immediately caught me. A moment later he’d pressed me roughly against the wall, holding me in place with his body.
His head dipped down so that his lips were against my neck. I couldn’t help arching into him, the feel of his skin on mine igniting a fire inside me. He must’ve sensed my arousal because a growl rumbled in his chest before he thrust his hands under my shirt and gripped my sides.
“Show me your power, Belladonna,” he breathed in my ear.
I shook my head. “Dangerous.”
“Good. That’s my favorite kind of foreplay.”
The word ‘foreplay’ shouldn’t have excited me, but coming from Lock’s lips, it was enough to have me nearly jumping out of my clothes. To be fair, if he used that deep, lusty voice, he could probably say ‘armpit’ and I’d get fucking wet. Resisting his sex voice would probably be the hardest thing I ever had to do.
“Let’s keep training,” I suggested, turning my face away.
“Good idea.”
His hands went to the waistband of my leggings, thrusting them down to my knees. I opened my mouth to protest, but he turned me around so my chest was pressed into the wall. When his hard dick rubbed against my ass through his shorts, I let out a shaky breath.
“Lock, no.” Even as I said it, I pushed back against him.
He chuckled, palming my ass cheeks. “I don’t believe you mean that.”
“I do.”
“Give me a good reason, then.”
My lips parted when a finger traced around my opening. Shit. A good reason? There were none.
“I-I want to make you come.”
The movement stilled and it was an effort not to pout. He spun me back around, slamming his lips against mine. It felt like there was an explosion in my core as his tongue brushed mine, the taste of him overwhelming my senses. He wasn’t kidding when he told me I’d understand once I changed. The bond was so powerful, so demanding.
I dropped to my knees, pushing his shorts down enough to free his dick. Taking it in my hand sent another jolt through my body and I wanted nothing more than to be full of him, but this would have to suffice for now.
He fisted my hair, tilting my face up. The look in his eyes was fierce, dangerous.
“Don’t think I’m unaware that you’re avoiding something. Hiding from me.” With his thumb, he traced my lower lip. “For now, though, I’m going to watch you worship me.”
He roughly thrust into my mouth, his dick hitting the back of my throat. Even as I gagged, he didn’t let up. With the hand in my hair, he held me in place while he fucked me. Drool was sliding down my chin and there were tears streaming over my cheeks, which only made his eyes burn brighter.
Reaching down, I settled my middle finger over my clit, moaning around his dick when I circled it. His nostrils flared, then he pushed in as far as he could, making it impossible for me to breathe.
“Finger yourself, Belladonna.”
Keeping eye contact, I slid two fingers inside of myself. My body gripped them immediately, desperate for the contact. I began to move them slowly and my lids fell shut.
He tightened his grip in my hair. “Look at me.” He resumed his cadence, allowing me to draw in a breath through my nose. “Ride your fingers.”
My hips rocked, the angle allowing me to reach that perfect spot. I was whimpering around his shaft, so close to my release as I watched his mouth open. When I cried out, he locked a hand around my throat and flipped me onto my back. Taking his dick in his hand, he pumped it a few times, then spurted his cum onto the fingers I still had inside me.
He watched as I moved them back and forth, pushing it inside of me while my own orgasm began to subside. Grabbing my wrist, he brought the fingers up to his mouth and sealed his lips around them. Watching him taste both of us made me want to start all over again.
Using his own two fingers, he dipped inside of me and curled them. I arched into him, but he removed them and brought them up to me. Immediately, I took them in my mouth, sucking down to the last knuckle.
“You and me,” he said, his voice husky in a way that made me feral. “Forever.”
“Forever,” I agreed.
He gave me a heart-stopping smile before pulling me to my feet and adjusting our clothes.
Maybe he was right. If we were together, this could be possible. For now, though, I needed to remain cautious. It was still early and there was no telling what else my body had up its metaphorical sleeve in the magic department.