A Few Drops #4
“How long—” I couldn’t finish the sentence as the carriage rolled over uneven ground and a wave of pleasure rolled through my body.
“How long will it last?” Rhazien clarified.
I bit my lip and nodded, mirroring his predatory stare.
I wanted him. I pressed my palms into the seat and curled my fingers over its edge.
“You had such a small amount, the feeling should wear off in a few hours. It’s not my favorite practice, but we find providing it to our new human guests makes the transition into the Hive more…amiable.”
I let out a swift exhale, repeating, “Amiable…” while riding the waves of the heightened senses and trying to remain tethered to a crumb of common sense.
“You drug them.” The regent drank from his goblet in response. “You said poison wasn’t your style, but even so, you drug them so they cooperate. And then what?”
The blood was in charge now and the blood commanded my hands all over my body. I unlatched the cloak and reached behind me to untie the corset of my dress.
Realization of my intentions flashed on Rhazien’s face and he was instantly upon me, his body nestled between my spread legs, chest pressed against mine. He buried his face into my hair. The weight of him pinned my hands behind my back and I gasped at his strength.
“Don’t.” The growl wasn’t a royal command. It was primal.
A heady charge hummed across our connected bodies.
“Don’t,” he repeated. I panted beneath him, taking in his scent. Warm cedar and sage. “It’s the blood.”
“You did this,” I breathed. His hands guided mine away from my garment and pressed them into the seat, holding them in place. My head fell back at the touch, the crackling electric murmur graduating to a delicious buzz.
“I’m sorry.” He bit back a groan as I wiggled beneath him. “Every vampire’s blood is different and every human reacts differently.”
I pressed my forehead into his. Just by looking at him, I knew what a kiss would feel and taste like. I knew how he wanted to be ridden.
“Apparently its effects turn you into a wildcat in heat.” Amusement threatened his serious tone.
Warmth and moisture swelled under my tattered gown, and I rolled my hips just once against him. His pupils blew out as his length grew against me. The forest in his eyes, once welcoming and full of daylight, now dark, lust-filled, murderous.
“Reyva,” he cautioned, his fangs slowly emerging.
Their points were a seductive invitation. His blood bucked beneath my skin, encouraging me to let him. Let him. Let him bite and drink.
“Your Majesty,” I challenged, looking down at his broad chest. It was heaving as much as mine.
“It’s the blood.” It was as if he was reminding himself as well.
Let him! The blood chanted.
I writhed once more, a desperate attempt to quench the blood-ignited lust. The weight of his hands and hips made it impossible to achieve anything meaningful from the effort.
“Reyva.” His stern tone lured out my stifled common sense. “Repeat after me, ‘This isn’t me. It’s the blood.’”
He was right. I hadn’t consented to this. It was the blood. I inhaled through my nose, hoping to breathe in some sanity but only found more of his savory musk. “It isn’t me…it’s the blood.”
“That’s right. Again.” The grumbled command only made me want more forced instructions from the regent. But I did as I was told. Repeating myself slowly, over and over again, until the waves of need reluctantly subsided.
He breathed with me, mouthing the words as I willed them into reality.
One tortuously long minute turned into two. The blood tempered with my breaths and the charged moment was seemingly sedated, although unsatisfied. Once I resembled a person in control of my inhibitions, he released my hands, refastened my cloak, and returned to the opposite bench.
The blood, frustrated by the distance, called for him, but I continued to repeat in my head, It isn’t me. It’s the blood. It isn’t me. It’s the blood.
“I feel it too.” Rhazien observed me closely. “It’s calling to me. It doesn’t like to be separated.”
“It wants to come back to you?” I knew it did. It writhed within me, scratching at my thin resolve.
He nodded behind his goblet, watching me with grave intensity. “Some residents even take a dose recreationally and, over time, tend to develop a tolerance.”
“So, it’s addicting.” I breathed, understanding why. I was floating in a murky bliss. Every sensation expanded by the thousands. Every fear I had, dead and buried somewhere in the recesses of my mind.
“It has addictive properties.” He stroked his trimmed beard as I struggled to stay seated. “I vastly underestimated its effects on you.”
My stomach dropped as scorching heat rose to my face. “So, it doesn’t feel like this for all humans?”
“Well, you’re not an ordinary human…are you?”
Gruff voices and scurrying feet erupted outside the carriage, but our eyes never left one another. With a brash knock on the door, he tore his gaze from mine.
“Come.” Rhazien’s curt response dripped with royal privilege.
The door swung open and revealed Gorvin’s resolute expression. “Lady Reyva, welcome to the Hive.”