DAE #3
I don't remember what else she said. Just her face, wet with tears, and the way she looked at me like I was the only thing in her world.
Still inside of her, I took her down to the grass and I laid her down on my shirt, and this time was different.
Slower. Deeper. Her hands cradled my face like I was something fragile, precious, and her eyes stayed open, locked on mine, refusing to look away even as her breath hitched and her body began to writhe beneath me.
And my fangs, gods, my fangs ached, throbbing in time with every beat of her pulse in my ears.
I held out longer than any man could, longer than any vampire should, every muscle in my body trembling as her body squeezed my cock with every thrust. Her pulse called to me, sang to me, a siren's song I fought to resist. But the bond between us had become a living thing, pulling taut, vibrating with need.
"Dae?" Her voice was soft, questioning.
I moaned, my open mouth hovering over her throat as I moved within her. The scent of her skin—warm, sweet, alive—filled my lungs. I could practically taste her, and it was driving me fucking insane.
"I need—" My voice broke. Failed me completely as I kissed the soft skin right beneath her ear. "Alice." Just her name. Just the shape of it on my tongue, raw and desperate.
Every muscle in my body locked tight as I held myself still against her, fangs aching, her blood singing to me just beneath that thin barrier of skin. Every instinct screamed she was already mine, that I didn't need permission—that I could take, could claim, could devour.
But I waited.
I would have waited until dawn burned me to ash.
Her fingers slid into my hair, trembling slightly, and her answer came on an exhale, soft but sure. "Yes." She tilted her head, baring her throat to me. "Yes, Dae."
I struck.
She cried out, surprised, arching beneath me as her blood flooded my mouth, dark, sweet, and perfect.
It burned through me like wildfire, like lightning, like nothing I'd ever tasted before.
She moaned my name as I drank deeper, her hands clutching at my back, nails digging in as her body convulsed beneath me.
MINE.
Not a thought. But a truth written in my bones since the beginning of time.
The bond snapped between us, bright and unbreakable, searing through every nerve.
Alice gasped as she felt it too, that irrevocable tether locking into place, binding us together.
There was a flicker beneath the warmth—something unfamiliar yet resonant, like an echo in a hollow place I hadn't known was empty—but it vanished beneath the tidal wave of sensation.
With my fangs deep in her throat, I began to move again, fast and hard, my arms locked around her. And when I came, it was with her name on my lips, my vision whiting out, the world narrowing to just her, just this, just us.
Carefully, I withdrew my fangs and licked the wound closed, but my stomach twisted as I saw how pale she'd gone. Had I taken too much? Her pulse fluttered beneath my fingers. It was too fast. Too weak.
She shivered violently.
"Hi," she rasped.
"Hi." My own voice sounded rough.
I pressed my hand to her chest, over the soft material of her dress, and she covered it with hers, holding it there.
Her fingers were too cold.
"You're too pale," I said hoarsely. "I can help you. I can give you my blood…" I trailed off.
She exhaled shakily, then smiled. "There's really no escaping it now anyway, is there?"
"You know what happens if we do this."
"Yes."
My eyes met hers, and her fingers tightened around mine.
"Do it. I want to be with you."
I bit my wrist without any more hesitation. The sting was nothing compared to the way her lips felt pressed against my skin as she begin to drink. And the moment my blood touched her tongue, the bond sang between us, locking completely into place with an intensity that stole my breath away.
She moaned against my wrist, her body arching as warmth flooded her cheeks, putting color back into her skin. The scent of her arousal spiked sharply, and I moaned, rolling my hips, my cock still half hard inside of her. Gods, she was as affected by this as I was.
When I pulled my wrist away, she chased it with a whimper, her pupils blown wide, lips stained crimson.
"More," she gasped, hands clutching at me.
I gave her my mouth instead, kissing her deeply as I rolled us over in the grass. The taste of our mingled blood was intoxicating—dark and sweet and right.
She tightened her thighs around my hips, pushing herself upright with her hands on my bare chest. "Dae—please—"
Unable to refuse her, I gave her all of me, everything she needed.
Afterward, I wrapped her in her coat, holding her against me as I sat on the steps again with her on my lap. My body heat—the only thing I'd ever had worth giving to her—keeping her warm.
And that void behind my ribs I'd learned to ignore, to live with, to pretend wasn't there…
It was gone.
In that graveyard, with her blood on my tongue and her scent in my lungs and on my skin, I searched for that familiar emptiness and found only her.
She was part of me now.
Yet somewhere deep beneath the bond's warmth, something darker stirred—an echo of ancient hunger that didn't belong to either of us—but I buried my face in her hair and ignored it.
Just for this moment, I let myself believe we were safe.