Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
She brought her fingers to her throat, moving her hair to the side. If she was going to have any chance of getting away, she had to get him to bite her.
His gaze followed the path of his fingers as he traced them over her lips, down her throat and to her waist. Slowly, he lowered her against the wood railing, his eyes burning as he pressed his lips to her neck, the rough edge of the mask scraping her delicate flesh.
His fangs grazed her skin, and she gasped. The demon’s voice tried to break through, but was muted in his presence, her thoughts focused solely on him, the man who was going to sacrifice her.
Closing her eyes, she waited for pain, but his lips met her clavicle with a kiss, his moan resonating into her chest. Aware of the glass bottle of Alexander’s blood pressed between her breasts, she guided his head from moving any lower.
“Bite me,” she said, revealing her throat to him, not only because it would poison him, but because she craved it. “I want to feel you in my veins.”
Surprise flashed in his dark eyes when he lifted them to meet hers, his lips falling open.
“Please,” she pleaded, focused on the sharpness of his fangs pressing against the soft flesh of his bottom lip.
Burying his head in her neck, he whispered her name against her skin like a prayer.
“My Charlotte.” His fingers sank into the dark, unruly curls as his fangs pierced her with careful precision.
As he lost himself in her blood, a haze of pleasure erased the pain, heat coursing through her limbs.
Shockwaves scattered through her body, tingling into a pool, soaking her undergarments.
Pulling back, he wiped the trickle of blood kissing his lips on the back of his sleeve, smearing it over his jaw. “You taste like Heaven.”
She swallowed thickly as something within his carnal stare sharpened on her, like a predator setting his sights on helpless prey. Yet, the danger lurking just beneath his skin only spurred the lust consuming her higher.
“Then drink more,” she offered when her blood didn’t affect him. How long did it take to work? Her mouth dried at once, her papery tongue thick in her mouth.
Unless Katherine had tricked her, and it was some strange test. Did he know?
Her stomach clenched as the ridges of the balustrade dug into her back as he leaned her backward, dark eyes sparkling in the dim candlelight.
“Patience, little lamb. I want to devour other parts of your first,” he said with a deep growl, laying himself over her.
In the haze of his recent, brief bite, confusion muddled her sharp mind. Blood trickled from her throat, down to the swell of her breasts, veining into the ivory neckline of her dress.
He wrenched her against him, the sudden movement making her gasp, and she instinctively locked her legs around his hips. His arms wrapped around her, drawing her close, before his lips met hers in a surprise, ferocious kiss, his fingers tangling demandingly in her hair.
After a few seconds, their lips separated and panted only a hairsbreadth away. “I never want to let you go.”
Swallowing thickly, she replied with a croak in her voice, “But I lost the game.”
His fingernails cut into the curve of her ass as his hands squeezed her tighter, holding her up as if she weighed nothing.
With the nose of the wolfs mask pressed against hers, he asked, “Do you think I would let anything happen to you? I wasn’t going to before this game and I’m sure as Hell not now. ”
His words nestled deeply in her battered heart, warming her, but then why did he make her do this at all? “You said if I didn’t win you would hold me to our agreement.”
“If I told you the truth, you wouldn’t have tried,” he said, nuzzling her cheek.
Her brows shot up in a high arch, mouth falling open in a breathy gasp. He was never going to hurt her? Buzzing hummed over her skin as she drank in his eyes, her abdomen clenching, a sudden dizziness swallowing her thoughts.
After a few seconds of processing his admission, she asked, “Then why bother with The Hunt at all?”
He laughed softly, then his deep tone vibrated in her throat when he brought his lips to meet her neck.
“I told you before. I wanted a reason to chase you, to hunt you so I could claim you as mine. You were so damned clever that you almost got away. I’m proud of you.
Maybe I should start calling you a fox instead of a lamb. ”
Stomach clenching, sparks darted up her core and into her head. “I thought becoming mortal was the most important thing to you?”
“It was until I met you.” Bringing his fingers to her back of her neck, he squeezed gently, holding her gaze on his.
“Don’t you see? You’ve imprinted yourself so deep in my damned soul that no knife could ever be sharp enough to remove you.
Your light has haunted me since our first meeting and every thought I have is embedded with your essence.
I am utterly and completely consumed by you, so completely that if I ever die and the bugs feast upon my flesh, all they will taste is my love for you. ”
The air froze in her lungs, unable to be swept into a single breath. Wide eyed, she stared at him, the invisible tether binding their hearts pulled tighter.
He dragged his thumb across her cheek. “Breathe, love.”
Nodding, she sucked in a deep breath, never breaking eye contact as warmth filled her up, spreading through her slowly. She wanted to believe him. His words were so beautiful, so intense, but were they genuine?
In a croaky, faint voice, she asked, “What if those feelings are because of the bond?”
“It’s not your blood I crave. It’s you. How many times must I voice it? I’m obsessed with you.”
Her stomach cartwheeled, vision blurring as he held her close. “I am, with you too,” she stated shakily.
“Say that again. Tell me you’re mine.”
With a breathy whisper, she exclaimed, “I am yours.”
His erection strained against the fabric of his trousers, pushing against her with earnest intent. Still hooked around him, legs hoisted up over his hips, she ran her fingers over his chest, exploring the valleys and dips of his muscles, slowly undoing buttons.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recalled the potion, but the details were lost to his feather touches. He was lucid, and it hadn’t worked. That’s all that mattered.
Running kisses over his neck, she tangled her fingers in his hair, fisting strands as she nipped his skin, desperate for every inch of closeness between them to be consumed entirely.
“Do you want this?” he asked, eyes raking over her.
“Desperately.”
He bit down on the curve of her chest, not yet breaking skin, the seductive tension coiling in her core building to an unstoppable need. Slowly, he pushed her back, inch by inch, until she realized she was hanging over the edge.
Squealing, she grabbed his shoulders, digging her nails into the backs of the muscles. “Nathaniel! I’ll fall.”
“So don’t let go,” he said with a wolfish grin.
Her heart raced when she glanced down at the two stories of space between her and the floor.
“Look at you,” he said huskily through a groan, eyes raking her over as he tipped her head back. “So breathless, so fucking perfect, just begging to be ruined.”
Whimpering, she hooked her feet around his hips, keeping her arms around his neck. He was the only thing stopping her from falling to her death.
A libidinous demand sharpened his features as he looked at her through hooded eyes from behind his mask. Her thighs clenched, and she felt the scorching flames of desire consuming her from the inside out, scattering embers not only in her skin, but in her very essence.
Trembling shockwaves traveled through her legs, her arousal close to dripping down her thighs.
Something about being suspended like that, knowing she could die at any moment, was a sensation she wanted to repeat endlessly.
He hiked the layers of her dress over her thigh and unbuttoned his trousers.
His enormous cock slapped against his taut lower belly.
As he swiveled his hips into a more comfortable position, she glanced down at the gap between them and sharply inhaled at the sight of the glistening liquid covering the tip, with veins pulsating along his length.
Her eyes widened as she dragged her tongue over her lips, taking in his engorged, twitching shaft, the head so swollen it must be painful, wondering how she would accommodate all of him.
Nathaniel chuckled against her ear, his breath ghosting the shell. “Do you see how much I need you? How much I crave to be buried deep within you?”
She half gasped, half moaned, then nodded, unable to articulate the words that she could not stand it anymore, that she ached desperately for him.
Her back bowed as he slid a hand from beneath her, eliciting a scream as she slipped an inch toward the ground far below. He pinned her to the railing with his hips and a drop of his seed spilled from the head, coating her opening.
He palmed the back of her skull with his free hand and drew back to score her face with his unrelenting stare.
“I do not think I can be gentle just now. Part of me is sorry for it,” he paused, then moaned as he ground himself against her opening, easily gliding through the slickness coating her, every miniscule movement back and forward rubbing over her bundle of nerves, “but the other part craves your screams of fear and pleasure, wanting nothing more than to plunge as deeply into you as I can, making you shatter around my cock.”
Her head swam, unquenchable heat flushing from her chest to her ears. God, she wanted him to do just that. She didn’t give a damn if it hurt.
Nathaniel dropped his hand from the back of her head, gripped her backside hard enough to bruise in both palms, and slid into her with one punishing thrust, a guttural groan slipping past his parted lips.
“You fit me so well, my love,” he said in a deep, baritone tone. He panted softly above her, tension tightening his jaw as he held himself back from moving within her, allowing her a moment to adjust, if only a little, to the vast stretch of accommodating him.
She swallowed audibly, then lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I’m fine. I need you—” Her words cut off as he did just that.
The sound she let out was one she’d never made before, somewhere between a moan and whimper. He felt so damned good, filling her up, her walls clenching around him.
The restraint in his eyes snapped. He rolled his hips, gliding all the way to the end of her.
He ran one palm over her ass, the other gripping her hip, his fingers digging into her flesh. She met his gaze as he took her deeper and harder, rutting her with a fevered pace against the edge of the balcony, thrusting his hips rhythmically.
A low moan escaped her throat, and a matching groan echoed from him. As she leaned back, almost losing her grip, she felt the blood pounding in her ears as it rushed to her head. Fear struck her heart, but it was immediately replaced by a wave of pleasure.
Footsteps echoed down the silent corridor.
Someone was running toward them, yet he didn’t stop.
Instead, his pace increased, fevered with possession.
He held her hips tighter, his grip firm.
In sync with his forceful movements, she let out a loud moan, feeling a surge of indescribable bliss as she reached the pinnacle, stars obscuring her vision.
“That’s it, let go, little lamb. I love how you clench around me. You are mine,” he stated, voice breaking. “Only. Mine.” With every thrust, he growled the words with severe obsession, intensifying the pleasure that was on the verge of overwhelming her, enveloping her in a delicious darkness.
The sounds of their bodies slapping together filled the air as he moaned, the footsteps closer now. His muscles tightened, but whoever it was had veered off in the other direction.
With a click from his jaw, he leaned down, pressing his fangs against her, not breaking skin, but the pressure alone sent her to new heights.
Heat radiated from his thick cock, sending tremors through her. A sudden, primal roar ripped from his mouth, his mouth wide open as he came undone, jetting his hot heat into her until her quivering body was dripping with his release, pouring down the sides of his rigid length and her thighs.
Her body convulsed with aftershocks, and the force of her scream vibrated through the vast, echoing room as it shredded through her.
Rocking the final dregs of pleasure from her, husky, short grunts left his mouth, his shuttered eyes tipped down to look at her beautiful, pink glistening clit covered in his essence.
Gradually, he withdrew from her, leaving a path of his shining fluid trickling into the crease of her ass.
In a sudden motion, he pulled her back, his stare softening when he removed his mask, tossing it aside.
She wanted to tell him then, how she truly felt. The truth danced on her tongue, her stomach cartwheeling as she tried to voice those three world-changing words. Removing the lamb's mask, she wiped away the sheen of sweat that had formed underneath, and said, “Nathaniel, I—”
Her words cut off midway. Sliding down his body, she stumbled back, but he caught her. A woozy feeling, accompanied by a slight buzzing in her ears, washed over her. What was happening?
Stars danced in her vision, and she crumpled to her knees.
“Charlotte!”
His fingers were on her face, and she could barely utter a cohesive sound.
“What is happeni—” He stumbled back, falling to his knees.
The potion had worked, and she had been right not to trust Katherine. It had poisoned her too. She reached for his fingers on the carpeted floor when a void of darkness stole her consciousness entirely.