Raising one knee to the mattress, he leant over and ran a hand across the satiny material covering her, feeling the warmth of her body beneath the sultry smooth texture of the cloth. Smoothing the palm of his hand over the soft mound of her breast and then down her body to the firm mound of her sex, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to touch another person so badly. The soft sound she made as he cupped her gently made his cock jump expectantly. His body tightened even further as she rolled her hips towards him, urging him on.
What a good little whore, the words reverberated through his mind, bringing with it an intense pain that robbed him blind for a moment.
“Greyvian? Are you okay?” Sienna’s voice seemed to come from a distance.
Shaking his head sharply, as if that could dislodge the taint, he blinked a few times until his vision returned and found himself looking into Sienna’s worried eyes.
“I’m fine,” he replied, sounding so sure of himself he almost believed it.
Leaning down, he silenced her next question with a kiss. Capturing her lips with his, he tasted the warm depths of her mouth with his tongue, diving deep, like he wanted to do with another part of his anatomy, over and over until all thought evaporated from his mind. All he could think about was the taste of her. A weaker version of her blood, but no less desirable, it begged him to devour her.
Instinct took over and he was suddenly on the bed, his hands lifting her camisole along her body, their mouths parting only long enough to pull it over her head before they were back to tasting each other.
Without room in his head for thought, his mind remained haze-free whilst sensation took over. Her body was soft compared to the hard length of his, but he could feel her strength as her hands gripped his biceps, her fingers digging into the muscle as their kisses grew more heated.
The instant he entered her body they both cried out at the intensity of the sensation. He wanted to cum immediately, but held himself back from the brink, forced himself to hold still until the feeling passed.
Would it always be this way with her?
Looking into her eyes, which were dark with desire, he suddenly wished more than anything that his blood had the power to change her, to make her like him. To have her with him for eternity was a heady thought.
But would he want her as badly as he did if she were Vampire? Her blood would be useless to him then, and she probably wouldn’t smell as divine. Not that her scent was what had driven him to have sex with her that first time—in fact, it was her distinct lack of scent that had given him the opening he’d needed. And now? What had brought him here this time?
Need. Pure and simple. He needed her. Needed to be inside of her. Needed to be lost to desire. Needed the chance to get out of his own headspace for a moment. No—it wasn’t just that. She made him… feel. Whilst not always a good thing, it was better than the emotional void that he had been living in before she’d come into his life.
Giving in to the inevitable, he began to thrust his hips, slowly at first and then with gathering speed. Each movement taking him away to a place that could only ever exist for a brief moment before reality cruelly stepped in and took over. As if she also desperately wanted to enter that paradise, Sienna met him thrust for thrust, her nails digging into his ass as she pulled her hips up to his. He wanted to continue to look into her eyes, to fall further into the blue depths than he ever had before, but he was afraid that if he did, he would never get back out. Instead, he lowered his head beside hers and breathed in her scent until there was nothing else that existed but his own senses working overtime.
Again and again, their pelvises met, the pleasure tightening within, coiling, as her body gripped him, holding on like it didn’t want to let go. Her breath was hot against his ear; the broken sounds she made as their bodies came together, over and over, taking him to the brink. He might have growled something in her ear as he strove to hold himself back from it. What he said, he had no idea, but it seemed to be just the thing to bring Sienna to orgasm. With a jagged breath and a sharp cry, she came, pleasure releasing, hips bucking beneath him as her body clenched around him. He followed her a moment later, spilling himself into her in hot pulses that rocked him to his core.
And then, without thought of any kind, his fangs sprang down and buried themselves in her neck. As the sweet ambrosia that was her blood flowed into his mouth and down his throat, he came again, the ecstasy of feeding from her almost too much for his senses to bear. If she struggled, he wasn’t aware of it. If she spoke to him, he couldn’t hear it. If he took too much, would he know it before it was too late?
He tried to bring coherent thought back into his brain, to snap himself out of the trance he was in, but it was like trying to skydive without a parachute. He lost all sense of self when he fed, there could be no control where he was concerned. He was a fool to ever think that he could. In the end, when he finally came back down to earth, he hit with a thud.
Eyes springing open, he raised his head and stared in wide-eyed horror at Sienna’s deathly pale face. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving—didn’t even appear to be breathing. Lifting one lid, he checked for signs of life, but there was no reaction.
Swearing at himself, at how stupid he was to have even come in here in the first place, he sat up and bit into his wrist. Tilting her head back, he pressed it to her mouth and prayed to any deity who might deign to listen that she wasn’t dead.
He couldn’t believe he had done this. What had he been thinking?
Nothing good, obviously.
Time seemed to stretch into infinity as she lay motionless, his blood dripping into the back of her throat. If there was the slightest spark of life within her, his blood would revive her, but she was so pale—her normally rosy cheeks now colourless. There was no movement in her chest to show that she still breathed.
His skin prickled with heat and then flushed cold with fear, alternating between the two as he stared down at her face, desperately hoping for some sign of life to appear.
“Please don’t be dead,” he whispered, smoothing back some stray strands of hair from her forehead. “I don’t want to live without you.”
Straining his ears, he listened for a heartbeat and was just about to press his ear to her chest when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that she swallowed. The relief he felt was better than any orgasm, better than any amount of Sienna’s blood coursing through his veins. If she lived through this, he vowed never to touch her again. He would much prefer a life where she was alive—even if it was for only another fifty to a hundred years—to one where she was dead.
But she still hadn’t moved. Apart from that one swallow, she remained lifeless. Had he imagined it? Before he could start the downward spiral back to fear and panic, she swallowed again and stirred, her hands moving up her body, headed for his arm. He didn’t stop her as she clamped her fingers around his forearm, holding tight—tighter than he would have expected someone who’d been next to dead only a moment ago. The very next instant, she was sucking at his skin—hard. So hard that he had a feeling there would be bruises when she was finished. Not that he cared. She could leave bite marks all up his arm if she wanted to. He was just glad she was alive.
No, not glad. Fucking ecstatic, but at the same time extremely pissed off at himself.
Why had he attempted this? Could he blame the tainted thoughts that had been going through his head or had it all been him? It was so hard to separate the two. The red haze he associated with them helped, but it didn’t always work. He couldn’t always tell when his thoughts were being skewed. He wondered once again why that particular human’s taint had been so strong. Was it because the evil had been so fresh in the man’s mind? Because the male had just finished with a victim? Could that be the reason?
Looking down at her as she feasted upon his vein, he hoped never to find out again. Not if it nearly cost Sienna her life.
How had he managed not to kill her? More importantly, could he have saved the
lives of his former victims if he’d fed them his blood as he had Sienna? What did it say about him that he hadn’t even tried?
Forcing the uncomfortable thought from his mind, he focused on Sienna once again. She was alive and that’s what mattered now.
He wanted to let her drain him dry but was entirely too aware of the fact that if she did, he might just tap into her vein again and start a vicious cycle of feeding. And then there was Kobus to worry about. He didn’t exactly want to face his father drained of blood. He would need all the strength he could get for that.
Wrestling his arm from her grip was surprisingly hard—especially since she bit into him in an attempt to maintain contact. Wincing at the pain, he pinched a nerve in her neck, dropping power to her limbs and jaw in order to extract himself.
Thankfully she didn’t come after him again when he released her.
“I have an idea,” she said slowly, her voice a mere whisper. “Next time we do that, maybe you could hold your bleeding wrist to my mouth while you drink from me, instead of waiting so long to give some back.”
Greyvian frowned down at her. She wanted to do that again? After he’d nearly killed her? She really had no regard for her own life, did she?
Although, it was quite a good idea…
Shaking his head, he pushed the ridiculous thought from his mind and said, “Sleep. I’ll arrange for someone to give you more blood soon.”
She nodded sleepily and closed her eyes, falling immediately into slumber. Putting his fingers to her wrist, he found that her pulse was faster than it ought to be, but at least it was there.
Feeling better than he had a right to after what he’d done, he quickly dressed and left the room in search of Rayven. Out of everyone, he was the only one that could afford the blood loss at this time.
Unfortunately, wherever Rayven went, there was Xavior.
“Did you need a frypan this time?” Xavior asked with a knowing look once Greyvian had asked Rayven if he would please donate some blood to Sienna.
Ignoring the male, he spoke only to Rayven. “Would you?”
Rayven simply stared right back, his black gaze devoid of life or thought.
Xavior laughed as the silence dragged and then put him out of his misery by explaining, “He can’t answer that. If a question has anything to do with his own desires, he’s completely incapable of answering because he has none.”
Greyvian looked at the redhead with a frown. “How the hell does he function?”
“Barely,” Xavior replied dryly and then sighed, getting to his feet. “Come on Rayven, we’ve got work to do.”
Guiding the two males to Sienna’s room, he waited by the doorway as they entered, immensely disappointed when he noticed that her scent had completely disappeared.
“Jesus. Pale much?” Xavior said, casting an incredulous look back over his shoulder. “What did you do? Drain her dry?”
“Almost,” he admitted, his tongue made loose by the effect of Sienna’s blood.
The male raised an eyebrow, as if surprised Greyvian had answered, and then shook his head. “Well, at least you’re vampire enough to admit it, I suppose. Go on Rayven, wake her up gently and then feed her your blood.”
Without having to be told twice, Rayven knelt beside the bed and gently stroked Sienna’s cheek until she stirred and opened her eyes. Instead of looking at Rayven as she should have done, her eyes immediately found Greyvian’s—even though she should have expected that it was him stroking her cheek. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she had some kind of sixth sense when it came to his location.
“Drink,” he told her when Rayven bit into his wrist.
She opened her mouth and allowed the other vampire to press his wound against her mouth, but her eyes remained on him as she swallowed. Greyvian would have preferred to be the one feeding her, but he had already thought out the reasons as to why that was unwise. Still, it didn’t stop him from feeling… something uncomfortable as he watched her feed from Rayven.
After a minute or two, Xavior tapped his brother on the shoulder and told him to stop. Without hesitation, the male lifted his wrist from Sienna’s mouth and then licked the wound closed.
Greyvian couldn’t look away from Sienna’s eyes. They were so blue they practically glowed in the low light of the lamp on the bedside table. There was no recrimination in them, no anger, and no fear—only a smile.
He really didn’t understand her at all. Not that his body cared. It was ready and raring to go regardless of the fact that she baffled the hell out of him. Not that anything was ever going to happen between them again. In fact, as soon as she was able, and Rafe got here, he was going to send the two of them away. As far away from him and Kobus as was possible.
* * *
Kobus was in a state. The search was taking too long. He needed the human found. NOW. Every minute of delay was another minute that the human could be spreading her resistance to other humans. Who was to say that she hadn’t already?
His body shook with fear and rage. The mere thought of that human out there was enough to have memories he’d thought he’d buried centuries ago coming to the fore like it was only yesterday.
He couldn’t have it. He couldn’t have it. She must be found.
Modern technology reached out and touched him with its piercing call and he almost leapt on the phone that sat upon his desk.
“Have you found her?” he asked, aware that his voice was shrill but unable to do anything to combat it.
“I believe I may have a lead,” the voice on the other end of the phone replied, saying nothing about Kobus’s emotional state. “Would you like me to check it out first?”
“No!” Kobus cried; his first instinct being to chase the lead himself so that there was no chance they could get away. “Text me the address.”
Hanging up, he slipped the phone into a pocket and went to gather his warriors.
20
The moment Sienna opened her eyes, she immediately wanted to go back to sleep again. Her head hurt, her body ached and her core temperature ranged from hot to cold like someone was turning a tap on inside of her. She felt so bad that she momentarily forgot what had occurred during the night. It was only when she rolled over and felt the evidence between her legs that she was reminded of how great sex could be with someone you were deeply attracted to. And it wasn’t just the sex, but the feeding too. Having Greyvian’s mouth at her neck, knowing that her blood was filling him with energy, with life, was an experience beyond anything she could compare it to. His need, his pleasure, emanated from his every pore and into hers.
Strangely, the memory that stayed with her the most was when she’d swallowed that first mouthful of his blood. It had been electrifying and soothing at the same time and spoke to a part of her, deep down in her soul. In comparison, Rayven’s blood had been kind of like a warm hug. It was so weird that vampire blood didn’t really taste like blood in the beginning. By the end of Rayven’s donation she had started to taste metal, but if she’d had her way, she would have drained Greyvian dry.
Feeling her body flush from hot to cold again, she pulled the blanket up around her shoulders and then had to throw it off a minute later when she got too hot again. She wanted to slide back into blissful unconsciousness, where her body didn’t hurt so much, but her desire to see Greyvian, to make sure that he was alright, forced her out of bed. He hadn’t seemed himself when he’d come to her; the simple fact that he had spoke volumes as to where his head was at. Not that she’d been complaining. She was selfish enough to take him any way she could get him.
Pushing herself off the bed, she took a moment to steady her spinning head and don some clothing before heading out in search of the male.
Weaving her way down the hallway, having to press a hand against the wall for support, she winced at how bright the light seemed. Pain stabbed her behind the eyes and her limbs felt weak and rubbery.
Almost dying could really take it out of you.
She found Jacob alone in the lounge room engrossed in the TV. So engrossed, in fact, that he didn’t even look up when she came to a stop in the doorway. No, not engrossed. Eyeing him for a minute, she saw that he was staring in the TV’s direction, but that his mind seemed to be off with the Fairies, his stare blank and lifeless.
“Jacob.”
Nothing.
“Jacob!”
Blinking a few times, he finally looked up and immediately frowned. “You look like crap,” he said, ever the honest male.
She hugged the doorframe and smiled ruefully. “Thanks, I feel like it.” She paused a moment and then asked, “You okay?”
“Fine,” he said with an unconvincing shrug. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
After a loaded pause, he said, “My new life.”
“Ah.” Didn’t that just say it all? “Have you seen Greyvian?”
His frown deepened and his voice was sombre as he replied, “Actually, no. He’s MIA this morning. Care to tell me why?”
Great. Greyvian was hiding. Which meant she’d never find him.
Sighing in disappointment, she shuffled over to Jacob and dropped down onto the sofa beside him, resting her head on his shoulder because she could no longer support the heavy weight by herself.
Jacob sucked in a deep breath and blew it out sharply. When he spoke, his tone was angry. “Your scent is gone.”
“Yes, yes, Greyvian drained me, he’s a very bad boy; can we focus on me now? I’m still alive, but I feel half dead. Make me feel better?”
His silence told her that he was still trying to control his anger over Greyvian drinking from her, so she gave him a moment to get it together before elbowing him in the ribs. Finally he sighed and draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer for a hug.
“What can I do for you, my Queen?”
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