“I only know what I feel… and it’s not that.” Looking off into the darkness, I bit my lip, considering the situation we were all in. I had hoped that they were here because they wanted to be with me, but I was starting to get the feeling that they were doing this more out of guilt. It wasn’t right to feed off these vampires with the fucked-up history we had between us. “I’m not okay with feeding off of you three if you’re doing it out of a feeling of debt. If I continue to need blood, when we get down to the Deep, I’ll see if I can find a feeder.” It was going to be an awkward conversation with the queen, but perhaps she’d match me up with a willing vampire.
“Fuck no,” Ash growled.
“What?” Crossing my arms over my chest, I sighed in exasperation. “I just told you I have feelings for you three, and you insisted that our relationship was a complete fabrication—and you three have been anguishing over this. I’m not going to be drinking from you if you think you owe me something. That’s not a dynamic I’m okay with.”
“Fuck that, Kori. You were our courtesan, and now we’re yours. Us three.” Ash pointed between them. “We’re not doing it for any other reason than we want to take care of you.”
I looked over to find both Death and Ruin sitting, watching Ash and I square off. “And . . . Are you okay with it?”
“I love the fucking idea of being your courtesan, goddess.” Ruin gave me a lazy-eyed smile that was far more than friendly. It was a peg north of indecent, and I found my cheeks warming as I looked away to Death.
Death combed back his white, tousled hair. “Kori, I’m in this, forever. You’d know that if you had your memories.”
“Ash . . .” I forced myself to turn back to him, “I don’t want to feed on you if you don’t even like me. I’d feel like a parasite.”
“You’re not a fucking parasite—you’re twisting my words, and I don’t appreciate it,” he snapped. “What I was saying was that we need to work out a feeding schedule to keep up our strength so we will be strong enough to fight if the situation calls for it. I want you to promise me that you’re not going to try to find someone else to feed on. Just us. We are your consorts. That’s what I want.”
They watched me, waiting for an answer.
But really, as much as I’d love to never give into Ash’s demands— ever, if I was going to suck vampire blood, these three were the only vampires I would want to drink from.
Sighing, I said, “If this is what you actually want.”
“Okay. That’s settled.” Ash stepped forward, grabbing for me.
I jumped back, for some reason thinking that he was trying to feed me now.
His brows rose high on his forehead. “I was planning to carry you first. We’ll have to rotate that, too.”
“Why can’t I run myself?”
“Two reasons…” Ash held up two fingers as he approached me slowly, “First, we need to run at a pace that you couldn’t possibly keep up with, and second, we want to preserve your energy so we can have longer periods between feedings.”
“That’s fair.” My heart crept up into my throat, and I had to resist the urge to back up again. Damn, Ash made me nervous. He always had, and I had a feeling he always would.
I just managed to stay rooted to the spot as he stalked forward. “The safest way to do this is if you wrap your legs around my waist and your arms around my shoulders so I can use my arms if I need to.”
I glanced down, only to realize for the first time that I wasn’t wearing Timothy’s shirt and Brendan’s sweatshirt.
“Your clothes were destroyed,” Ash said as he followed my gaze. “Ruin pulled those from a rucksack.”
I was in the uniform coveralls Irma had packed for me on that fateful day. “All right.” Letting out a shaky breath, I wrapped my arms around Ash’s neck.
His hand went under my thighs, and he hoisted me up to hook my legs around his waist.
“You secure?” He asked in my ear as his breath warmed my cheek.
I pressed my body into his and shifted until I could hold my weight comfortably. “I’m good.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ash
We didn’t say anything more. I just started running with Kori’s body wrapped around mine. At first, we fell into a jog which was already an unsustainable pace for human legs. Then we picked up speed. My muscles burned as my feet pounded on the stone. We ran through passageways and leapt off outcroppings, and I held her tight as we hit the ground. Time blurred together as we ran, and I tried to focus on my footing instead of how good Kori felt against me. I tried to look at the path ahead instead of the strands of dark hair that stuck to Kori’s face and neck as the air grew progressively heavier with moisture.
All last night, I’d languished awake, thinking about how I needed to keep my distance from her. Brendan was coming to kill us and take her back to Ravage. I remembered those first years after I was turned, I had no choice but to obey my master. I would have cut myself apart, digit by digit, if Queen Hell ordered it. All these decades later, I still couldn’t defy a direct order unless I fought her with every ounce of my being. I would have to kill Kori’s brother, and it would be easier for us both if she already hated me when that happened.
That was what I’d thought, but then my damn mouth ran away with me, and I insisted on becoming her consort, and she’d accepted.
“Ash,” Kori said as her hand curled around the back of my neck. I was hyperaware of every centimeter of contact as her hand touched my bare skin. She leaned back a little and asked up, “Is there any way that you and I can start fresh?”
Start fresh?
Wouldn’t that be a fucking miracle. I could almost believe that it could be possible. Almost. This was the first time in the years of knowing Kori that I trusted a single word she said. But now I was lying to her. I wasn’t just lying to her, I was plotting to kill a person she’d die to protect.
“You have a blank slate, Kori…” I said through measured breaths, “I don’t have that luxury.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask.” She ran her fingers up the back of my neck making my skin tingle. “But do you think you could try?”
“Yes,” I found myself saying, even though I fucking knew better. “I’m not promising anything, though.”
“You don’t have to—but I don’t want to drink your blood and all that entails if you hate every second of it.” Quieter, she added, “I don’t want you to hate me.”
Ah, Kori. It’s you who will hate me.
“You should sleep,” I said, glancing down for a second.
Cold air buffeted my face, and I tucked her tighter against me. I tried to keep my gait even, and she leaned her head against my shoulder.
“You’re so angry at me,” she said. “It makes me wonder if I did something else. Did I do something unforgivable against you?”
Fuck. I was an asshole. “No. What happened wasn’t your fault, Kori, but that didn’t make it easier to deal with. If I was a better man, I wouldn’t hold it against you that you made the best out of a fucked-up situation—it’s just hard to process it all.”
“I wasn’t ever planning to marry Ravage—you know that right? The plan was always to escape with my brothers.”
My stomach dropped. Fuck no, I hadn’t made that connection, but I couldn’t help but think about the fact that Kori made a plan to escape that she purposely kept us three out of. We had just intruded. If she had escaped with her brothers, would we have ever known she was safe? Or, would we have just continued our campaign to break into Nightendale ignorant of the fact that Kori wasn’t even there.
But then, I realized that of course she wouldn’t involve us. We were practically fucking strangers to her.
“I know now,” I said through stiff lips.
“Good.” She shivered.
Even though my gut was twisting in a knot, I squeezed her even tighter, rubbing her arms to warm her up. “Try to get some sleep, Kori. You should conserve your energy so we can stretch out time between f
eedings.”
“Just rename me Kori Leech Ignis,” she mumbled as her eyes closed.
I rolled my eyes. “If that was true, all of our middle names would be leech. And if it’s anything like when you fed on Ruin, I’m not going to complain.”
The moment I said the words, I wanted to take them back. Immediately, my cock tingled and elongated in my pants. Now I’d be running with a fucking semi, thinking about what it would be like as she drank from me. Could I keep up the cold and surly act? Or, would I break and come apart under her lips. The anticipation was killing me.
Kori didn’t sleep, not a single wink. Her breaths came quick and fast as the pulse in her neck fluttered. Her whole body quivered against mine. A sudden, intense desperation to be inside of her once more filled me. I didn’t just want to be inside her, I wanted to mark her as my mate. I wanted us to retake what was stolen from us. As I ran, I pushed the feeling down, only for it to grow stronger within me with every fall of my boots.
What felt like hours later, Ruin’s make-shift torch sputtered and died, plunging us into total darkness, and he cursed. “Damn it. We should probably make camp.”
“Good idea,” I said. “We’ll be back later.” Without waiting for a reply, I reached out my hands and felt my way back from where we’d just come. There was a chamber a little way up that was even and secluded.
“Where are we going?” Kori asked, and I could feel her racing heart where her chest pressed against mine.
“You need to drink.”
“Oh.” Her arms and legs clenched around me. “Ash, do you want to, or do you feel like you need to? It’s been hours, and I feel fine. Maybe I don’t need to feed from you guys.”
“I want to, and I think you need to,” I said, trying to keep the eagerness from my voice. “It’s possible you’re sated, but I don’t want to take that chance. The hunger pains could come at any time.”
“I can’t fault your logic there,” she said, her voice low.
There was nothing semi-erect about my cock now. Even before we stopped, it was pushing against my pants, hard and ready. I lowered Kori to the ground. She slid down my body and took in a sharp breath.
“Sorry,” I said. “I can’t do anything about that, but you’re welcome to ignore it while you feed.” I sat on the ground and held my hands out to her, expecting her to sit beside me. She mistook my gesture, and climbed directly into my lap, which was exactly where I wanted her.
Kori leaned into me. Her breath warmed my neck, as she rocked up against my cock. “I keep thinking…” She whispered into my ear, “When I fed from Ruin, his pants got all messy, and we only have the clothes we’re wearing.”
“That is a problem.”
She rocked against me again, and I bit back a moan. Fuck, it felt so good to be touching her again. A small part of me knew that I shouldn’t be here—getting close to her this way—not with the lies between us. But the rest of me couldn’t give a fuck. I was with the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my fucking life with again, and everything else could just go to hell.
Kori pushed up her body, and her hands went to my fly. “What if we got our clothes out of the way so we don’t get them dirty?”
Holy fuck.
“We can’t have dirty clothes,” I said as I unbuttoned myself and zipped down my fly carefully. I shimmied down my pants low enough so my cock sprung loose.
“You know… I don’t even need to move to take this jumpsuit off. I don’t even need to release you to do it.” There was a long zipping sound, and then Kori shifted and pulled her clothes away.
I ran my hands up her naked back, feeling the gooseflesh there. “You’re cold.”
“It’s not the cold…I’ve been aching to kiss you for hours,” she whispered, and then her lips were on mine. Her mouth was soft and warm, and when I plunged my tongue between her lips, she tasted just as I remembered—sweet, like caramel.
Kori pressed against me, and her slick heat coated my hard length in wetness. We’d barely touched, and she was ready.
“I remember this… not in my memories, but my body remembers the feel of you. I’ve missed this,” she whispered.
She couldn’t have said anything fucking sexier. Kori fisted my cock and brought me up to her entrance, clearly desperate for exactly the same thing I was. I grabbed her hips and hissed in a breath as she glided down until I was all the way inside her.
“Fuck, Kori. I’ve needed you…” Not a single day had gone by that I didn’t miss being deep inside her. I gripped her hips as Kori slid up and down. She gasped, and I remembered we weren’t here to fuck—well, we weren’t only here to fuck. I lifted my wrist to my mouth and bit down on my skin with my fangs. Pain erupted through my arm, mingling with the pleasure that was condensing in my cock. I pulled out my fangs and held my wrist up to her mouth.
“When we get to the Deep, I’m going to have you do this from my neck instead.”
Kori’s breath caught, and she took my wrist in her hands and pressed her mouth over the cut. The pleasure was immediate and so fucking overwhelming that I had to reach down and pinch the stem of my cock so I wouldn’t cum.
When I could handle it, I grabbed her hip with my free hand and guided her in a slow rhythm. Kori obliged, sliding up and down on my cock as she drank me in deep pulls.
Her hand came up to my neck, sending tingles spreading out from her fingertips.
My cock felt too full in her channel, and when she clenched around me, I saw stars. Pleasure pulsated through every inch of me, but nothing compared to the live wire that was my dick.
“Fuck, you feel so good, Kori,” I moaned as she continued to move.
I never wanted it to stop. I wanted to be inside her for the rest of my life. Leaning in, I pressed my mouth to her ear, having the most deliciously bad idea.
“Can I bite you back?” I asked.
She stilled, and lifting her mouth away from my wrist, she whispered, “Yes.”
Fuck. This was a bad fucking idea, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I combed my fingers through her hair, brushing it back.
Damn. What was I doing? I could literally feel my pulse jumping in my throat. My lips traced over her soft skin, and then I pushed my fangs into her neck.
Kori gasped as her sweet blood coated my tongue. I pulled my fangs out and drank.
Kori cried out, and her slow rhythm sped up until she was pumping down on my shaft. It was too much sensation, and a surge of pleasure built at the tip of my cock.
I pulled my mouth back. “Fuck, Kori. If you keep doing that, I’m not going to last much longer.”
She moaned against my wrist and then sucked harder. The pleasure was too much, and cum rushed up from me as my whole body plunged into euphoria.
Kori cried out, and her core clenched so tightly around me, I thought I might pass out. She went limp as I lay back against the stone wall. I traced up and down her bare legs as I continued to drink from her neck.
Then what I was doing hit me, and I broke away. “Fuck, Kori. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I am not complaining whatsoever,” she whispered, her voice dazed. “Actually, I’m curious about something. Can you make Ignis fire?”
I held up a hand. “It doesn’t bother you?”
“I need to know.”
Even before the fire lit in my palm, I knew I could do it. The fire was surging through my veins, warm and tingling. It felt like the warming sensation from downing a stiff drink, but the sensation was flowing throughout my arm. Lighting the fire itself felt like a sneeze, but it created a bright blue halo of illumination.
“Well that answers that,” She said, placing her hand in mine and extinguishing the flames.
I combed back her hair with my fingers. “I shouldn’t have drunk so much from you. We should replenish your blood.” I lifted my wrist back up to my mouth and bit down before offering it to her. “Keep drinking, Kori, until you feel completely full.”
“If you insist. But… How about this tim
e, you just leave your fangs in and don’t drink my blood?”
“You want me to mark you?” I asked, because I needed to be sure. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that she was asking for the exact thing I’d been craving beyond any sense. I could just be hearing what I wanted to hear. But she nodded.
“Only if you want to, but last time, I had all three of your marks, and that was the plan to keep me safe from Ravage. Maybe it will work this time.”
“Couldn’t hurt,” I said the words casually, but inside, my heart was soaring. She wanted me to mark her, even after I growled and snapped at her all day, she wanted me. It didn’t seem possible, but her mouth again closed over my cut, and I couldn’t focus on anything other than the intense pleasure surging into me.
Within seconds of her sucking my blood, my cock hardened inside her again. I felt boneless and relaxed, but when Kori lifted off me and turned around, only to slide back onto my hard shaft, a new wave of energy hit me. She pressed back and regained our rhythm as she sucked deeply on my wrist. This round was quicker, and I held her tightly against me and bit down on her neck as I came for the second time, deep inside her.
After we caught our breath, I pulled her jumpsuit back around her, suddenly afraid she’d get a chill from her sweat-drenched skin and the cold air. When we were clothed, Kori settled back on my lap.
“It feels so right to have your mark on me, Ash. I know you’re angry at me, and I’m sorry if I came on so strong… I’m not sure what came over me. I felt this desperation to be close to you, and I don’t even understand why.” She sighed. “Am I making sense?”
“Kori, fuck. Don’t apologize…” I groaned. “I felt it too, and you didn’t come on any stronger than I did.” I brushed her sweaty hair behind her ear, and whispered, “You should sleep.”
Ash (Fire & Blood Book 2) Page 12