by Katee Robert
“If I want to bite you, I’ll bite you.” He moves closer, backing me onto the mat. “Surely your father didn’t leave you completely defenseless. Show me what you can do.”
I snort. “You have a heightened opinion of my father he doesn’t deserve.”
He clenches his jaw. “Trust me; he deserves everything I think of him.”
Not sure what I’m supposed to say to that, but it doesn’t matter because he strikes. He slows himself down enough I can see him coming—but only barely. I jerk back, and I can actually feel the air displacement against my cheek where his fist moves. “What the hell?”
“Stop arguing and spar, Mina.”
I try for a right jab, but he shifts out of the way. He’s fast, it feels like I’m moving through water by comparison. “Even a dhampir can’t hold their own in a fight against a vampire.”
“Sounds like an excuse to me.” He hits me in the stomach. It’s barely strong enough to knock me back a step. “Again.”
I glare. “This is pointless.”
Malachi arches a brow. “Is it? I already know plenty about you.” When I glare, he jerks his chin at my body. “Your form is abysmal, you have no formal training, and you favor your injured knee even though it’s not bothering you as much as it did yesterday.”
I drop my hands. “Like I said; this is pointless.”
“Are you going to flee from every single confrontation, Mina?” The question is quiet and strangely serious. “Are you so sure you know everything there is to know about the world at… what? Twenty-five years old? Can you truthfully say there’s nothing left to learn?”
I open my mouth to argue, but stop myself before any of the angry words can escape. It’s like he’s found a wound I didn’t know existed and he’s digging his fingers around in it. Finally, I say, “Why do you care?”
“You have potential.”
That isn’t an answer. Not really. “What does that mean?”
“There was a time when dhampirs were far more common than they are now. I don’t know what your fool of a father told you, but you haven’t begun to reach your upper limits.” He’s watching me closely, each word a precision missile aimed at the heart of me. “With proper nutrition and a steady diet of vampire blood, you’ll be easily as strong and fast as a turned vampire. Possibly as a born vampire, albeit without the magical abilities.”
“Don’t lie to me.” I sound too harsh, but I don’t care. What he’s saying… I know all too well how hope can become a weapon used to break an opponent. That has to be what Malachi is doing right now. It must be. “I know my role in all this. You don’t have to be cruel.”
He watches me for a long moment. “Give me a chance to convince you.”
“Why? Even if what you’re saying is true, why would you want me stronger? Then I could fight you off, possibly even kill you.”
His lips curve. “I have my reasons.”
Reasons that no doubt include tormenting me. I shake my head. “No. You get to fuck with my blood and my body. You don’t get to fuck with my head.”
“And if I offer you a bargain?”
It feels like my feet have sprouted roots, each one holding me in place when I just want to run away from this vampire and this conversation. But then, what would be the point? Even without my knee injury, he’s faster than me. He’ll always be faster than me. I swallow hard. “What bargain?”
“Train with me. Exchange blood. As long as you’re doing that, sex is off the table.”
I stare. “You’re lying.”
“I think you’ll find, Mina, I never lie.” He shrugs a single shoulder. “Sometimes I withhold the truth, but I give you my word I won’t fuck you while you’re meeting your end of the bargain.” He flashes me a hint of fang. “Unless you ask nicely.”
“It’ll never happen,” I shoot back, even as part of me wonders. I can’t deny I want him, whether it’s bite-induced lust or pure lust. He’s gorgeous and strong and there’s a sly intelligence in those dark eyes that draws me despite myself. I can’t blame all that on his intoxicating bite, no matter how much I’d like to.
“Then you have no reason to say no to the bargain.”
It’s too good a deal. Why would he offer this? I frown. “Every time you bite me, I orgasm.”
“I can’t control that.”
“And if I beg you to fuck me while I’m all drugged up on your bite?”
Another of those quick flashes of fangs. “I won’t fuck you until you ask me nicely while my fangs aren’t inside you.”
I don’t know if I believe him, but I’d be a fool not to take this bargain. What if he’s not lying? “You have yourself a deal.”
“Then we can begin.”
I don’t know what I expected, but Malachi immediately begins correcting my stance and then we proceed to spar in slow motion while he critiques me. I had thought I’d learned something in the colony, but with every word he flays my confidence down to nothing at all. After an hour of it, he stands back. “That’s enough for today.”
I’m covered in sweat and shaking like a leaf. I’m not sure I have the strength to make the trip to my bedroom, but I’ll be damned before I admit as much.
Malachi stalks to a low stool set against one wall and motions me closer with an impatient flick of his fingers. I tense. I know what comes next. The biting. “Why can’t we do it standing?”
“Because you’re going to collapse again and I have no interest in accidentally ripping your throat out.”
My face flames. My embarrassment is made more overwhelming by the fact he’s right. I can’t seem to control my body when he bites me. I pad to him slowly, and don’t argue when he takes my hand and pulls me down to straddle him on the stool. He runs a broad hand up my back to fist in my hair and tow my head gently to the side. I don’t have a chance to brace myself before he strikes, sinking his fangs into me.
Gods, it’s so good.
I clutch his shoulders and relax against him. His strength will hold me up, keep me caged, and I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Why am I fighting this? It feels so good, it’s hard to remember my reasons.
Each pull feels like he’s stroking my breasts, my clit, my pussy. His free hand lands on the small of my back, urging me closer, and I’m only too eager to obey the silent command. I need. I roll my hips, rocking against his hardening cock. It feels so good. Too good. If Malachi stripped us and bore me to the floor, I’d welcome him happily. Knowing that, somehow trusting he won’t… It makes me bolder. I dig my fingers into his hair and moan.
Malachi growls against my skin, but instead of sucking harder, he lifts his head and drags his tongue over the spot where he bit me. “You taste too fucking good. I don’t understand it.”
“Keep going.”
“No.” He leans back, easily overpowering my hold, and reaches up to grab my chin. He runs his thumb over my bottom lip, urging my mouth open and presses the pad of his thumb against one of my canine teeth. They’re a little more prominent than a human’s, but nowhere near as long as a vampire’s. He frowns. “I don’t think you can break skin effectively with these little things.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize you were a size queen.”
His grin is quick and nearly knocks me on my ass. “We’ll have to improvise.” As I watch, he drags his tongue over his tooth, cutting it. Malachi shifts his grip to the back of my neck. “Come here.”
He doesn’t even have to pull me. I’m already moving, diving down and taking his mouth. He tastes of blood and man and, gods, I can’t get enough. I wish I could say it’s because of the blood zinging across my tongue and setting fire to my veins as if he’s poured lightning down my throat. That would be less unforgivable than the truth.
I like kissing Malachi.
He holds me easily to him and plunders my mouth. Tongue and teeth clash, this moment as much a battle as our earlier sparring. Maybe I shouldn’t like that. Maybe I should crave a softer touch, something like my single kiss before thi
s. A tentative brush of lips against mine. A stolen moment filled with yearning. At least on my side… At least until I realized Darrien only kissed me on a dare from his friends.
That slams me out of this moment. No matter how devastating this kiss is, Malachi isn’t kissing me because he’s so overcome with lust he had to have my mouth on his. No, he’s playing a game of chess and I’m already seven moves behind.
I force myself to life my head. It’s only then I realize I can’t taste his blood any longer. He healed while we were kissing. If I hadn’t pulled away, would he have stopped me on his own? I look down into his handsome face, his eyes violently dark with desire, and I just don’t know.
I lick my lips, tasting him there. “That’s enough.”
“As long as you’re satisfied.” His voice is as rough as I feel. He strokes the small of my back, the slightest touch that almost seems to urge me to keep riding him.
I want to demand he bite me again, do the one thing guaranteed to override my spiraling thoughts long enough for me to orgasm like this. Worse, I almost don’t care if the bite is even involved. I want him to keep touching me, to keep doing this until neither of us can think any more.
That’s the problem, though. I might lose myself, but Malachi won’t. I can almost guarantee it. Aside from that first time in the foyer, he’s been perfectly in control during every encounter. Unlike me.
I shove to my feet and nearly land on my ass. For once, Malachi doesn’t move to catch me, merely watching as I stumble back until I’m steady. I press my fingers to my lips. “Give me the knife back and you won’t have to improvise again.”
He smiles, flashing a little fang. “No.”
“So this is all a trap. You say you aren’t going to sleep with me and then you cross lines all over the place the first chance you get.” I’m trying to work up a good mad, but my body is still crying out from the loss of his. I ache in a way I’m terrified only he can fix.
“Don’t be naive, Mina. A kiss is not the same thing as sex.” He leans forward and props his forearms on his knees. The position should look relaxed, but every one of my prey instincts is screaming he’s half a second from pouncing on me. “When I fuck you, it won’t be with a little tongue.” Another of those slow smiles. “But if you’re feeling needy and want me to kiss your pussy better, I’m more than happy to.”
I take a measured step back. Now is the time to retreat, to take the out he’s offered me and put some distance between us. It’s what a smart woman would do in my position. But then, a smart woman would have run the second she had the chance and damned the consequences. I’m here. For better or worse, I’m choosing this. I lick my lips. “Prove it.”
6
The words barely leave my mouth before he’s on me, bearing me to the ground. Once again, he makes a cage of his body and protects me from any impact. Malachi takes my mouth in a rough kiss. His fangs nick my tongue. Or maybe it’s his tongue. Hell, maybe it’s both. All I know is I taste blood and add a bolt of sheer lust to what’s already a tidal wave of desire.
He’s already moving down my body before I have a chance to sink into the sensation, kissing my breasts through my thin shirt before he settles between my thighs. I prop myself up on my elbows, breathless and a little shocked. “Um.”
He trails his finger down the seam of my yoga pants, stopping directly over my clit. “Changed your mind?”
“No.” The words burst out before I can think about the intelligence of waving a red flag in front of a bull.
“Good.” He does something, moving too quickly for me to follow. One second we’re staring at each other and the next he’s ripped my pants in half. The movement jerks my hips closer to him and then his mouth is on me.
I tense, expecting a bite. Anticipating a bite. But instead of the sharp pleasure of his fangs, it’s the soft heat of his tongue. He licks a long line up the center of my body. It feels so wrong and so right at the same time. His growl vibrates through my pussy and my arms give out. “Fuck.”
That’s when he moves up to drag the tip of his tongue over my clit. Over and over again. I thought this would feel different than when he bites me, and it does… But not as different as I expected. It’s too good. Desire drugs me, molten and fluid, winding tighter and tighter through my body.
I don’t make a conscious decision to move. One second I’m trying to get my equilibrium back and the next my hands are in his hair, pulling him closer even as I lift my hips to grind against his mouth. “Oh gods, that feels so good.”
He makes another of those hungry noises and then his tongue is inside me. He spears me with it, and the intrusion has me crying out in surprise. Malachi withdraws a little and lifts his head to look at me with eyes gone dark and feral. For a second, I could swear I see flames licking in their depths, but I blink and the illusion disappears. He drags his thumbs down either side of my pussy. “Mina.” My name sounds like a sin on his lips.
I have to swallow hard before I can speak. “Yes?”
“Are you a virgin?”
I really, really don’t want to answer that question. It’s too loaded, too filled with implications I want nothing to do with. Vampire culture doesn’t place the same importance on virginity the way human culture does—at least according to the media I’ve consumed—but it remains a thing.
He watches me closely. “Answer me.”
“Yes.” The word feels dragged from my lips against my will.
Malachi presses his forehead to my lower stomach for a long moment. “Okay.” He exhales harshly. “Okay.”
I don’t know what he means. I just know I might die if he leaves me on this ledge. “Please.”
“Give me a second.”
Give him a second? What the hell kind of game is he playing right now?
My breath sobs from my throat. “Malachi.” I dig my fingers into his hair, but I’m not strong enough to move him on my own. “Malachi, please.”
He hesitates and then his mouth is back at my pussy. He picks up right where he left off, spearing me with his tongue and then moving back to my clit. Each little circle he makes ratchets my need higher. He has to pin my hips in place to keep me from writhing too far from his tongue.
Between one gasp and the next I orgasm. I cry out, the wave crashing over me strongly enough to leave me breathless. It feels so good, so incredibly good, just as good as his bite but at the same time better. And then he bites me and I lose my fucking mind.
I think I might be screaming. I can’t tell. All I know is I manage to haul him up my body or maybe he’s already moving up on his own. He claims my mouth and then he’s between my thighs and thrusting, grinding his cock against my pussy, his thin pants the only thing keeping us from fucking.
I want them out of the way. I want him inside me. I want.
I open my mouth to tell him, but his tongue is there, stealing my words, my thoughts, my very sanity. One of us is snarling. It might be me. I can’t stop, rolling my body up to meet his every stroke. I taste myself and blood on his tongue, and it only drives my frenzy higher. More, more, more. Don’t stop.
I come again and he goes still against me. He lifts his head and this time I know I’m not imagining the flames in his eyes. I’m breathing so hard, I’m gasping. “Malachi?”
He strokes a hand down my thigh, hitching my leg up around his waist. His pants are wet, but I can’t tell if it’s because of me or because of him. He drops his head to my neck and keeps moving against me, rocking in an almost decadent motion. I cling to him, barely managing to keep from begging him to fuck me.
The first sign something’s gone wrong is the heat flickering against my arm.
I open my eyes and shriek. “Fire.”
Malachi doesn’t stop moving against me. He doesn’t seem to notice the flames licking at the floorboards in almost a perfect circle around us. It’s not getting closer, but the room is on fire. I yank on his hair. “Malachi.” Still no response.
In a panic, I do the only thing I can t
hink of. I squirm my hand between our bodies and grab his cock in a ruthless grip. He rears back, his eyes entirely black. Smoke burns my throat. “Fire, Malachi.”
He blinks and gives himself a shake. A brief wave of his hand and the flames smother themselves. “Sorry.”
I stare at the burned floor. I know all seven of the bloodlines have different magical properties associated with them, but my father decided I didn’t need to know more than that. He never saw fit to inform me that Malachi’s is fire. I swallow hard, tasting ash. “Is that going to happen every time we make out?”
He slumps on top of me and gives a hoarse laugh. “No. I lost control.”
That’s not nearly as comforting as he seems to think it is. “Let me get this straight; we didn’t even have sex and you lost control enough to set the room on fire.”
He still seems to have no desire to move off me. “Your blood is intoxicating, little dhampir. It’s easy to lose myself in you.”
I blink at the ceiling. “So it’s my fault you lost control and almost killed us both?”
“No.” He finally sits back and pulls me up with him. “It’s simply the way things are. But you were never in any danger. I wouldn’t have let the fire touch you.”
There is a perfect circle around us of untouched floor. “I can die from smoke inhalation. Or the floor could have collapsed and given us both an inconvenient stake in the heart. So, yeah, I think I might have been in some danger.”
He frowns at the charred boards as if he never considered those outcomes. But then, why would he? No matter he keeps calling me dhampir, he keeps drinking my blood, he seems to forget sometimes I’m not operating on the same level he is. I think it might be a compliment if it wasn’t likely to get me killed on accident.
Finally Malachi shakes his head. “It won’t happen again.”
“But—”
“It won’t happen again,” he repeats firmly.