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He underestimated you.Both of Aidan’s arms wrapped around her, lifting her onto the table.

Mmhmm,came her reply, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.I’m sensing a pattern here in my life choices.

He knew what she’d meant. Tried to mean. That this was nothing. Another one-time thing. But Aidan saw the rise and fall of her chest, the way her nipples had hardened beneath her dress. The scent of her arousal filled his lungs, and he willed his canines not to extend at the taste of it.

A glass shattered on the other side of the door, followed by laughter from several voices, and Rae stilled in his arms as if she’d remembered where they were. Where she was.

Better they mistake your fear for excitement,he told her.

That was enough to snap her out of it.It’s a wonder your head stays on your shoulders, my lord.

It was selfish, he knew. To want her, but he couldn’t help himself. He brought a hand to her thigh and eased her dress higher.They know you’re a weakness to be exploited, he began, but she shook him off, her hand clamping over his wrist.

Aidan’s eyes flicked up to meet hers.I didn’t meanyouare weak. I meant it would be a weakness of mine.

Giving a shit about something isn’t weakness.Her words were clipped in his thoughts, but she’d released his hand where it still rested on her thigh.

I think we both know this goes beyond me simply giving a shit.His other hand wrapped in her hair, exposing her neck to him, his nose grazing her skin up to her jaw. He knew it was more, much more, and the thought both terrified and thrilled him all at once. Possessiveness surged in his chest, the memory of how fucking beautifully she’d come on his cock earlier etched into his memory. He wanted to bury his tongue inside her, sink his teeth into her soft flesh and take from her vein. To have all of her as she unravelled around him.

“You assume too much,” Rae whispered, her breath hot against his lips, her heart hammering in her chest.

Tell me I’m wrong.He searched her face, but there was no fear in her expression, no hesitation.Tell me to leave. Tell me you don’t want this.

Her gaze remained on his mouth, her lips almost brushing his.Touch me.

Aidan kissed her roughly, readjusted her so she was sat at the very edge of the table, and got down on his knees. He held Rae’s gaze as he lifted one leg over his shoulder, then the other, his hands running up her thighs, exploring slowly, exposing her to him fully.

He’d have liked to take his time. To have her writhing and unravelling beneath him, skin against skin. But that wasn’t what she wanted. What she needed. She’d said earlier that the sex changed nothing between them, but he’d felt the vulnerability in those words just as acutely as he’d felt every one of her gasps and moans.

Here?he asked her. He licked the skin of her thigh, and she fisted a hand in his hair. Aidan chuckled at her silent request, more than happy to oblige. With a rough tug, he yanked her onto his face, a yelp escaping Rae as his tongue slid home.

A groan escaped him at that first taste of her, his tongue dragging from the apex of her thighs to her opening, lapping into her and back up again. A string of noises escaped Rae as she grabbed his hair tighter, rocking her hips against his face and Aidan smiled darkly into her flesh. She tasted fucking divine, and the urge to feed on her was almost overwhelming. When his teeth had fully extended, he didn’t trust himself to keep fucking her with his tongue, so he replaced it with two fingers instead, pumping in and out of her as he licked and teased at her bundle of nerves, working her faster and faster until she whispered his name.

Aidan couldn’t resist his tongue sliding into her again, needing to taste her as she came apart around him, his thumb replacing his tongue as she shook against his face, his free hand gripping the curve of her ass. He licked her until her shaking eased, his cock thickening at the way she rasped his name again into the quiet of the room.

When her breaths slowed, he slid Rae’s legs from his shoulders, adjusted her dress, and helped her shuffle back onto the table. She raised an eyebrow at the way he strained against his trousers and watched as he adjusted himself, his eyes on hers the whole time.

Rae didn’t say anything, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling, but it didn’t matter. There was no fear left now, only lust. Her gaze fell to his mouth as he licked the taste of her from his lips, her eyes widening for a moment as if she’d just noticed his canines.

Aidan held out a hand to his Odalik.Let’s go.

She hesitated for only a moment before resting her hand in his. No one would question their absence. These rooms would have been used for fucking just as much as they were for feeding, and the expectation was that the Vampire Lord partook in both. The adrenaline that came from fear could easily be mistaken for excitement, and Aidan hoped anyone who’d noticed Rae’s absence before his arrival hadn’t been paying close enough attention to notice the difference.

“I need to make a pit stop,” she told him quietly, pulling something from her hair as Aidan paused by the door.Cormac’s ring.He’s wearing a dud,she explained.I needed to check what modifications had been made.

Aidan laughed under his breath.Should I be checking my pockets too?He waited until the ring was folded away in her hand before tugging her with him through the door.

Magic is like a web, remember, Rae explained as they wove through the crowd, heads turning their way as they went.

You certainly know how to dent my pride, Farren.

But her fear was still firmly replaced with her lust, and possessiveness flared in him again with the knowledge that every Vampire surrounding them knew it.

Rae shot him a glance, a wide smile stretched across her mouth. “Afraid I’m going to upstage you, my lord?” she murmured.

The only thing Aidan felt certain of was how much he wanted to get her back to the manor and out of her dress.Keep running your mouth, Witch,he told her, letting his Provident abilities caress the skin between her breasts.

She sucked in a breath. “Cheat.”