Page 150

“I…” I licked my dry lips and tried again. “I needed to be sure I didn’t just want you because I was starved for pleasure.”

The red glow of Eacus’s eyes flared for a moment before settling back into their normal brightness.

“Then bring yourself pleasure,” he said, his foreign voice practically a growl, although the meaning of his words was still clear in my mind. “Only you must touch yourself until you are sure… bring yourself to release as many times as you need to be certain you want me to feed from you again.”

Slowly, he crouched down where he stood, resting his elbows lightly on his knees. The posture was relaxed, but somehow predatory, yet I didn’t feel unsafe.

He intended to watch.

Slowly, I began moving my fingers again, pumping them gently in and out. I squirmed against them, but Eacus’s eyes didn’t leave my face. The heat within me grew, and I stroked faster.

It didn’t take me long to work myself up to a fever pitch again, especially with the hunger growing in the back of my consciousness—Eacus’s hunger, I realized. It was an all-consuming thing, but he didn’t move a muscle. He just crouched there, watching me lose myself in the heat of his gaze with rapt attention.

I was so close, but I needed more. I shut off the control panel and used it as a seat so I could open my legs to give myself better access.

At this, the whirling tattoos on his chest—swirling black before they turned red when he drank from my wrist—pulsed with light.

My breath came from me in hard pants, each one punctuated by a breathless whine. Pleasure climbed up my spine, but I wobbled on the edge, not quite tipping over into my release.

I whimpered, and Eacus’s façade broke infinitesimally as he smiled, showing off his glimmering fangs.

“Come for me, Natalie.”

And I did.

I cried out and threw my head back as all my limbs shook, glad I had sat down on the control panel, for otherwise I surely would have fallen to the ground. Even as pleasure wracked my body, I felt a thrill of satisfaction that wasn’t mine purring in my mind.

Eacus liked watching me come.

When I opened my eyes and came back to myself, I found Eacus standing now, although he hadn’t moved any closer.

My ragged breath was the only sound in the room for a long moment.

“Well,” he murmured, “Was that enough to satisfy you, or are you still thinking about what it would be like to be my mate?”

I stared at him, and licked my lips, searching for my voice after such intense pleasure. A layer of tension had been stripped from my body with my orgasm, but the simmering heat of desire remained. It had only been bolstered by the feelings of his eyes on me as I touched myself.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, I tilted my head to the side. Carefully, I drew my hair out of the way. The deep purple dip-dye I had attempted in a fit of boredom had faded terribly, but Eacus still watched my actions with feral attention.

He walked toward me, his long legs carrying him across the cramped cockpit in three slow, purposeful strides.

He stopped between my still-spread legs. Carefully, he placed his hands on my thighs, pulling me to the very edge of the control panel. His fingers dug into the ample softness there and I shivered. His tail wound around one of my calves, holding me in place—not that I wanted to move away. Still approaching at a painfully controlled pace, he leaned forward, his breath tickling the exposed column of my neck.

I nearly squeaked, and sparks danced up my spine as his tongue darted out to taste my pulse point. The sensation was followed by the gentle rake of his fangs, making my eyelids flutter, but he didn’t break skin.

He pulled back a few inches to meet my eyes, and I felt his question in my mind, his thoughts already coming to me more clearly, despite the fact that he hadn’t spoken.

“Yes, please. Bite me,” I said, still feeling the need to speak out loud, as if it was imperative for him to know I chose this completely after falling into matehood accidentally.

He didn’t have to be told twice, and I gasped as his teeth pierced my skin.

Instantly my eyes rolled back in my head and a foreign sort of pleasure wracked through me as I choked on a broken moan. I could feel what Eacus felt when he fed from me—tastemy essence on his tongue, how right it was, and how sure there could never be anybody else who felt like this.

A few long drags from my neck and I was lost in the ocean of his mind. What’s more, I was welcomed there, drawn in by curling darkness and desire. I would be held and kept and cherished in this mind.

The vibration against my neck as Eacus groaned brought me back into my own body, although a tendril remained seated in his consciousness. My arousal blossomed anew, and I squirmed against him. I needed more than just his teeth inside me.

I neededeverything.