Page 159 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

He sucks harder, drawing more blood, and the tightening in my core becomes unbearable. I can’t take this anymore.

“Oh, gods,” I scream as the feeling builds. It feels too good.

“It’s not the gods you need to cry out for, Adina.It’s me.”

He returns his mouth to me, and a blinding light fills my entire world. I see nothing. Feel nothing but the dominant sensation of the pleasure of his bite. It feels as though my body is up inthe sky, where no one can reach it. Every inch he touches is a sensitive mess that is panting and screaming. His name spills from my mouth like a prayer that I’ve known my entire life.

The feel of his shadows creeps along my skin again, its warm tendrils wrapping around the edge of my underwear before tearing the material from my body. I gasp as the cold air licks against my swollen nipples, creating a delicious sensation that has my heart pounding inside my chest.

Just when I think it can’t get any better, he sweeps his thumb between the exposed folds of my arousal, trailing it up and down in an agonizing rhythm. My breath comes out in a flurry of gasps as my body moves against the sweet friction of his touch. Oh, my gods, I think I’m going to pass out.

“Fuck,” he says before pressing the pad of his thumb against the sweet bud at my center, moving it in a circular motion that makes me shudder. My attempts to hold in my moans are futile as he draws out the kind of pleasure that could bring leaders to their knees.

The tempo of his movements doesn’t falter even as he slides a single finger into the heated mounds of my flesh. I scream out as he curls the digit inside me, matching the delicious rhythm he is making against my throbbing clit.

“Oh, my gods, don’t stop!” The words fall from my mouth in a desperate plea.

My mind doesn’t know whether to focus on the sensation of his bite or the movement of his fingers. All of it is too much and yet not enough. I want to consume him until I no longer know where I end and he begins. I don’t even care that he’s a vampire and I’m human. I don’t care that we’re supposed to hate each other. I just know that at this moment I need him. He’s like oxygen to my lungs, and I’ll never have enough.

My stomach tightens in a vice-like grip as the uncontrollable pleasure reaches heights that have my fingers sinking into thedark mass of his hair, holding him in place. My breathing quickens as his movements do. He adds a second finger as he plunges in and out of me, drawing out my pleasure in waves of ecstasy. He rips his mouth away as his eyes find mine, and something about knowing that the red stain on his lips is from me intensifies my arousal. He sinks his hand even deeper between my thighs, and the thrill of it rips a scream from my throat. My entire body shakes beneath his touch as my legs vibrate with pleasure.

He dips his head and flicks his venom-soaked tongue against the incisions he made, closing the skin immediately. I twitch at the sensation and curse my greedy body for wanting more. I’ve never felt anything as intense as that. I can’t even explain it. My breathing is ragged as my chest heaves up and down. It takes several minutes before I calm, before I regain any form of control.

The room finally stops spinning, and the drumming in my ears drops to a low tapping sound. I look down at him and find a cocky smile on his face.

“What the hell was that?”

“That,” he says as he stands to his feet, “is a fraction of what it feels like when you stop fighting the bond.”

I can’t even move.

“My legs aren’t working,” I say, and a laugh spills from him. Not a cocky one, but a real laugh that rumbles in his chest.

“That sounds unfortunate,” he teases as he stares down at me. He stretches out a hand and helps me up, and the embarrassment that I expect to be there somehow isn’t. “Perha—”

His words are interrupted by his own scream. He stumbles back a few steps, clutching the sides of his head as he slams into the bookcase behind him. Ignoring the vibrating in my legs, I hurry over just as he slides to the ground.

“Karius!”

He dips his head between his knees as a muffled sound leaks from his mouth. His fingers dig into his scalp as he rocks back and forth. Panic clutches my chest.

“What’s the matter?” I ask, but he doesn’t answer. He cries out, filling the room with sounds of agony that make me consider leaving to get one of the others, but before I can make the decision, it just stops. My eyes fall on him, and I watch as he slowly moves his hands from his head. He raises his head, and his eyes widen in a daze.

He holds his hands out before him, turning them over several times as he stares down at them as though he has never seen them before.

“Karius?” I whisper, but he doesn’t even acknowledge me.

He shakes his head, eyes darting from side to side as if trying to make sense of something, but all I see is confusion twisting his striking features.

“Karius.”

For the first time, his eyes flicker up to mine. He looks at me with an emotion that I cannot place.

“Adina?”

I nod. “Yes, it’s me. Are you ok?”

He blinks as if trying to decipher what I’m saying, and then, without warning, he stands. He stumbles, but I catch him, steadying his arm.