Page 42 of Blood Day: Part Two

I shuddered, hearing the veracity of each statement through our bond.

“Your hair reminds me of daylight,” he continued, his hand slipping from my neck to run through my damp strands. “And your eyes remind me of the sea, yet flecked with the vibrant green found in the flower’s leaves.”

He kissed my neck, his mouth skimming higher to my ear.

“You’re my flower. My biggest temptation. A gift of renewed life.” He pulled back to meet my gaze. “You are a dose of fragile vitality. My Lily.”

Each word felt like a promise for more even as his mind battled him with reasons to destroy me.

None of those reasons were violent or wicked in nature. Just practical. A string of suggestions regarding my potential fate and how wrong it was to keep me alive for his own personal benefit.

But it didn’t just benefit him.

It benefitedme. It gave me a chance to fully exist.

I’d choose more seconds with Cedric over a quick death any day, which I told him with a thought.

“You’re young,” he whispered. “You don’t know any better. But I should. And yet, I find myself clinging to your desire with an unhealthy amount of hope. I don’t want to lose you, sweet flower.”

“Then don’t.” I pressed myself up against his hard length and fought the urge to move and take him inside me.

“Each day will only deepen my craving to keep you.”

“You say that like it’s wrong.”

“I say that as a warning,” he corrected. “I nearly fought a vampire royal on your behalf today. A few more weeks with you and I may end up fighting an entire court of them.”

He played out the scenario behind his eyes, allowing me to hear each potential move.

Vampires didn’t die easily.

But Cedric had nearly resigned himself to this fate as a result of protecting me.

My heart soared with elation and plummeted in pain. It warmed my spirit to realize the depth of his care for me yet iced over my veins at the realization of what that meant for him.

“I don’t want to share you,” he admitted. “I want to keep you as mine.”

More notions swirled inside him, considerations of taking me and running and hiding for eternity. Plan after plan formed in his brilliant mind, each one created and dashed within seconds of each other.

Because he couldn’t craft a perfect route, one that guaranteed my safety.

“Then we stay,” I told him.And see what Prince Khalid has in store for us.

Cedric held my gaze with a wondrous expression. “Your bravery is naïve yet admirable.”

“It’s not bravery. It’s survival.”

His pupils flared, making his irises that much darker. “Indeed. And you are a master survivalist, Lily. I will give you that.”

He shifted his hips and slipped inside me in a thrust that had me arching on instinct. There was no foreplay. No stretching me to accept him. Just a securing of our bodies as he continued to stare deeply into my eyes.

“I’ve lived a very long life.” His fingers curled into my hair, creating a fist that he used to guide my lips to his. “And no one has ever provoked me in this manner before, leaving me without a concise path forward. You make me crave heaven and hell, Lily. It’s almost as though you’ve bewitched me simply by existing.”

Anger and admiration fought for purpose in each statement.

But it was the latter that won as his mouth claimed mine.

It wasn’t rough or harsh.