Page 11 of Bullets and Blood (Hunting Hearts #1)

“I didn’t shoot.” That intel was wrong. Deliberately?

“I wasn’t even there, but Zinnia was.” And he trusted her even if he didn’t trust anyone else.

She was only a few years older than him, and they’d been close.

As kids, they’d played and schemed and made plans for when she ran the business.

The winery had been part of that. She was the only one he’d told that he didn’t want to be blooded.

He’d managed to go out with his friends and have a party before it happened.

He’d missed a week of school because of the change.

He’d gone back even though no one in his family had expected him to.

He’d been angry with them, and they’d let him rage, using that anger to make his first kill before the month was out.

He shoved Lance onto his back and pinned him in the sand. “That’s better.”

Lance struggled to get free, twisting his hand and trying every trick. But he lacked the brute strength of a vampire. Nix could crush the fine bones in Lance’s wrist. He didn’t.

“Shh, I thought you wanted this.” He leaned in and sniffed Lance’s neck. He couldn’t stop his fangs from flicking down, and that wasn’t the only part of him that sprung forward, ready for action. His dick pulsed with need.

Lance stilled, his pulse rapid as if he’d been running. For a few moments, Lance was prey, and he looked and smelled delicious. Far nicer than his last human meal, but beggars couldn’t be too picky about who they bit.

“Last chance to change your mind,” Nix said. “Say it. Tell me what you want.”

“Bite me. And do it properly this time.”

That wasn’t all he was going to do properly.

He pressed his lips to Lance’s, firmer than he had at lunch when all he’d wanted to do was taste strawberries and test his interest. Lance was interested.

A man was much less likely to turn in his lover than he was the enemy.

And if he only had thirteen days, he wanted to enjoy them.

His tongue flicked over Lance’s lips and then dipped in and then Lance was returning the kiss with a hunger Nix hadn’t expected.

He released his hold on one of Lance’s hands, instead grabbing his hair and turning his head so he could kiss and nip along his jaw—nothing that would leave marks the next day.

He’d been taught, both before and after being turned, about safe and killing bites.

While the bites in class had been cool and impersonal, he’d made sure to experiment in his own time.

He’d lost count of the number of times he’d been bitten before being blooded.

When his fangs had grown, he’d broken up with his human boyfriend.

The temptation to bite him had been too strong—and he hadn’t yet mastered the art of ensorcellment.

He tasted the thin skin on Lance’s neck and felt his pulse beneath his lips.

He wanted that heat spilling onto his tongue.

Lance moaned, his hips lifting, grinding his length against Nix’s.

His body was warm and hard. Nix wanted to sink into him or feel Lance sink into him.

He didn’t care. The bite could be foreplay.

Nix needed to taste him; it had been too long between drinks.

Not over the pulse, he didn’t want to kill Lance.

But lower, closer to the muscle. He breathed him in, the scent of smoke and salt and skin and sex.

He raked his fangs over Lance’s skin, deliberately leaving a mark.

Blood beaded on the surface. Lance caught his breath, holding it as he waited for the bite.

Nix licked at the droplets, not rushing, savoring each drop.

Lance didn’t taste like hate and poison. He tasted like any other man consumed with desire—almost the best-tasting blood. The best was just after climax.

“Don’t tease,” Lance murmured.

“That’s half the fun.” He rolled his hips against Lance, wanting to feel the heat of his length, needing less between them so they could be skin on skin.

He sucked on the scratches, and Lance’s back arched.

Such a primitive response, but most people had it.

Even when he was being bled out to be turned, he’d enjoyed it.

It was the waking up as a full-blooded vampire he hadn’t enjoyed.

He kissed the scratches and teased with his fangs, enjoying the way Lance squirmed beneath him.

Even if this went nowhere tonight, he’d have a nice memory to play with on his own.

Lance’s fingers dug into his hips, and he rocked against him as though he had no plans of stopping.

Nix wouldn’t argue if sex was what Lance wanted.

He pressed his fangs into Lance’s neck; the skin offered no resistance, and blood poured over Nix’s tongue.

He swallowed in hungry gulps. The heat spread through his body in a welcome rush.

Lance gasped beneath him as though getting close to the edge, and Nix was too aware they were moving together as if trying to get off.

He licked the bite even though he wanted more as there might be a later.

He peered down at Lance, kissed his lips, and waited for him to open his eyes. “Are you sure a bite is all you want?”