Page 35

Chapter

Thirty-Five

A ngelo

Something warm was on my chest and someone had snuggled next to me. My eyes fluttered open and I looked down to see a mass of blonde hair over my chest. After days of hunting for Serenity through New Orleans, fighting the darkness that had stolen her from me, this precious warmth seemed impossible. Every night I’d woken up reaching for her, my arms empty, her screams still echoing in my nightmares. My heart skipped. Was this a dream? Another cruel trick of Balthazar’s? He’d tortured me before with visions of her, only to rip them away when I dared to hope. I was too scared to move, afraid it was an illusion and she would leave me again, taking what remained of my sanity with her.

But I had to know. I had to know if it was real.

I stroked her hair with trembling fingers, afraid she might vanish at my touch.

The silken strands slipped through my fingers like liquid gold. Memory crashed back: the hellish spear, searing pain, and then... Serenity. Her healing touch, her light pushing back the darkness that had threatened to consume me. Now here she was, breathing softly against my skin, alive and safe after I’d pulled her from the depths of hell.

My body ached, but differently now. The wound had healed, leaving behind a gnawing emptiness that clawed at my insides. How long had I been unconscious? The hunger rose sharp and demanding, made worse by her warmth, her closeness, the steady rhythm of her pulse calling to me like a forbidden song.

I should move. Should put distance between us. But my arms betrayed me, one hand still tangled in her hair, the other sliding around her waist, holding her closer even as my fangs pressed against my bottom lip.

Serenity shifted in her sleep, her small hand moving to rest over my heart. Even that innocent touch sent fire racing through my veins. The scent of her skin - sunshine and something ethereal, divine - made my head spin. I was too hungry, too weak to resist her pull.

Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheek, each movement sending tiny shivers through me. She opened her eyes and those beautiful blues stared up at me, full of warmth and concern, and she cupped my cheek with a tenderness that made my heart ache. “Angelo, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Her breasts pushed against my chest, stirring a deep desire, and I sucked in my breath. The movement wafted her scent over me: sunshine and jasmine, underlaid with the intoxicating sweetness of her blood pulsing just beneath her skin. My fangs throbbed painfully.

She pulled back the covers to examine my chest, her fingertips brushing my skin like fire. “What’s wrong?”

“You.” My voice came out hoarse, rough with hunger and need. Every small touch was exquisite torture.

She looked up at me, hurt flickering in those celestial eyes. “Why? You don’t like my wings?”

I laughed softly, the sound strained with desire. “No, Serenity. Everything about you is perfect.” I slipped my hand around her slender neck. “I need blood and all I can think about is ravishing you.”

She kissed me softly on my lips, her touch like a spark igniting every nerve ending in my body. “Then take my blood.” Her tongue pushed open my mouth and I groaned at how exquisite she tasted - like starlight and salvation. My hunger spiked not just for blood, but for her. Always her. She was an addiction I never wanted to break free from.

She planted kisses down my throat, each one leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “It will heal you. I want you as much as you want me, but only if you’re strong enough.” Her words were both promise and temptation, making my body tremble with need.

I rolled her onto her back, pinning her beneath me as centuries of desperate longing crashed through my restraint. “Oh, I’ll be strong enough, but the hunger is...”

She moved a leg up and down mine, the friction making my vision blur with desire, then ran her fingernails down my back, sending electric shivers through my core. “I want you to feed from me Angelo. Please.” Her plea was almost my undoing.

My tongue fanned over my fangs and all I could think about was her blood. The sweetness that had haunted my dreams since the first taste. No one else’s satisfied me besides hers... not even Dracula’s. Her blood sang to something primal in my soul, a melody of completion I’d searched lifetimes to find.

She slipped her hand around my neck, pulling me down, her touch both gentle and demanding. “Bite me Angelo. Don’t make me beg.” Her soft voice weaved a spell around me, each word dripping with desire that matched my own. The pulse in her throat beckoned, drumming an irresistible rhythm against my lips. The scent of her skin—like blooming roses and something ethereal that only angels possessed—made my head spin with wanting.

I gave into her temptation and my desire, surrendering to the primal need that had been clawing at my insides. I sank my fangs into her flesh, and the world exploded into sensation. The blood was hot and fresh, rushing over my tongue like liquid fire. And different. It was sweeter than before, almost like honey mixed with celestial light. Each drop filled me with not just sustenance but pure ecstasy, healing more than just the physical wounds. It was salvation and sin wrapped into one intoxicating taste.

She tensed beneath me and dug her fingers into my shoulders, her body arching up against mine. The pressure of her nails sent shivers of pleasure-pain down my spine, grounding me even as her blood threatened to sweep away all rational thought.

I moaned against her throat as each swallow of her blood ignited my veins like flowing honey. Her essence flowed through me, chasing away the darkness that had plagued me since the hellish spear. My strength returned in waves of pleasure, each pulse of her heart sending another surge of power through my limbs.

Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me closer as if afraid I might pull away. But nothing could tear me from this moment. I was lost in the dual sensations of her blood and her body moving beneath mine, her soft gasps echoing in my ears like the sweetest music.

“Angelo,” she whispered my name like a prayer, her voice thick with need. Her wings unfurled beneath her, iridescent feathers trembling with each pull of my mouth against her throat. The divine power in her blood sparked against my darkness, creating a delicious friction that made us both shudder.

I knew I should stop, should make sure I didn’t take too much. But her blood called to something ancient and primal within me, something that recognized her as mine. My fingers pressed into her hips, drawing her closer as I drank deeper, drowning in the taste of her.

“Angelo, love me. I need you.” She glided her hands over my back, her touch igniting every nerve ending in its path. In her voice I heard the same desperate longing that consumed me; the need to be closer, to dissolve the last barriers between us. She was the light to my darkness, and I craved her with every fiber of my being.

I withdrew my fangs with a shuddering breath, pressing my forehead against her throat as her blood sang through me. My lips found her pulse point again, this time with gentle kisses to soothe the marks I’d left. Her skin tasted of salt and sweetness, and the little sounds she made when I traced the sensitive spot with my tongue drove me wild.

“Look at me,” I whispered against her skin, needing to see those celestial eyes, to know this wasn’t just another dream that would dissolve with the dawn. She cupped my face, drawing me up until our gazes met. The love and desire I saw there made my heart clench.

“I’m here,” she breathed, as if reading my thoughts. “I’m real.” Her thumb brushed over my bottom lip, smearing a drop of her blood. “Love me, Angelo. Make me yours in every way.”

I captured her mouth with mine, letting her taste the lingering sweetness of her blood on my tongue. Her lips parted on a soft moan that sent tremors through my body. The hunger for her blood had been overwhelming, but this—this need to possess her completely, to worship every inch of her divine form—was even stronger.

My hands traced the delicate arch of her wings where they met her back, and she arched into my touch, her body trembling. The silken feathers quivered beneath my fingers, radiating a warmth that seemed to pulse in time with her racing heart.

“You’re everything,” I breathed against her lips. After centuries of darkness, she was my revelation, my redemption. I would never lose her again. No one would ever take her from me—not unless they wanted to feel my wrath. She was mine. “My angel, my salvation.” I traced kisses down her throat, tasting the remnants of her blood mixed with the salt of her skin. Each beat of her heart called to me, not with hunger now but with love so fierce, so protective, it threatened to shatter me.

She wrapped her legs around my waist, drawing me closer. “Then show me,” she whispered, her words caressing the air between us. “Show me I’m yours, Angelo. That all of this—hell, pain, separation—was worth it to be here, now, with you.”

Her words pierced my heart like a ray of unforgiving dawn. Worth it? The torture she’d endured in hell’s depths, the pain that still haunted her eyes—nothing could be worth that. And yet here she was, looking at me like I was her anchor in the storm, when I was the very darkness that had tainted her light. I crushed her against me, burying my face in her neck as centuries of loneliness and newfound love threatened to overwhelm me.

“Every moment without you was agony,” I breathed against her skin. “I would tear hell apart a thousand times over, suffer every torture they could devise, just to hold you like this. You’re not just worth it, Serenity; you’re worth everything.”