Page 24 of Cursebound

Ican still smell her on my fingers. I can still feel the way her arousal soaked me as she came, the way her pussy walls clenched against my touch. The way her whole body shuddered to climax while she lay at my mercy on this bed.

I was so close to biting her. I’ve had centuries to learn self-control, and she almost undid it all in minutes. Fuck. Is this the blood spell, or is it something else?

I can’t imagine a spell strong enough to do this. Maybe it’s part of it—maybe it’s in the mix. But it can’t be the only explanation for how I feel about this woman. This is bigger than some witchy meddling; it is real and powerful and all-consuming. I never for a minute seriously thought I’d be able to Call her to me—to use her own powers to connect with her. But it worked, and fuck, every second of it was incredible.

Even with Isabella, the only woman I’ve ever loved, I didn’t feel anything like this. I picture Rosa’s skin, pale against the sheets, dark hair spread around her like a supernova, her arms obediently stretched overhead. Her trembling body, inviting me to do whatever the hell I liked with it. The fact that she’s normally so feisty makes it all the more delicious. Breaking down that independence, that surface strength, calls to the predator in me.

She puts on a good show, her words and her body language telling the whole world that she needs no one, but inside, she is soft. Vulnerable. Yearning for all those choices to be made for her. Her body knows what she needs, even if her mind does not.

I run my hand up and down my engorged cock. I’ve never been so hard, so desperate. A million images run through my brain. Rosa bound and chained, my dick shoved in her mouth. Rosa lying in my arms, murmuring my name in her dreams. As I watch her sleep and keep her safe.

Where the hell did that come from? I fucking hate this… thistenderness. It’s not me, and it won’t end well. If this is all from a spell, then that damn witch deserves a pay raise.

Forcing my mind to more pleasant matters, I think about her tits instead, how she squirmed as I took her nipples in my mouth. Yeah. That’s better. I’m building up speed with my hand, knowing I need the release, when a voice wrenches me out of the moment.

Hey, she says.Luca, are you there?

Hearing her—the hesitant note as she whispers, the gentle sound of her uncertainty, is enough to push me over the edge. I come with blinding ferocity. My seed spills all over my belly, and my slow-beating heart feels like it’s about to explode in my chest. Merda.

I lie still and broken for a moment, my whole being rocked by a simple self-administered hand job. If I came like that from thinking about her, from hearing her, what the fuck will it be like when I finally shoot my load inside her? It might be the end of me—but what a way to go.

Umm… I’m on my way, she says, her words as real in my mind as if she were sitting next to me.Please tell me I haven’t lost my mind.

You haven’t lost your mind, bella. And yes, I am here. I will always be here, whether you like it or not.

She doesn’t reply, and there’s a vague buzzing in my ears, like static on a dead line. Grinning, I stretch and feel a deep sizzle of excitement. She hung up on me, but she’s coming. Soon she will be here.

I jump out of bed and bundle up the soiled sheets, planning to use the fresh ones from the closet. The big bad vampire is becoming domesticated, I think as I throw on a T-shirt and a pair of black jeans.

I’m hoping to be naked again before the night is out, but we also need to talk. I need to tell her about this fucking blood spell and try to figure out who cast it and why. We need to work together to find out who’s trying to hurt her, why the fuck Don Vincenzo is mixed up in it all, and what we do next. If she walks in here when I’m naked, I get the feeling there won’t be a whole lot of talking that follows.

I’m changing a pillowcase—if Matteo could see me now, he’d piss himself laughing—when I feel her presence again.

There’s no hesitation this time. No uncertainty. She screams for me so loud my eardrums vibrate, and the pillow falls from my hands. I have no idea how this whole thing works. As much as I tried to appear like I knew what I was doing earlier, I was as surprised as she was when I was able to Call her. But if that worked, maybe this will too.

With my eyes closed, I focus on what she’s seeing. It’s dark, and she’s standing on a street. She feels fuzzy, faint, and I prop myself up against the wall with one hand as her weakness flows through me. Shit. She’s hurt. She’s in danger!

What kind of a man lets a woman like her walk across town to him? What the fuck was I thinking?

I wasn’t thinking at all. I was jerking off.

I clamp down on the self-recrimination and focus on what she’s showing me.

An address. A van. Three men. She looks around at it all so clinically, so precisely, giving me as much information as possible.

Fury engulfs me at the thought of them daring to lay hands on her, and I force myself to take deep breaths. She’s calmer than I am. Even under threat, Rosa is strong enough to fight back the panic she must be feeling. If she can do it, so can I.

Our connection is already fading by the time I leap down the stairwell of the fire escape. I feel her shutting down as whatever was in that syringe courses through her veins.

South, she murmurs, her voice the barest flutter.We’re driving south toward the lake. Come find me, Luca. Come find me—I need you.

My bare feet slap down on the pavement outside, and I snatch the first passerby I see by the collar of his shirt. I don’t know Chicago well, and now is not the time to consult Google Maps.

“East Boulevard!” I bark, ignoring his yelp and pathetic attempt to break free. “Where is it?”

“Over there! Three blocks down! For fuck’s sake, man, let me go.”

I shove him away and take off, building up speed until the buildings and cars are a blur around me. Even before I transitioned, I learned not to do this with people around—to never risk revealing myself to the human world.