Page 14

“Poison,” Luken grunted. “Need to get back to camp. Rest. Warmth. I’ll be…” he trailed off, his breath hitching.

“You’ll be fine,” I blurted, finishing his words for him. I looped my arm around his waist and heaved, helping him to his feet. He leaned heavily on me, his head resting atop my shoulder. My heart squeezed, but I forced myself to laugh. “Oh, I see how it is. You’re faking to make me do all the work.”

Luken chuckled. “Of course. How else am I supposed to get close to you?”

We painstakingly made our way up the beach and back to the boulders. I kept ribbing him, and he teased me back. His skin was unnaturally pale by the time I eased him back to the ground. His pupils were huge, and the pain coming through the bond made my tattoos feel like they were on fire. I cupped his face with my hand as he lay on the ground, staring at the sky above us.

“Luken?” I turned his face so he looked at me. “What do I need to do? What poison is it?”

He licked his lips. “Not sure. I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”

His eyes closed, and a spike of panic went through my chest. I tapped his cheek, making him open his eyes again.

“You need to stay awake and stay with me,” I told him, breathless with my fear.

A crooked smile crossed over his lips. “Ah, so you do care.”

“I care that you don’t decide to be lazy and just give up on all of this,” I shot back, my hand still on his face. He was always a little cool, at least when our bodies weren’t pressed together, but his skin was cold now. Frigid. “I should start a fire. Warm you up.”

Luken’s fingers wrapped around my wrist. “Don’t leave me.”

Fuck! How could he say that with that look in his eyes? He looked… small. Afraid. The feelings that came through the bond were a testament that he wasn’t sure he was going to be okay. The pain was getting worse, and he was frightened. My heart stuttered. It wasn’t right for him to be scared. He was the strongest person I knew. He was always in control.

“I’m not going to leave,” I told him. “You’re going to get better. We’re going to get Thessa and Darcie back, and then we’re going to live at the palace. We’ll fuck every night and… and we might even have kids. Do you want children?”

That crooked smile grew more pronounced. “Only after the Gods are defeated.”

His eyes shut again. I tapped his cheek, but he didn’t respond. When I checked his pulse, mine skyrocketed. I count fewer than ten beats per minute. What was his normal heart rate? This couldn’t be good. What could I do to—

Oh.

It was obvious.

I glanced around and snatched up the knife that had clattered to the ground. Without letting myself think or fear, I slashed it across my wrist. Red welled in the cut, dribbling down my arm. I quickly put my wrist to Luken’s mouth, opening it slightly so the blood would get inside. I stared hard at him as he lay, limp and unresponsive.

Then, his tongue swept across my wrist. He swallowed and jerked. His eyes snapped open, and he cupped my arm with his hand, bringing my wrist more firmly to his mouth as he began to suck. The pressure was strange at first, painful even. He pulled me tighter and growled as he drank.

His nostrils flared, and I felt a surge of arousal through the bond before he shut it down. I yelped, startled at how quickly he’d done it. Why? Before I had much chance to wonder, he’d lunged. His hard body pressed against mine, pushing me up against the boulder behind me. He growled again as he pressed his face into my neck. His fangs scraped against my skin, and I groaned, heat flooding through me. I tangled my hands in his dark hair and pulled him closer.

“Yes,” I moaned, my voice raspy. He needed more blood. He needed to heal.

Luken bit me. My body arched to his, my legs parting automatically. My skin was too tight, and I needed these clothes off. I clutched at him, letting my eyes shut. The sheer relief at having him close, having these feelings sweep away all my confusion, made me moan again. I undulated against him, seeking friction as my clit throbbed.

I closed my eyes, letting myself get lost in the sensation. My tattoos seemed to pulse, calling out for my bare skin to touch against his. My fingers skimmed over his sculpted chest, and it felt like he warmed under my touch.

He pulled back, panting. A prick of pain still stung on my neck and wrist, but it was nothing. Luken’s thumb brushed against my cheek, then the other one.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. His voice was rough, pained. “I’ll stop.”

My cheeks were cool where he touched them, and I realized he’d been crying. I opened my eyes again and stared up at him, at his amber eyes locked on mine. My fingers splayed over his chest, and relief washed through me when I saw the dark mark was gone. He’d healed.

“That’s what you needed,” I murmured. “You needed my blood.”

His body was still pressed up against mine. The bond was shut tight from his side, but that didn’t stop me from feeling his desire. His cock strained against his wet pants. And here I was, in nothing but my bra and panties. It would be so easy—

But abruptly, I was furious. How could he do this? How could he drag me out here without telling me what his plan was, only to turn around and nearly fucking die? How could he shut me out of the bond when I was searching for ways to save him? How was I supposed to save Darcie without him?

“You bastard,” I hissed, slamming my fists into his chest.

Luken’s eyes widened as he took my blow. “Elara, I—”

“You fucking bastard,” I howled, striking him again. “Why couldn’t you just say you needed my blood to heal? Why can’t you just be honest with me? I’m here because of you! Because you refused to help me save Darcie. She could be safe already, but Thessa is gone now, too, and it’s all your fault! You know what Grayson—Draven—is willing to do to see you fail! But you can’t fucking tell me what you need.”

I went to hit him again, but he caught my wrists and yanked me forward. I slammed into his chest, and he twisted me down, pinning me beneath him in seconds. My legs wrapped around his waist automatically, my body crying out for more.

“You want me to be honest?” he hissed, pinning my hands over my head. “The honest fucking truth is that I hate how vulnerable you make me feel. And there’s nothing I can do about it! You refuse to listen, refuse to believe me! I could tell you exactly what I planned, but what difference would it make? You decided I was a villain and take my every action as proof.”

“You could have told me you didn’t kill my family at the hot springs,”

“And I could tell you right now that I never intended to let your sister be sacrificed, but you won’t believe me,” he spat back. “You’ll look into my eyes and feel my cock between your legs and think I’m just trying to fuck you. You don’t trust me, and I don’t know how to change that!”

His gaze flickered to my mouth. He was still hungry. Still on fire from drinking from me. His body pressed heavier to mine as he panted, his lips curling back to reveal his fangs.

“Tell me to stop,” he whispered. “Tell me to fuck off and stop touching you.”

Words weren’t enough for me to describe how much I didn’t want that. I arched myself, catching him off guard with a kiss. He released my wrists and caught my face in his hand, resting his weight on his elbows as he kissed me. They were hot, desperate kisses. I pulled him closer, tangling my hands in his hair. What was trust, or the lack of it, compared to the sheer weight of lust?

“Please,” he whispered into my mouth. “I have to have you. I have to be inside of you, Elara. I need it more than I need my next breath. Please, please give me hope.”

The heat penetrated deep inside of me. I ached, and I wasn’t sure it was just lust anymore. I groaned into his mouth, pressing my body up as tightly to him as I could. But I couldn’t find my words. I needed space. I needed to breathe, to think. I pushed upward with one side of my body and Luken let me roll him. He clutched at me as we turned, so I straddled him. When I pulled back, his arms fell loosely to his sides.

“I wish I could tell you what I need to trust you,” I said, my hands pressed to his bare chest. There was no sign of the mark anymore, as though it had never been there. “You can’t expect me to spend four years thinking that you did horrible, brutal things to my family and not come out of it with trust issues.”

Luken’s hands moved to my hips. “I won’t hurt you, Elara. Tell me you don’t want me, and I will control myself.”

I closed my eyes. With the warmth of the sun on my back and the slight breeze washing over my skin, I felt more centered. There was a chasm between us, something I wasn’t sure was surmountable. But what I did know was that right now, it didn’t matter so much. He was here, I was here, and we were both on fire for each other. He drank from me, and I didn’t want to fight this.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I breathed. “Not here. Not now. I thought you were going to die, and I want to feel you alive.”

Luken’s fingers moved, playing over the line of my panties as his gaze swept down my body. It traced over my scars, and I swallowed. He started to move his hands up, over the curve of my waist, and I bit my lip. He caught the movement and paused.

“Can you take them away?” I whispered. “My scars. Can you heal them?”

One hand moved to my back while the other traced the line of the burn. “In time, perhaps. It will take a lot of surgeries. I don’t think that it can go away entirely.”

“But you could use glamor, right? To hide them, at least?”

“Is that what you want?” Luken asked me, his voice gentle.

I nodded. “I hate them. I hate looking in the mirror.”

He cupped my cheek. “You’re beautiful.”

“I don’t care. I hate them. I hate the way they feel, and how much they remind me of the past.” I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “I want them gone.”

“I can use a glamour on them,” Luken murmured, sounding apologetic. “But it won’t be constant. Glamour is a difficult magic. I don’t have the strength right now.”

I ran my hands down his chest. “Do you have the strength to fuck me, then?”

Luken laughed breathlessly. “You can only make me stronger.”

“Then tell me what to do.” I opened my eyes again and stared into his eyes. “The first time, you did all the work. This time, I want to do more. I want to be on top.”

“You did a pretty good job knowing what to do when we were in the shifter village,” he told me with a grin. “Do what feels good, Elara. If there’s anything in particular, I will let you know. Explore what you want to do, how you want to move. Although first… we should take off these wet clothes.”

I laughed as I lifted myself slightly, enough to grab the waist of his soaked pants. I pulled them off without ceremony, shimmying down his legs to get them off him. His skin was back to its gold-kissed tones, looking so supple and tempting that I had to bend over him and press my lips to his thigh. Luken shuddered as I moved up, peppering kisses over his abdomen and torso to reach his mouth again. His hands tightened on my hips, then, with a firm movement, tore my panties.

Laughter bubbled in my throat as I reached behind myself to get my bra as he tossed away the scraps of cloth. The key fell from the loose cups to his chest, and I brushed it aside before dropping my bra. There was no tenderness, no hesitation as Luken slid his hands between my legs. His fingers sought out my clit. The bundle of nerves was already hard, and when he touched it, I jerked.

“Ooh!” I gasped.

“Fuck, you’re already wet,” Luken said, his eyes hungrily between my thighs as he pushed a finger into me. I rocked, wanting more of that feeling inside of me.

“Of course I’m wet. How could I not be when you drank from me?” I groaned, grinding myself against his hand.

He pushed a second finger inside of me, his thumb working against my clit. It felt so good and my movement grew more frantic, chasing that high, wanting more. The bond started to open from his side and I closed it on mine automatically, not even thinking about it. The look in Luken’s eyes didn’t change, nor did the rhythm of his hands, so I let my head fall back and didn’t think about it.

I reached between us and took his cock in my hand, matching the rhythm of his fingers inside of me. Our movements were frantic, quick, and desperate. The desire that burned through me was almost too much to bear. How was I not bursting into flames right now? I grunted as I moved my hips, wanting more, needing more.

“Elara,” Luken grunted, lifting his hips to slide his cock through my hand. “You have no idea how fucking amazing it is.”

I opened my eyes again and looked down at him. His eyes were half-shut, the look in his eyes akin to awe. A sense of power swept through me. Luken Holakas, king of the vampires, was helpless with his desire for me. He looked at me as though I was a goddess, someone innately deserving of worship. It was a heady feeling, making my need for him reach an even higher peak.

“Luken,” I groaned.

He shuddered beneath me. Keeping his hand between us still, he wrapped his other arm around me, pulling me closer as though he didn’t want any space between our bodies. His mouth found mine, hungry and demanding and insatiable. Something inside of me snapped. There was too much distance between us. I needed him more than my next breath. With a groan, I pushed myself tightly against him, so much that I couldn’t stroke him, and his hand was forced to stay still.

“Elara,” he laughed, groaning. “Move back a little. I want to make you climax.”

“Not with your hand,” I whispered back to him.

His gaze searched mine, his breathing growing ragged. “Are you sure? I don’t want regrets between us.”

“I’m sure,” I panted.

Both his hands grabbed my hips, and he twisted, putting me on my back again. The fingers of the hand that had been inside of me were wet. I enjoyed the feeling of it, the knowledge that he’d gotten me so aroused. The scent of his arousal filled the camp, and I grinned.

Luken took my wrists and pinned them over my head again. His jaw worked as he moved down my body, kissing my skin. He stopped at my breast and leisurely tasted my nipple, making it harden. The nipple on my other breast followed suit, aching to be touched. I tried to pull out of his grip, and he held me tighter as he moved to the other breast. The feeling of his mouth on this sensitive part of me made me gasp and writhe beneath him.

He moved lower, kissing the ridge of scar that just barely missed my breasts.

“Oh,” I gasped.

Luken adjusted his hold on me and looked into my eyes. “Is that alright?”

“I can’t really feel it,” I admitted. “The nerve endings didn’t survive. So I can’t feel it when you touch me so softly on my scars.”

He kissed the top of my breast and moved between them, kissing and licking in a way that made my skin feel like I was submerged in a pleasant bath.

“I know you said you wanted to be on top,” he whispered into my ribs. “But I…” he trailed off, as though he wasn’t sure what to say.

I lifted my hips, thrusting against him. “It’s fine. I want you too badly to care what position we’re in. But I get to be on top next time.”

He returned to my mouth as he held both my hands in one of his. He reached down to guide himself to my entrance using his free hand. He thrust all the way in with one smooth motion. My body tensed, and I gasped at the barest hints of pain from the suddenness of his actions. But I instantly began to undulate, thrusting my hips up, seeking for the friction of his cock moving inside of me. Luken matched me, both of us moving with intensity and purpose. His free hand moved to my hip, holding me in place as he moved hard and fast. I felt as though I could feel him in every inch of my body, all the way down to my toes. My chest and face flushed as he gazed intently into my eyes, as though he was devouring my soul. Even my tattoos pulsed with orgasm.

“I’m coming,” he growled, starting to pull out of me.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer. I didn’t want anything to break this connection. I didn’t want him to put any space between us. It was like a ball of light was sitting inside of me, and I couldn’t lose it. I thrust my hips up hard as he came down. His rhythm stuttered, and the tendons on his neck stood out.

All at once he roared, his cock pulsing inside of me. I felt his release and let myself fall back, my muscles answering as I followed him into bliss.