Page 20 of Hunger in His Blood (Brides of the Kylorr #3)

CHAPTER 20

ERINA

W ith his fangs in my body, there was only ecstasy.

When he fed from me, I felt like I belonged somewhere. I felt protected in his arms. Safe.

“I’m yours,” I whispered. I felt his harsh exhale over my skin, and I smiled in relief and pleasure. It was like a part of him needed to hear that. Had that been what he’d been afraid of? What I felt for him was only growing and expanding exponentially with every passing day. Did he feel the same?

He must, I thought, and the realization brought joy unlike anything I’d experienced before. Maybe—just maybe—I would finally get everything I’d dreamed of, everything I’d ever wanted. A male I loved and who loved me in return, a family, a home that could never be taken from me.

Pleasure was rising again though my body was still tingling from his touch between my thighs. It felt like he’d unleashed an alien creature inside me, one who was ravenous and wanton. I only desired him. I only wanted him. For a brief moment, I feared something was wrong with me. Surely to feel this aching longing and madness for someone wasn’t normal, was it?

His feeding grew more and more hungry. His grip on me tightened, his hands beginning to rove as I rocked over his lap. I wanted to experience sex with him. I wanted to feel what it was like, to have him deep inside my body in a way his fangs never could be.

So when his hands began to rip at the laced waistband of his trousers, tugging the material over his cock, I craned my head down even though it shifted his bite in my skin. My eyes widened, my hand reaching immediately for the hardened, bobbing cock that was newly exposed.

He hissed when my palm wrapped around him. I didn’t know what to do, not truly, but I remembered everything I’d ever heard from keepers about sex, and their giggling gossiping of their escapades, in every House I’d ever worked in. But mostly I acted on instinct, gliding my hand up and down the hot, suede-like skin, which felt as hard as metal in my grip. I wanted to explore him more than anything…but the tight, driving need inside me didn’t allow for that.

Kaldur bucked up into my hands. The power of his hips lifted even me as he chased his pleasure. He released his fangs from my neck, and I caught the wild flash of his eyes when he dragged me even closer. I gasped when his head dipped, when he caught one exposed nipple between his lips and sucked, palming the other one with a possessive touch.

I gave a soft, shocked grunt when I felt the prick of his fangs in my breast.

“Oh, gods,” I breathed, my fist tightening over his cock, making him thrust his hips even harder. He began to feed from me there, and it felt incredible , every nerve ending sizzling up to meet his fangs. One of his hands returned between my thighs, teasing me mercilessly as I writhed against him. I was dripping—I could feel it. I wasn’t even embarrassed about it. I only wanted more . More sensation, more pleasure, more of his touch.

“It will never be enough,” came Kaldur’s dark rasp of a voice, releasing me. I gasped, holding on to his shoulders when he stood suddenly, sweeping up from the chair. “ Vaan , I want you so fucking much, Erina. And I hate that. I hate that I need you like this.”

The words filled me with a dark sense of glee even though he sounded almost angry about it. I was helpless to clutch at his shoulders as he walked us over to his bed. My body felt empty of him, and so I bit down into his neck, listening to the feral creature inside me, knowing it would spur him on.

A snarl rose from him, and when I pulled back, I eyed him with a half-lidded gaze. With my blood dripping from his fangs, he made a frighteningly erotic sight. The scar on his face made him appear almost sinister—if only he wasn’t so incredibly handsome. If only he didn’t make me ache with want just looking at him.

Is this what falling in love is like? I questioned. This spiraling descent into madness and hope?

He flipped me face down onto the bed before I could beg or demand or whimper, tugging my naked hips back and up, bringing me to my knees. I heard a dark curse reverberate from him, sounding like a plea. I felt the head of his cock kiss my slick sex, teasing me. So hot it felt like a brand on my sensitive flesh. Like this, he was at a perfect height for?—

“I can’t resist you, Erina,” he whispered, lowering himself over my back. His lips met the shell of my ear. “I just want to drown in you.”

A ragged cry tore from my throat when he thrust his cock into me. My body moved of its own accord, rocking away from the pain. Despite my arousal, he was still an extremely tight fit, his thickness only allowing him to enter me partially.

“ Raazos , you’re tight, dallia ,” he cursed. “Did I hurt you?”

“A little,” I said, biting my lip, but I didn’t want him to pull away. When he tried to, I protested, “No! Just…just hold on. Please. Distract me.”

I tilted my neck, and he took the hint. His fangs pricked into me, and the pulling draw of his hunger, the flood and warmth of his venom, made the pain slowly fade. Every moment loosened my muscles and sharp pinch I felt deep inside.

I’d thought it would feel strange. To have someone else inside your own body. But with Kaldur, it felt completely right. Normal. If only I could see him though…if only I could wrap my arms around his body and embrace him tight.

When I gave an experimental rock of my hips, he hissed against me. He’d brought his forearms down on either side of my head—they vibrated with tension. I felt the scratch of his clothing against my back, reminding me that he was still fully clothed and I was completely naked, a tantalizing contrast of sensation.

I began to move my body in time with his feeding, the pleasure winding tighter and tighter inside me. Soon, he took the hint, dragging his length out before thrusting back inside. Over and over again. Short and quick motions that made me squirm. Soon there was no pain, only a sensation of strange fullness. I was taking him, all of him, and a triumphant thrill raced through me.

On his next thrust, I grunted softly because there was nowhere else for him to go. I felt something hard and thick nudge against my entrance and my eyes widened with the realization of what it was. I’d nearly forgotten. Full-blooded Kylorr had a knot at the base of their cock. I’d never seen one before, only in drawings or paintings.

Curious, I reached behind me, and Kaldur let out a hoarse cry when I cupped him there.

“Squeeze hard,” he growled, releasing my neck. When I did, he let out a desperate whimper that nearly made me come right there and then. “ Vaan , I want that to be your cunt. How perfect that would feel.”

“Yes,” I gasped. “I want that.”

“No,” he said, sounding as if he was gritting his teeth together. “You are in no way ready for that. ”

Disappointment crashed into me, and I squeezed hard, making him moan and buck his hips with power that pushed me up the bed.

“No, come here. Don’t you dare escape,” he growled. With ease, he tugged me back, wrapping his palm around the back of my neck to keep me in place. To keep me still as his pace increased. I’d never felt more vulnerable, more at someone’s mercy, and I found I loved it. “Oh gods, I’m losing control, dallia . Too much—you feel too good,” he said, his voice ending on a low rasp, just as he placed his fingers over my clit, using the force of his thrusts to rub against me.

I was an endless stream of moans and desperate cries and strangled pleas. All I could do was keep my hips lifted as he fucked me, hard and fast. My eyes landed on the stitching of his bedding, seeing the threads glimmer in the shadowed firelight that flicked over our bodies. I heard the sounds we made, the sounds of our bodies coming together in a race to find something .

And I had a feeling that whenever we found what we were looking for, I might not ever be the same again.

“Kaldur,” I breathed, my eyes widening. “I’m going to…”

“Come,” he growled. That was when I felt the prick of his fangs. I closed my eyes, the world fading away.

I was lost in the high of his lovemaking and his feeding. Every beat of my heart was reflected in the pull of his fangs. He alone controlled my body. He pulled a single string, and I came apart in his arms.

My orgasm was a fearsome, almost painful thing in its intensity. It crashed over me until I was only sensation—ecstasy itself—my body forgotten. I hung on to every last breath of it, only distantly aware that Kaldur bellowed out his own pleasure, muffled into my skin. Words—Kylorr words I didn’t understand—were pressed into my neck like an oath. He felt hot, so incredibly hot, even through his clothes. Our skin was slick, and I only tried to breathe, gasping for air when the orgasm slowly released me from its tight grip.

When I opened my eyes, my gaze was blurry with tears and Kaldur was groaning, accompanied by ragged, deep thrusts, each one teasing his bulging knot against my entrance. Finally, he slowed his pace until he was resting against me. He pressed his forehead to my back, and I felt the hot exhales of his breath as he tried to calm himself. He returned his hands to both sides of my head to steady himself, and then he rose.

I moaned, a desperate little mew, when I felt him ease his cock out of my body slowly. I felt every last inch, my pussy already sore now that the pleasure had passed. Something wet flooded between my thighs. His come, I realized.

Kaldur maneuvered me carefully until I was on my back, looking up at him. I felt like a loose-limbed doll, still out of control of my own body. His hand came to my cheek, and he frowned when he saw the tears.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

His voice was nearly unrecognizable. And I didn’t think I was imagining it this time, but his body had definitely grown, his muscles pressing against the seams of his clothes. I’d heard it could happen for some Kylorr. Some were more sensitive to the effects of blood than others.

Or…

Or it was a physical reaction triggered by a blood bond, but those were incredibly rare.

“No,” I whispered, smiling up at him. My skin was flushed. My hair must’ve looked a mess and I had tears tracking down my face, but I didn’t care. I felt…changed. I didn’t think I would ever be the same.

“Why are you crying, then?” he rumbled, concern still touching those eyes. He bit into the pad of his thumb, spreading it over his bite marks to heal the wounds, as if that was the cause for my tears .

“I’m happy,” I told him.

He grunted. His silver eyes were so dark they looked like faceted onyx, blackened and hard. His fangs hadn’t retracted and his clothes were askew. I reached up to press my fingers over his lips.

“I could look at you forever,” I told him. There was no need for shyness anymore. Not after that . The vulnerable confession fell from my lips easily. I watched his brow furrow, a peculiar expression I couldn’t read flashing over his face.

He seemed…

If I had to guess the word, I would say lost .

He looked lost.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, struggling to sit up from the bed. “Did you not like it?”

He let out a dark scoff. “Did I not like it?” he repeated.

Kaldur helped me up from the bed until I was sitting, supported by his arm. Between us his cock was still semi-hard, slick with our come. He was still pulsing, and when he saw me looking, he let out a soft sound and laced back up his trews, though it was a struggle.

“Sometimes I don’t know what to make of you,” he said slowly.

“And I don’t know what to make of that,” I confessed.

It went quiet as we regarded one another. Even though I felt open and laid bare—even physically —with every passing moment, I felt a little sorrow return. Because I could actually see Kaldur rebuilding the walls I’d tried to scratch down with my dull claws, barricading his borders like I was the enemy. He was pulling away. Again.

“Don’t,” I whispered, leaning up to press my lips to the little scar on his chin. “ Please …stay with me.”

“I can’t give you everything you want, Erina,” Kaldur said, his voice both softened and cold. “And I’m not a fool to be manipulated— do you understand? You don’t think many have tried before?”

I frowned. “What?”

Such an odd thing to say.

“What are you talking about?”

But then he smiled, a quirking of his lips. He didn’t answer me. Instead, after looking between us, he said, “I got too carried away tonight. But remember our contract—you’ll need to start taking marroswood now. Understood? I’ll let Maudoric know to serve it with your baanye starting tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but flinch. The mention of the contract felt intentional, especially when he slid from underneath my grasp to go retrieve his lore pipe from the table.

“You can rest here if you wish,” he told me, inhaling a deep inhale of lore before releasing it into the room. “But I won’t be back tonight.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, watching when he turned to the door.

“I have work to do.”

And when he left me there, I felt every joyous feeling fade. I hopped down from the bed, feeling a twinge between my thighs and a new soreness emerge. I stood, naked, in the quiet room, which had only felt full and exciting moments before. Now it felt empty and cold.

I went to my dress, gathering it up from the ground, slipping it back over my head.

I was proud of myself when I didn’t cry…at least not until I made it safely back to my room.

Finally, my fantasies about Kaldur had become a reality.

And in the aftermath, I had never felt lonelier.