Page 60 of Nightshades

“Look at me when I taste you.” I grip her chin with one hand to give her stability since she is losing all feeling in her body.

Her long lashes blink in wonder, seducing me with every flutter.

I suck my index finger between my lips, never breaking eye contact with my mate. My tongue dips into the crevice of my nail, her blood exploding over every supernatural taste bud, allowing me to experience her in ways that barely scratch the itch of the cravings I have for her and her alone.

Fireworks of screams I’ve ignited from so many others burst in my eyes as her blood travels down my throat. I can taste her terror, a bittersweet undertone that adds to the spice of her want for me.

Such a confusing mate, finding herself wanting yet fearing me. I can give her the best of both worlds.

“Do you want to see what you do to me?” I rumble, sucking a second finger into my mouth, needing every fucking drop so none goes to waste.

I’ll drink her by the time the night ends and the sun rises. She will be bound to me as the first rays of light pour through the window. For all eternity, for all futures, her soul hexed to be mine.

What I’m learning is that it is me who is in her cage, never wanting to be set free because freedom only exists if I can see her. Every choice I make, every life I take, every nightmare I inflict, it is all for her. She wields the key to every decision made, and I regret nothing.

“Who are you?” The words are strained against her tongue.

I suck all my fingers clean before stepping into her space, until her breasts push against my abdomen.

“How rude of me not to introduce myself.” I flatten my palm over my heart. “After all this time, I had forgotten that while hunting you, you don’t know me.” I push down my jeans, tossing them to the side, licking the tip of my left fang.

“What are you going to do to me? Are you going to leave me in nothing but pieces like you did Greta? Fireopal? The taxidermist?” A fresh wave of sadness deconstructs her face, her wet cheeks reminding me how thirsty I have become for her.

Mesmerized by her beauty, I skim my fingers over her cheek, across her lips, over the tip of her nose, needing to recite every line and curve that creates her.

“You have hollowed out a part of me that I am afraid only you can fill.” My brows pull together, hating that she thinks that I would ever disrespect her body like the others. I find myself mourning at the thought of her needing to be put back together, something as similar to me, and it is the last thing I want for her.

The pain of being transformed is not what I want for her.

I’m mourning at the thought of finding her pieces, the imagery too strong.

“I am Shade Hellström.” I nuzzle her cheek, marking her with my scent. Every threat needs to smell me on her, knowing she’s taken, knowing she’s mine.

“Shade,” she repeats in a slow, struggling exhale, but a wave of content ripples between us—a scent I could get used to.

Hearing her say my name has an electrical river of ecstasy buzzing in my veins.

“And I want you to see what you do to me.” Gripping the back of her neck, I force her to look down at my cock. “Watch what you’re chained to.”

The anglerfish mouth parts, the teeth bearing themselves to her for the first time, showing off how sharp they are. My long,thick cock begins to lengthen at last, aching due to being trapped for so long.

Her lust fuels the air, sparking it, so all that it would take for me to come is a simple exhale of her breath against the shaft.

“Oh god—” she wheezes, lifting her worrying gaze up to meet mine.

“I said to watch what you do to me.” I force her head back down, my fingers digging into the muscles of her neck.

My hard length weighs so much that it can’t stand straight.

“You’re—” She whimpers, squeezing her eyes shut as she continues to fight the poison. “You’re pierced.”

I have a Prince Albert through the tip and a Jacob’s ladder down the shaft. The metal bars gleam from the precome leaking from the tip. I’m dying to be inside my mate, literally. The vampire needs her blood in massive waves, to drink is to claim, and I’ve been so focused on killing her suspects to have her to myself—that I haven’t fucking had hertomyself.

That will change going forward. She is too important to allow another day to slip through my fingers.

My hard cock falls to my knee, the precome smearing against my thigh.

I bare her to me, stripping the remaining shreds of her pants off. She’s in her bra and panties. The simple white lace against her tanned skin has an insatiable need come over me. I’m reminded of the night I fucked her with a root and came all over her chest, marking her as mine and mine alone.