Page 167 of Obsidian and Frost

And then his brow knit. “But this… the rough feed… your fangs buried in my throat… your tongue slicking my skin, stroking and tasting at the same time… your unbridled hunger detonating all over me… it was another form of pleasure entirely.”

Well… shit.

We stared at one another then as his heavy words rolled over us both.

And then I broke from him and strode to the desk.

“What are you doing?” he asked, spinning.

I snatched up the bat and leaned against the desk as I held it, eyeing the jagged barrel and end cap covered in his blood that I couldn’t scent. It was still wet, not yet dried and just stainingit. Some had even smeared the desk top when he’d put it down there.

I reached out with my free hand and pressed two fingers to it, gathering some of the sweet stickiness.

“Lazriel,” Cassius croaked.

He stepped forward like he was going to stop me.

But one step was all he managed before he pulled up short.

And then he watched.

Warily, enchantedly… a whole mixture clearly fucking with his head.

Welcome to my world, Immortal hunk.

I steadied myself and called the wolf to the forefront.

He jolted as he must have seen my eyes glowing gold with the sign of a shift—what it would be in pure wolves. But for me, it could also mean that I was having my wolf side take the dominant position within.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked me. “Bringing the wolf forth?”

“The general consensus is that wolves are wild, untamed things, always struggling just to hold onto their control. But when it comes to me, calling the wolf forth dominates the vampire and can help to prevent it from getting out of control, especially where bloodlust is concerned.”

While he was left to absorb that, I brought my fingers to my lips, then licked at the blood. His blood. His incredibly alluring, mind-spinning Immortal blood.

The moment I tasted it on my tongue, the vampire raged, my fangs dropping, features contorting, and a hiss escaped me.

I tightened my hold around the bat, using it to ground myself, to pull the wolf to the forefront again as the vampire attempted to usurp it, to send my bloodlust into overdrive.

To make me lose every fucking ounce of control again.

To make me a rabid animal.

I caught Cassius’ eye and his gaze was burning into mine, totally enraptured by the sight of me vamped out and lapping his blood off my fingers.

He raised an eyebrow curiously, seeing the fight all over me as I ingested a little more, the glow of the wolf through my eyes flickering in and out.

I growled low in my throat, pushing harder, and then I felt it snap into place, digging its claws in and keeping the raging vampire in check.

Calming it.

Balancing it out.

Taking the struggle away so I could lean into it—fucking enjoy it.

After all this time, all my fear about feeding from the vein and what it might do to me… now here I was able to ingest Immortal fucking blood without losing my shit. Something most vampires couldn’t control for the life of them.

Cassius smiled. “All these years denying a fundamental aspect of your vampiric nature and here you are now it’s on your own terms, able to withstand the dangerous loss of control that most succumb to instantly the moment Celestial blood hits the air.”