Page 12 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Friday

Emma

I stared at the sharp lines of Callum’s jaw. I wasn’t sure what Callum did when he closed his eyes in bed. But I knew he wasn’t sleeping. He’d told me he couldn’t.

So was he meditating? Or was his mind swirling with thoughts?

When I couldn’t sleep, I thought about what I needed to get done the next day.

I thought about the future and my worries and concerns that came with it.

Before he came back into my life, I’d also thought about him and what could have been.

And worrying I’d never be able to feel the way he had made me feel ever again.

Is that what he was doing? Worrying?

Right before he’d proposed, he’d said he’d change me in a year if that’s what I wanted.

But it wasn’t going to come to that. We’d found the cure.

It was safe with Zoey. Things had gotten out of hand last night, but everything was on track again now.

Zoey and I would tell the guys today once everyone was awake.

No more delaying. I couldn’t wait to surprise Callum.

We didn’t need to wait a year to be on the same page about what forever meant. Forever started today.

I pushed the covers to the side and straddled his waist .

A contented sigh fell from his lips and his hands lifted to my hips. He slowly opened his eyes.

I stared down into the golden hue. Those eyes had haunted my dreams for ten years. I much preferred the real thing to a memory. “What are you thinking?” I asked.

“That you’re up early for coming home so late.”

When I’d come home last night, I’d told him I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

I wasn’t great at keeping secrets. And I was worried that if we’d talked, I’d just confess everything.

Zoey and I had agreed to tell the guys together.

I’d told Callum what I was looking for when he was showing me his room full of artifacts and souvenirs from his travels.

He’d told me Anubis had nothing to do with a cure. I really hoped he was wrong about that.

His eyes searched mine.

I shifted forward and felt him hardening beneath me. I placed my hand on the center of his bare chest. My ring shimmered even though the black out curtains barely let in any light.

“I tried so hard to get over you,” I said.

“I’m glad you failed.”

I smiled. “When we get married…what last name will I take? Evans?” I was pretty sure that was his real last name. “Walsh?” That was his last name when I’d met him. “Or Gold?” That was his last name now. But I knew there were more in between. He’d been alive for centuries.

“Well, it would be easiest for record purposes if you were Mrs. Theo Gold.”

“I don’t know how to stop calling you Callum. You’ve been Callum in my head for ten years. ”

“You can keep calling me Callum. If anyone questions it, we’ll just tell them it’s my middle name. A term of endearment.”

I smiled. “That works. So…Emma Gold. It makes it sound like I won the lottery.”

“Haven’t you?”

I laughed as he flipped us over, pinning my back against the mattress.

He pushed up my t-shirt, his hand tracing up my stomach until he reached my left breast. He cupped my breast as his mouth lowered to my other. He swirled his tongue around my nipple.

Fuck. I tried to buck my hips up, but he was pinning me down with his.

He pushed my t-shirt off and licked from the top of my breast, over my clavicle bone, and stopped at my neck. He inhaled deeply. “So fucking sweet.” His cock hardened even more as it pressed against me.

Callum was hungry. I knew his tells. His lips on my neck was the biggest of all.

He rarely ever bit my neck anymore. I think it was just where he could smell my blood best. Him grinding against me was another tell.

The smell of blood turned him on. And the friction of his boxers directly against me made me spread my thighs wider.

I knew I was getting the front of his boxers wet, but he didn’t care. His teeth grazed my neck.

I knew his reaction to blood was instinct. But it was like he didn’t just need my blood. He wanted it too.

And over the past few weeks, I’d grown to want to give it to him.

I loved the way his teeth nipped at my flesh.

And the feeling of him sucking and bruising my skin.

I associated the pain with the pleasure.

Whenever I looked at the bruises on my skin, I felt desired.

Each hickey a small sign of Callum losing control while deep inside of me.

And I wanted him right now, just as much as he wanted me.

“You’re a better prize than any billion dollar jackpot,” I said and shoved his boxers down. I wrapped my hand around his length, guiding his tip to my wetness.

He groaned. “Well, you’ve kind of won both.”

“What?”

He slid just his tip inside of me. “I’d be a fool if I hadn’t accumulated any savings over the years.”

“But like…not billions.”

“I’ve been alive for a long time, baby.” He slowly slid in the rest of the way.

I could barely even think straight. “Wait, are you saying you have billions of dollars? Billions? With a b…”

He thrust into me hard and at the same time he bit into my shoulder.

Fuck. It stung. It felt amazing. I gasped as he bit down harder. And all I wanted was more. I buried my fingers in his hair. I didn’t care about how much money he had. All I cared about was him.

He needed me.

And I loved him needing me.

But the cure will change that.

The thought had come out of nowhere. Everything was about to change.

Would Callum’s feelings for me change too?

Get out of my head, Kebe. I took a deep breath that turned into a moan as Callum slammed into me all the way to the hilt.

It was easy for my fears to be chased away when Callum thrust into me harder, stretching me wide .

I tilted my head back as Callum sucked on my shoulder.

God, I felt insane when he fucked me. Like all I wanted was to give him more, even though I was already giving him everything. I was addicted to this feeling. I knew he was addicted to it to. And this could be the last time we made love like this. With him feasting on me.

His fingers dug into my hips.

Take me.

Use me.

I moved my freehand to his back, trailing it down his muscles until I reached his ass. I tried to pull him closer.

He groaned against my skin and then his teeth sunk deeper into my shoulder.

Yes.

I knew that would leave a big mark. Zoey always stared at my bite marks like I’d lost my mind. She thought that by giving Callum everything he needed, I was digging my own grave.

But Callum knew how to control himself.

And I knew how to give him everything he wanted. I wrapped my legs around his waist, trying to match his thrusts.

“Harder,” I moaned.

Instead of slamming into me harder, he groaned and bit down on my shoulder harder.

So hard I yelped.

He lifted his mouth from my skin and stared at my shoulder in horror. “Fuck.”

I looked down at my shoulder. I could already see the bruise forming beneath the smeared blood. I moved my shoulder and winced. He’d never bit me that hard before. I put my hand over the smeared blood and looked up at him.

Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. My blood.

Callum must have seen where I was staring because he wiped the side of his mouth.

All I wanted to do was pull him into a kiss. To forget about the bite mark on my shoulder.

But his eyes weren’t gold anymore. They were dark. And he wasn’t looking at me like he usually did.

He licked his palm where he’d wiped my blood. And his eyes grew even darker.

I swallowed hard. I knew what he wanted. For me to drop my hand and let him lick my shoulder the same way. But I didn’t trust the color of his eyes.

Normally I could calm him down by having him focus on fucking me. That was always when his eyes were golden though. And I knew better. “Callum, I need a Band-Aid.”

His eyes darted to my shoulder. He lowered his eyebrows as he stared at the blood between my fingers.

My heart started pounding faster.

And that just made his eyes look even darker.

I tried to slow my breathing, knowing that a fast pulse meant the smell of my blood was stronger. “Callum,” I said more firmly. “It hurts.” It didn’t hurt that badly. But I needed him to stop looking at me like I was his next meal.

He shifted backward, pulling out of me.

He reached toward my hurt shoulder, but then his nostrils flared and he climbed off the bed. “I…” His voice trailed off. “There’s bandages in the bathroom.” He took another step back from me, like he was scared of me.

“Callum, it’s okay…”

He shook his head and buried his fingers in his hair. “Go to the bathroom. And lock the door.”

“Callum…”

“Now, Emma.”

He didn’t trust himself. And that meant I shouldn’t trust him either. I climbed out of bed, ran to the bathroom, and slammed the door. I quickly locked it behind me. But the wooden door wasn’t exactly a great barrier. I backed up until my butt hit the vanity.

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t scared of Callum.

I tried to tell my racing heart the same thing, but it wouldn’t stop pounding against my ribcage.

He’d told me to come in here so I could clean up.

To get rid of the temptation. I pulled a drawer open in his vanity.

And then another until I found what I was looking for.

I winced as I patted the bite mark with some peroxide.

The bruise made it look worse than it was.

I stared at the door as I held the paper towel against my arm, waiting for the bleeding to stop.

There was no noise from the other side of the door. Maybe Callum had gone into the garage to get some of his blood from storage. I lifted the paper towel. The cuts weren’t bleeding anymore. I pulled a Band-Aid in place and flushed the paper towel, so the smell of blood wouldn’t be everywhere.

I took a deep breath and unlocked and opened the bathroom door.

Callum was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his hand. His other arm was outstretched, his hand cuffed to the bedpost. I thought he’d go downstairs. Not chain himself up.

“Callum?”

He lifted his head from his hand. He looked so tortured.

I hated seeing him this way. “Do you need me to go get something for you from one of the freezers?”

“I think I’ve had enough. Don’t you?” His lips were set in a hard line.

“I’m okay,” I said.

He shook his head.

I closed the distance between us. “I am. I just got scared. But I shouldn’t have. I trust you…”

“Emma, don’t get any closer to me.” He put his free hand against the bed and gripped the sheets, like he could hold himself in place.

He didn’t trust himself. But I did.

I took another step closer.

“Baby,” he said, his voice filled with pain. “Please.”

Fine, he didn’t trust himself. But I could fix that. “Let me cuff your other hand.”

He just stared at me.

“Put your back against the headboard.”

He nodded and slid backward. Like he was ready for me to lock him up and throw away the key. But that wasn’t what I had planned.

I handcuffed his other wrist. And then I climbed onto the bed beside him.

“Emma,” he said firmly. “Leave me.”

I knew he meant right now. Not permanently or anything. But I wasn’t leaving at all. “Never.” I knew how to calm him down. How to get him to focus on something else. I leaned forward and left a trail of kisses down his happy trail.

“Emma, stop.”

But I knew I could make him feel better. I pulled the waistband of his pants down, freeing his hard cock.

He lowered his eyebrows as he stared at me.

“What?” I leaned over him. “You’re not the only one who’s good with their mouth.” I licked him from his base to his tip slowly, just the way he’d told me he liked.

He still looked tense, but his eyes softened as he watched me.

I licked him again, even slower this time.

His Adam’s apple rose and then fell.

I had him exactly where I wanted him. I kept my eyes on his, hoping the gold would come back soon as I wrapped my lips around him.

The handcuffs clanged as he tried to reach out for me. Because he wanted to guide my mouth. Not because he wanted to suck the life out of me.

I slid my lips all the way down and tightened them, just the way he’d instructed me to do before.

He groaned and his handcuffs clanged again.

But I didn’t need him to guide me. I knew exactly what he liked. I started moving my mouth up and down his shaft, faster and faster.

I looked back up at his face and his eyes were golden again.

I smiled around his cock and slid back down, letting him enter the back of my throat.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “Just like that, baby.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I did the same move again and again.

I tightened my lips even more, sucking him until I felt his cock pulse.

And then I drank down every ounce of his cum.

I lifted my mouth off of him and wiped the side of my mouth, just like he had earlier.

And then I licked a little of his cum off my finger.

His chest rose and fell as he stared at me. “Unlock me. The key is in my nightstand.”

I stared at the golden hue of his eyes and then leaned over and opened his nightstand. The key was the only thing inside. And I couldn’t help but wonder how good this system was if he could only chain up one of his wrists himself and still reach the key in his nightstand…

But he didn’t think straight when he was hungry. I knew that. Or he wouldn’t have bitten me so hard.

I straddled him and unlocked one of his wrists and then the other.

He rubbed the red mark encircling one of his wrists as he stared at me. And then he put his hand on the center of my chest and pushed me backward onto the bed. “There is something just as sweet that I’ve been craving.”

Before I had time to even be a little worried, he buried his face between my legs, thrusting his tongue deep inside of me.

Fuck.

He feasted on me as if my pussy was the blood he craved. And the taste of blood on his tongue must have disappeared with each swirl of his tongue. Yet he didn’t stop.

His hands slid to my ass and he lifted me up for better access.

My back arched from the new angle. I was so close .

He groaned like my wetness was the most delicious thing in the world.

And the next time he rotated his tongue in a slow circle my body shuddered. I felt my pussy pulsing around his tongue.

And he kept his mouth firmly against me. Lapping up all my juices until I caught my breath again.

“So fucking sweet.” He lowered my ass back to the bed. His golden eyes locked with mine.

If he liked that almost as much as he liked blood, the cure wouldn’t change a thing. I hope.