Page 32 of Taming the Beasts

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 movedmy 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.” Hetook 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, hishand 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.