Page 49 of The Serpent’s Bride (Bloodlines #1)

“N—no.” That was the worst part of it. She didn’t. That was the last thing she really wanted. This was just extremely stupid. Taking the collar from his hand, she carefully put it around her neck and cinched it, clasping it tight.

Raziel pulled her hair gently behind her, clearing it from the edge of the collar. His touch was tender and sweet as he ensured there were no stray hairs caught in the collar’s metal clasp. He rotated the collar so the D ring was at the back, and gave it an experimental tug. “Good.”

Just that one tug alone sent a crash of pleasure ripping through her body that brought a gasp from her lips.

The next thing to hang into her line of sight was a stretch of black silk. “A blindfold.”

She hesitated again.

“This dance of ours today is about trust, my little murderer. I want you unable to protect yourself. Unable to stop me. And unable to see what I’m about to do. I want to see how far you will let me go. But it will only be as far as you let me.”

Her mouth was dry. She swallowed thickly. Taking the blindfold, she tied it on, arranging it so that she couldn’t see. He adjusted it for her again, tightening it a little for her in a way that she couldn’t do herself.

“Put your hands behind your back. Wrist to wrist. I am going to link them together.” His words were deep, like rumbles of thunder. His tone was soft but painted thick with lust and need. He needed her as badly as she needed him. But he wasn’t…harsh or cruel. Damn him to the pit, he sounded tender.

Putting her wrists behind her back, she felt him crouch behind her. He folded her arms so her hands were on the elbows of her opposite arms. Two clicks. She couldn’t move her hands.

“Now…for the final step. Are you ready?” His hand grazed over her shoulder and down her back along her bare skin.

It instantly broke her out in goosebumps. She shivered, pulling in a gasp through her teeth. Nodding, she couldn’t find the words to answer.

“Tilt your head back. I am going to lash your collar to your wrists. You will be completely exposed to me like this. Do you understand? I need you to say the words.” His lips gently pressed to her shoulder, feeling volcanically hot against the electricity that was shooting through her.

The anticipation of it all was more intense than the bindings themselves.

“I…I do.” She couldn’t believe what was happening. “Yes.”

“Good. It’s your choice.”

After a pause, and more internal cussing, she did as he said. Arching her back, she tilted her head toward her hands. A click of something at the back of her neck, and he helped her the rest of the way, guiding what must be a short strap to the rings that connected her wrists.

A second click, and she was secured in place. It wasn’t painful. It was just unnatural. It kept her back arched in such a way she knew she must be putting on quite the display, her legs spread like that and her breasts jutting out.

And judging by the moan that left him as he stood and walked around in front of her, she was right.

She was bound and blindfolded, helpless and at his mercy.

Raziel.

Her worst enemy.

The man she’d sworn to kill.

And she had never needed anything so badly before in her life.

“Have you ever pleasured a man with your mouth?” Raziel’s belt rustled. “I’m not sure what they teach you out there in the country.”

“I have…” Her head was spinning. Every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t move. He could do anything he wanted. Anything at all. “But they weren’t hung like a horse.”

A deep chuckle was all she got in response at first. His thumb ran along her lower lip. “You’re a quick study. Open your mouth.”

Without hesitation, she did. Something primal in her was beginning to obey. Something in her was starting to answer to him that was superseding the rest of her thoughts.

He slipped his thumb into her mouth, another deep groan leaving him.

The thought that she affected him like that—that he wanted her like this…

She closed her lips around his thumb and sucked on the digit, drawing it deeper into her mouth, rolling her tongue around it.

Showing off just a little bit of what she could do.

He pulled his thumb away and his groan turned into a snarl.

He pressed two fingers into her mouth, pointer and middle, and slid them against her tongue.

Meeting her challenge with a dare of his own.

When he pushed them deeper, her throat closed as she gagged.

Jerking against the restraints, she tried to pull her head back away from his hand.

“Ah-ah…” He grabbed the front of the collar, yanking her head back toward him, keeping her from escaping. Pulling his fingers almost all the way out of her mouth, he paused there. “Relax.” He waited until she forced herself to do just that. “Now…deep breath.”

Taking in a breath through her nose, she held it.

“Focus on staying relaxed.”

The two fingers slid forward against her tongue, slowly moving deeper, and deeper, until they grazed the back of her throat.

Jolting against the restraints, he tutted quietly, but kept his fingers still and right where they were, forcing her to adjust. “Focus,” he urged. “Not on me. On the muscles.”

It took another two attempts at her throat trying to clench around his fingers, on her mind going white, but slowly—somehow—she regained control. And he was able to slide his fingers just a little deeper without her gagging on them.

“Yes, my little murderer…see? You are a quick study. Oh, you and I are going to turn the metropolis red …” His lips were close to her ear, murmuring to her as he began to slide his fingers in and out of her throat in a slow, meticulous pattern.

Each time going as far as he could, teaching her—training her—showing her what he was about to do with something far more impressive than just his fingers.

“That’s it, just like that. Breathe in when I slide away.

Hold when I get closer. Focus. Trust me.

I won’t overstay my welcome, even if you think I will.

I have you. You put yourself in my palms. I won’t let you fall.

” His deep, rumbled words were little more than a whisper.

Each one was like hot lava as they washed over her.

All she could focus on was how badly she needed him. Needed to feel him make good on his threat. When he slid his fingers almost all the way out, ready to make another return journey, she turned her head away. “Please—Raziel—I want you…”

He chuckled. Amused…and perhaps just a little darkly sadistic. “You’re just as insatiable as I am. How perfect.”

Fingers twisted in her hair as he straightened up. The fabric of his pants brushed up against her sides as he stood closer to her, standing over her prone and arched body.

Without being told, she opened her mouth to him.

The moan that left him was almost enough to send her to ecstasy on its own.

He pressed himself into her, and he was hotter than sin itself.

She quickly ran her tongue around him, eager to feel him fill her.

His girth was exactly what she’d expected—enough that she was worried.

She wished she could see him. But the not knowing made every other sensation twenty times more intense.

Hand resting at the back of her head, he pushed his hips forward, sliding deeper into her mouth. He pumped himself into her slowly.

“A vampire could get used to this view.” His chuckle was thick with pleasure. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go nearly as long as I’d hoped with you today. For shame.”

He pressed his hips forward, and a growl started to form in his chest as he deepened his strokes, little by little, retreating almost all the way just to push forward a bit more each time.

Helpless. Exposed. Bound. Blindfolded. At his mercy.

The words kept repeating over and over in her mind.

He was taking her. Making her his. And she was surrendering to him. Obeying him. Calming her throat and allowing him to push his girth down inside her in a way no man had ever done before in her life.

“That’s it, yes—” His praise came between sounds of pleasure. “Moons, yes—” He started to use both hands then, guiding himself a little faster as he pushed a little deeper each time. “You can take it all, little murderer…you can. Come, little killer—I know you can.”

If she could have crested the peak of ecstasy from words alone, she would have.

Her body felt alight with it. Crackling with pleasure.

Why did this turn her on so much? He was driving himself relentlessly forward.

She had no idea how much longer it took before suddenly her nose was pressing against his body.

Clutching her head to him, he let out a muffled roar as if trying to push himself somehow deeper, though there was no more left to give. Slowly, agonizingly, he removed himself from her.

“Again.”

She took a deep breath.

“ Again .”

The pattern repeated.

“ Again! ”

Each time, the word became more feral, more animalistic, and less human. She thought she was going to lose her mind. If this was insanity? Let it happen.

Suddenly, she was on her feet. Raziel had grabbed her by the front of the collar and hefted her up.

He half pushed, half threw her onto the bed. She landed on her side, unable to stop herself with her hands lashed behind her back. Strong hands grabbed her and rolled her onto her stomach.

As if she weighed nothing, his hands grasped her hips and hefted her up onto her knees. Hands still tied, back still arched, face on the sheets, and now her ass in the air, she was once more on full display.

A palm came down on her rear with a deafening crack. “Knees apart.”

Letting out a small cry at the impact, she shuddered and did as she was told.

His fingers wound into the collar at the back of her neck, and he lifted her up until she was kneeling. “Let’s play a game, shall we?”

She was shivering. What was he going on about? Couldn’t he just fuck her already?