Page 163 of Vampires of Eden

He moans as he feeds, wrapping me tighter in his arms and I… I want this so badly—allof it. All of him. But not here. Not like this. I want us to do this privately. Without Raphael interruptingus with his snide remarks. I want Alexander to undress me and I want to feed from him in return. I don’t want to climax in this booth.

The heat of his nature and essence is so heady around us that when I open my mouth, I can practically taste him on my tongue. “Rabbit, wait?—”

He draws away so fast that I might have whiplash. One second, he’s completely wrapped around me—hands, essence, body and mouth. Then the next, he’s not. He pulls back, wide and glowy eyed like I’ve physically punched him.

“I’m sorry.” His chest heaves as he shakes his head. “Fuck. I went too far—I shouldn’t have?—”

“Alexander, stop.” I lift my hands to hold his face. “Listen—I want this with you. I’m sayingyesto you, but not here, alright? Can we do this in private, please? Sunday, when you come to spend the night at the cottage?”

He looks me over, bewildered. “I haven’t hurt you?”

“No, you have not. You’ve never once hurt me. Sunday?”

Alexander inhales a deep breath and blows it out. His chest rises and falls and his eyes slowly return to normal. “Sunday… Goddammit, I got blood on your collar.” He leans in once more to clean and catch the dripping blood.

“It’ll wash out. Probably.”

“You look really nice, by the way,” he says in-between laps with his tongue. “Is this outfit new?”

“Mm. I figured an ugly orange parka probably wasn’t appropriate for a date with the Golden Prince of Eden at a chic restaurant in Central.”

Alexander breathes, chuckling against my skin. I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his shoulders because his presence radiates all through me. “You would have stood out, for sure,” he whispers.

“Right. Besides, I didn’t need it. If I fell down somewhere, hopefully you’d findme?”

He sits up so that we’re face to face and nose to nose. “You have no idea. I’d find you anywhere?—”

“What thehellis going on? What in God’s name are you doing?”

A heavy vampiric presence unexpectedly flares outward, like being rocked by a tumultuous earthquake. Both Alexander and I turn our heads. An older but admittedly refined-looking purebred stalks toward us with a look of consternation. His clothes are well tailored and his thick silver hair is swept back, emphasizing the deep lines in his furrowed brows.

Alexander drops his hands from my waist and sits straighter. “This room is reserved for me. Privately. You cannot just walk in here?—”

“Is that what matters right now, Prince Alexander? Reservations?” The older vampire asks hysterically and with his voice rising. His eyes scan me in a quick assessment and his nose is upturned. “Why are you here with this strange and sickly creature? Why are youtouchinghim?—”

“Lord Cherrington?—”

“Is this some immature attempt at rebellion against our impending arrangement? You, fraternizing with a vampire so grotesquely beneath you?—”

“Enough.”

My breath catches when Alexander’s eyes flash golden and bright. Not with the soft, loving allure and pull that I’m accustomed to when his alighted gaze is focused on me. This is different. Intense and sharp. Furious.

“You arrogantly intrude in my private engagement,” Alexander goes on. His aura flares hot, heady and thick like lava oozing from a volcano against the older vampire’s cold and heavy essence. “You openly disrespect my guest, openly disrespect me,over and over, when I am a first chair Royal Governing Board member. The sole heir to the Kendrick Clan—founding family of the Eden Peace Treaty. Do you wish to formally challenge my credibility, Lord Cherrington? Is that how I should interpret thisconstant show of disregard and blatant subversion against my position?”

The tension and pressure between the two purebreds’ opposing auras leaves me motionless, breathless, as if the air has been sucked out of the room and replaced with literal fire and ice. Two elements bucking and pulsing against each other. Raphael jogs into the room and immediately stops with his mouth agape, taking in the silent encounter.

The moment feels like an eternity, but with a blink, Lord Cherrington’s essence backs down. Dissipates as if he’s calling the glacial air back inside himself. He rolls his shoulders.

“I do not,” he says, then clears his throat. Casually, he adjusts the lapels of his jacket. The air of a man who doesn’t understand why things suddenly became so very serious. “I have no interest in challenging you. There is no need for such solemn words, my prince. I only want to express my sincere concern?—”

“If there is no intention to formally challenge me as your superior, then leave,” Alexander says. “This is a private affair. You do not belong, and you have not been invited. Are we clear?”

From the corners of my eyes, Raphael straightens and a sly, pleased grin spreads across his lightly freckled face. Lord Cherrington’s gaze darkens, then lands on me flatly for a moment before he bows.

“Yes, your highness.”

“You are dismissed.”