“Want and need, tangled until you couldn’t breathe without tasting me.”
She leans in, her breath hot against my neck.
“Leave,” I snap.
Vanessa’s grin falters for just a second, but she recovers quickly, her eyes narrowing as I push her hands away and step back from the desk. The air in the room crackles as I move to the center of the tent. My chest rises and falls heavily as I glare at her, my words hanging in the air.
“I’m not playing your games, Vanessa. Get. Out.”
She ignores me, choosing instead to close the distance between us. Her hands press against my frame as she shoves me backward with surprising force. My boots skid slightly on the ground as the back of my knees hit the edge of the bed.
“Do you think I came over here just to be dismissed?” she hisses, her smile twisting into something darker. She shoves me again, a little more forceful, knocking me fully onto my back.
“I came to take what’smine.”
Before I can react, she straddles me, her weight pressing down as her nails scrape against my jawline.
“You think you can send me away like I’m nothing?” she says, her voice laced with venom. “Youneededme. You said it yourself. And now…” Her eyes gleam with hunger as she grips my shirt, pulling me closer. “I’m going to remind you why.”
Before I can shove her off again, she strikes—her head dipping to my neck with a speed that leaves no room to react. The bite is brutal. Her fangs pierce deep, and pain lances through me. A hiss escapes my clenched teeth, my body jerking under her.
I snarl, grabbing her waist to shove her off, but I’m too fucking weak. I haven’t fed, and it’s catching up to me—slowing my limbs, making my skin crawl. Sheknows. She uses it. Her body grinds against mine, desperate and shameless, her fingers digging into my shoulders like claws.
A moan scrapes from her throat, filthy and triumphant as her mouth latches onto my neck. She feeds like an animal, each pull scorching through me, leaving nothing but an empty, clawing hunger in its place. I want to bite her. Rip into her skin and drink until she’s as hollow as I am. The thought is disgusting.Revolting. And it makes me want to put her through the fucking wall.
I won’t take from her—but gods, the need is there, curling like rot in my throat. And I hate that she made me feel it.
She shifts her hips, rolling against me, her breath hitching with every movement.
“Do you feel that?” she murmurs between gulps, her voice muffled against my neck. Her nails scrape harder against my shoulders,her body grinding into me with unrestrained desperation. “This is mine, Casper. You aremine.”
The heat of her body clashes against the cold that seeps into me as my strength begins to falter. My grip on her waist weakens, my arms heavy and trembling. Blood loss dulls my senses, blurring the edges of the room, but her movements become crueler.
I groan low and hoarse, the sound caught between anger and something darker. My vision tilts as she pushes me harder into the bed, her hips rocking with increasing fervor. The tent spins, my breaths shallow and uneven as I fight to hold on to some shred of control. But Vanessa’s moans grow louder, almost obscene, her pleasure echoing in the tent as she feeds with reckless abandon.
“Enough,” I manage to rasp, though my voice is barely audible.
The word is meaningless to her. She bites deeper, her nails now dragging down my torso to grip my hips as her grinding becomes frantic, her movements no longer controlled but wild and feral.
The loss of blood is too much. My body betrays me as my head falls back, the strength draining from me entirely. My head hits the bed with a heavy thud, and the world around me begins to fade. Dark spots invade the edges of my vision as weakness washes over me, the world slipping further out of focus. Just as my eyes begin to close, a loud, resounding thud jerks me back to awareness.
Through the haze, I see Callum’s hand wrapped tightly around Vanessa’s throat, his knuckles pale from the pressure. Blood drips from her lips, a macabre grin splitting her face as she tilts her head to look at him. Her voice, light and mocking, spills into the room.
“You know how much I love seeing you worked up, Callum,” she purrs, her voice laced with a teasing edge, even as his fangs bare and his grip around her throat tightens.
She licks the blood from her mouth, her grin curling with wicked delight, but her confidence flounders under the intensity of his glare. With a guttural growl, Callum slams her against a wooden post, the force making the entire tent tremble. The sound reverberates in the heavy silence, a warning that cuts through her bravado.
“Oh, you don’t want to see me when I’m angry,Vanessa,” he murmurs under his breath.
His face is inches from hers, his words like a blade twisting in the air between them.
“Unlike Casper, I enjoy pain.” He leans closer, his dark eyes narrowing, his tone darkening further. “Which means I know how to makeyouscream.”
Vanessa’s grin falters, her confidence cracking as a flash of fear flickers in her eyes. She swallows hard, trying to recover, but Callum sees it—the moment she realizes she’s gone too far. He drops her without ceremony, letting her fall to the floor in a heap. She stumbles as she stands, wiping at the blood on her lips with the back of her hand, her smile slipping back into place like a mask.
“So dramatic,” she scoffs, but the quiver in her voice betrays her.
Her gaze darts between him and the tent flap before she laughs—an insincere, forced sound—and turns on her heel.
