“Your sister really doesn’t like me,” Kasi said, looking up to face me with a small, uncertain smile. “I don’t think any of them do.”
I tried to respond. Tried to form words of reassurance. But the movement of her lips sent another wave of her scent washing over me, and something inside me snapped.
Four centuries of careful control shattered in an instant.
I moved with vampiric speed, my hands gripped her shoulders, spinning her away from the wall. Her eyes widened, pupils dilating with surprise and something darker, an arousal that matched my own.
“Seven?” Her voice was breathless, questioning.
My name on her lips ignited the last fuse of restraint. I seized the thin fabric of her sundress, tearing it from her body with a single savage motion. The sound of ripping cloth filled the room as the garment gave way, leaving her standing in nothing but simple cotton panties.
Grabbing her neck with one hand, I held her still. With my other hand, I tucked my fingers into the front of her panties. I ripped them from her body and tossed the remains across the room.
Kasi’s gasp echoed. Her shocked face looked of confusion mingled with desire. Her pulse jumped visibly at her throat. Releasing her neck, I lifted her with inhuman ease. In two strides, I crossed to the bed and laid her against the silk sheets.
“I need to taste you,” I growled. “All of you.”
A war raged within me as I lowered myself over her. Part of me, the gentleman who’d lived through Victorian drawing rooms and Renaissance courts, urged restraint, gentleness, consideration of her more fragile form. But another part, the vampire, the hunter, the creature of pure instinct demanded Iclaim her completely, mark her as mine in the most primal way possible.
I fought for balance between these impulses as my mouth tracked down her body. My lips pressed against her throat, lingering over the pulse. Not yet. Not there. I moved lower, tongue tracing the hollow between her collarbones, tasting the salt of her skin, the unique flavor that belonged to her alone.
Her hands found my hair, fingers tangling in the strands as she arched beneath me. The movement offered her breasts to my hungry mouth. I accepted the invitation, teeth grazing sensitive flesh with carefully controlled pressure. Just enough to make her gasp, not enough to break her skin.
“Seven,” she moaned. “Please.”
I continued my journey downward, past the gentle curve of her stomach, past her navel, until I reached the apex of her thighs. There, her scent was strongest. The intoxicating blend of human arousal and fae magic drove me to the edge of madness. I breathed her in deeply, letting the fragrance fill my lungs, saturate my senses until there was nothing else in the world but Kasi and my dangerous hunger for her.
I hurried out of my clothing ready to feel her skin against mine. My hands gripped her thighs, spreading them wider with a strength that would leave bruises. I needed evidence of my possession that her body would carry for days. She was mine. My marks would be left on her skin. My scent would be mingled with hers.
“You smell like paradise,” I murmured against her inner thigh.
I lowered my mouth to her core, my tongue exploring her most intimate places with deliberate skill. The first taste nearly shattered my control. Fairy juice was sweeter than any blood I’d ever consumed, more potent than the finest vintage wines of my human life. I forced myself to go slowly, to savor each reaction,each subtle change in her breathing, each involuntary twitch of muscle beneath my hands.
Her body responded beautifully to my attention. Back arching off the silk sheets, hands alternating between clutching at my hair and grasping desperately at the bedding. My heightened senses caught every nuance of her pleasure. I noted the quickening of her racing heart, and the slight change in her scent as her arousal intensified.
I varied my approach, sometimes using broad strokes of my tongue, and sometimes focusing on the sensitive bundle of nerves that made her cry out my name. My hands maintained their grip on her thighs, holding her open to my ministrations even when the intensity of sensation made her try to close them.
“Seven,” she gasped. “I can’t... it’s too much...”
I raised my head briefly, meeting her dazed eyes. “You can,” I insisted, my voice rough with desire. “Let me feel you explode.”
I returned to my task with renewed purpose, adding fingers to complement the work of my tongue. The dual sensation pushed her closer to the edge. Her body tensed beneath me as pleasure built toward its peak. I could sense it building within her, could feel the subtle changes in her muscles, and the quickening of her pulse.
When she came, her climax washed over her in waves. The flood of endorphins, the racing heartbeat, the involuntary contractions of her inner muscles around my fingers.
She called my name, not Seven but my true name. “Severin!” The syllables tore from her throat in a cry that was half pleasure, half surrender.
I didn’t stop, relentless in my determination to wring every last sensation from her body. She writhed beneath me, caught between pulling away from the overwhelming pleasure and pushing herself harder against my mouth. I held her firmly in place, guiding her through the aftershocks until her movementsstilled, her breathing slowed, and her hands gently pushed at my shoulders.
Only then did I raise my head, looking up the length of her body to meet her glowing eyes. Then I knew for certain I could trust her with my heart, my past and my future.
I moved up her body, savoring the taste of her pleasure on my lips. My own need had built to an unbearable pressure, a hunger more ancient than bloodlust. Four centuries of lovers, and one beloved, had never prepared me for the way Kasi affected me.
She watched me approach with heavy-lidded eyes, her chest still rising and falling rapidly from her release. When I positioned myself between her thighs, she reached for me with a trust that was as arousing as her naked form spread before me.
“I need you inside me,” she whispered, the words igniting something primal within me.
Of course you do.I entered her with a single powerful thrust that tore a gasp from both our throats. The sensation was overwhelming. Her warmth cuddled me completely. Her inner muscles still fluttered from her previous climax. For a moment, I remained perfectly still, overcome by the feeling of our connection. In four centuries, I’d taken countless lovers, some for blood, some for pleasure, some for political advantage. None had felt like this.
