I don’t need to be told twice.
I lift her easily, and she wraps her legs around my waist as I carry her through the cabin.The bedroom is small, barely big enough for the queen-sized bed and a dresser, but I don’t care about the surroundings.All I care about is getting her horizontal.
I lay her down gently, following her onto the mattress, caging her beneath me.For a moment, I look at her, flushed cheeks, swollen lips, eyes dark with desire, and commit every detail to memory.
“You’re sure?”I ask again, giving her one more out.One more chance to step back from the edge.
Tessa huffs out a shaky breath and reaches up, her fingers sliding into my hair, tugging just enough to make me meet her eyes.
“Stop asking me that,” she whispers.“I’m sure.I’m terrified of what’s going to happen when you feed from me.I don’t know how it’s going to feel, or what it’s going to change.”Her voice trembles, but her grip doesn’t.“But I’m still excited.Still choosing this.Probably making a massive mistake...but I am absolutely, completely sure.”
“It might hurt,” I warn.“The bond when we join like this, it’s going to intensify everything.Every sensation, every emotion.It might be overwhelming.”
“Then overwhelm me.”
God, she’s perfect.
I kiss her again, slower this time, learning the taste of her.My hands find the hem of the hoodie, and I pull it up and over her head, revealing smooth skin and a simple black bra.The mark on her shoulder pulses with cold light, responding to my proximity, to our shared desire.
I trace the edge of it with my fingertips, and Tessa shivers.
“Does it hurt?”I ask.
“No.It’s just...cold.And it feels like it’sawaresomehow.As though it knows what we’re about to do.”
“Let it watch.”I lean down, pressing my lips to the mark, and power surges between us.The bond flares bright and electric, and Tessa arches off the bed with a gasp.“I don’t care what that thing thinks.You’re mine.”
“Yours,” she agrees breathlessly.
I work my way down her body slowly, mapping every inch with hands and mouth.When I reach the button of her jeans, I look up at her for permission.She nods, lifting her hips to help me slide the denim down her legs.
She’s beautiful.All curves and soft skin and strength hidden under grace.I want to worship every inch of her, want to make her forget everything except this moment.
But the hunger is rising too, sharp and insistent, and I know I’m running out of time before the monster demands to be fed.
“Vex.”My name on her lips is half prayer, half command.“Stop thinking so much.”
“I’m trying not to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”She sits up, reaching for the hem of my shirt.“Now get naked before I change my mind.”
Barking out a laugh, despite myself, I help her strip me out of my clothes.When we’re both finally bare, skin against skin, the bond between us hums with shared need.
I settle over her, my weight balanced on my forearms, and claim her mouth again.This kiss is different, deeper, more desperate, full of promises and threats and everything in between.
When I finally slide into her, we both freeze.
The sensation is overwhelming.Not just the physical pleasure, though God, that’s intense enough, but the emotional connection amplified through the bond.I can feel what she feels, the stretch, the fullness, the slight edge of pain that bleeds into pleasure.And she can feel what I feel, the tight heat of her, the way every nerve ending lights up, the overwhelming need to claim and protect andpossess.
“Move,” she gasps, her nails digging into my shoulders.
I do.
We find a rhythm together, slow at first, then faster as the need builds.Every thrust pushes us higher, every touch sends sparks racing across our skin.The bond pulses in time with our heartbeats, well, her heartbeat and my phantom one.The mark on her shoulder begins to glow with cold, blue-white light.
Power surges through us, not just mine, not just hers, but something ancient and primal that has nothing to do with the ice-devourer and everything to do with what we are together.
Warden blood and vampire power.
