He slowly dragged a tongue over his bottom lip and then tongued the deadly tips of his pronounced fangs, which were so large in his current form they were almost tusks. “Yes, Little Monster. It’s normal for a mated pair to feed before fucking. In case they wish to fuel various forms.”
“Fucking barbarians.” It’s not like I was shocked. What was shocking was the way my stomach clenched and the warmth in my lower belly sunk between my thighs. Even in my human form, I was getting hungry. It would have been easy to sate myself on Vin’s blood. But vamp blood was a powerful aphrodisiac. We’d made that mistake too recently to repeat.
To get my mind off my hunger, I had to address the elephant in the room, and funny enough, it wasn’t the cage. “Why didn’t you say anything about Valkera? Don’t you think you should have mentioned that you had a betrothed?”
Vincent’s nostrils twitched as he caught my scent. He chewed his lip like he was trying to decide something. Next thing I knew, he was in the bed. It creaked dangerously beneath his weight, but it held up. It was built for formidable males like him. “You want to know why I didn’t mention her?”
Fuck me, did he look devastatingly gorgeous crawling toward me on his hands and knees, his wing outstretched, the crackling flames of the pit painting his battle-honed physique and mouthwatering stripes of shadow and amber firelight.
“Because you’re a coward.”
He cracked a manic smile. “You know that’s not true.”
I froze up at the way he looked at me. Like I was his prey. Maybe it was stupid for me to shift back into my human form. If I needed to fend him off—I shook off the dark thought as soon as it invaded my mind.
No.He wouldn’t.
I tried to crawl away from him, but he gripped my ankle and slid me back through the sheets.
“I didn’t talk about her because I didn’t think to.”
“Ha! You forgot?That’syour excuse?” I pushed at his chest, trying to slap him away, but he caught my wrists and pressed them into the mattress.
“It was an arranged marriage. One that never came to fruition. I never cared for her, never laid a hand on her. I was holding off until the ceremony, but then my father disappeared, and I went after him before we were mated.”
He bowed his spine, bringing his lips, so they were just a bite away from mine. The heat rolling off his muscular build was smothering, leaving me gasping for breath. “So it’s no excuse. I did forget her. Because we were nothing.Sheis nothing.”
He paused, mulling over a dark thought I could see stirring behind his wicked gaze. “I’ll kill her for you. If that will make you happy, I’ll do it.”
Chapter twenty-one
Puzzle Pieces
Myjawdroppedandmy heart beat a little faster. Vincent’s monster was offering to kill his ex for me.
And who said romance was dead?
“N-no,” I stammered, surprised and—God, I was fucked up—a little turned on by the offer. “I don’t want you to kill her.”
The dark fae’s grin stretched wider. “Liar. The scent curling up from those pretty thighs is practically begging me to spill blood all in my mate’s name. I’ll do it. Just say the word.”
“No. There’s been enough death for now.”
He nodded after a beat. “Fine.”
A pregnant silence stretched between us. There was a dangerous look in his eyes as they dragged down my body. My dress was barely clinging to me now, leaving plenty on display for him to feast on.
One moment, I was staring into his eyes with rage and the next I was looking up at the ceiling, watching his flickering shadow tangle with mine. His hands dragged down my torso, squeezing my breasts before coming to rest on my knees.
He spread my legs, baring the small pink mouth of my opening to his wolfish gaze. But he didn’t move. My mate just...stared, exhibiting the most control I’d ever seen from his monster.
“Don't even think about it, Vin. I'm so close to a heat cycle and if you go too far..." I tried to calm my uneven breathing. "Just remember my promise.”
“What? That you’ll kill me?” His laughter was so booming it felt like he was rattling the entire Life Tree. “It’s almost adorable how you think I might find your threats offputting. They don’t, little monster.”
I tried to scramble away again, pushing against the hard steel of his chest, but he only caught me and thrust me down into the mattress beneath him, settling between my crux and my thighs. “It only makes me fucking hard,” he said through a sound that was half purr, half cruel laugh.
With the way his fae hunger jabbed against my center, it wasn’t an exaggeration.
