He chuckled, his fingers trailing off the page and up my arm that held the book until he held my cheek. “I should have known you would be familiar with the book.”
He gently angled my head to expose my throat to his gaze. “You are a Helsing, after all.”
His eyes bled red. That was my only warning.
No matter how fast I got, my speed would never rival the eldest Knight prince. There was a flash of ivory fangs and a pinch at my throat. The pain passed as quickly as it had come. Then there was nothing but warmth and a swirling pleasure between my thighs once I registered Sterling was feeding on my throat.
All my mates had claimed a certain part of my body. My throat belonged to the silver prince. It made sense. It was the classic feeding area, the one that rose to fame from the very book I held.
I stumbled back, but he caught me, one hand still holding my head tenderly while his other dropped to the small of my back and pressed my pelvis into his.
My blood dribbled onto the pages of the open book, and my eyes dropped to scan over the words now highlighted by the crimson splash of my own life force.
“The blood is the life,” I read out loud in a shaky voice.
Sterling groaned against me, more blood splattering the book’s paper as he sloppily licked my flesh.
“Bite me,” he demanded in a low, sensual growl.
A delirious hunger ignited inside me.
Canting my head, I unsheathed my fangs and buried them into his neck, feeding on the same spot where he drew from me. My mind went cloudy from the effects of the potent, ancient blood siphoning into my body.
Each drop that seeped into my tongue was like a powerful drug that drove my hunger to frightening and exhilarating new heights.
I wanted more of him,neededmore. My youngblood thirst triggered for the first time since my early days at the coven. Maybe because no matter how much time passed, when it came to Sterling, my control went out the window. Or maybe it was just the fact that I knew this was a dream where we were free to indulge in our baser urges.
He pushed me against the bookshelves, the lip of the old mahogany shelves biting into my back as I felt myself being lifted off the ground. He anchored me against the bookcase, taking a wide stance. His hands slipped beneath my thighs at the same time, expertly shoving the fabric of my dress up.
“Julian,” I huffed his real name, my desperation for him underscoring each tumbling breath.
I dropped the book and worked my hand into the space between us to yank down the waist of his gray sweats. The second his cock sprang free, he slammed it inside me.
No preparation, no warning. Not that I needed it. I was dripping wet.
This wasn’t the sweet lovemaking I expected from him. This was a feral, primal lust, and we were both completely lost to it.
My head knocked against the books. I screamed, then slammed my fangs back down into his throat, drinking from him as he fucked me with unhinged abandon.
We were both slaves to the moment, blood-drunk and desperately chasing something just out of reach as the sun rose over the ocean, bathing us both in gold and shadows.
Sterling’s powerful thrusts shook the entire shelf, making books rain down all around us. Pages fluttered to the ground, and decades-old dust hung in the air. The glittering ocean just visible through the window over Sterling’s shoulder was so beautiful my eyes flooded with tears.
So much crying. I’d never cried so much in all my bloody life than I had these last few days. But these tears were good.
Sterling tasted so damn delicious it was worth a good cry, and I wasn’t just talking about his blood.
I loved all of my father’s progeny. Corry. Eros. Vincent.
If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing between us. I'd still claim them all for myself.
But I was starting to believe that Thomas Knight had been fated to Sapphire Lockheart to make me, gifting back the mate that he'd robbed from Sterling centuries ago. So I guess you could say that, in a way, I'd been made for him.
“Ruby.Dear God—” his voice crumbled on an erotic groan, one that of a man so close to falling apart inside his woman. “Fuck. You feel like the heaven I imagined for years on end when I was trapped in seemingly endless Hell, Ruby.”
I shivered at the priest’s words and felt him twitch and throb inside me. The ache between my thighs grew hotter with every thrust he made.
“Harder.Harder,” I begged him, my nails dragging viciously into his shoulders. He fucked into the cradle of my thighs with unrelenting thrusts, sending more books raining down.
