Her muscles loosened. The discomfort faded. Her world went hazy and bright while her mind went blissfully quiet. There was nothing but slow-burning pleasure and contentment in her when his fangs slid free and he began to suck, taking small, greedy gulps of her blood.
One of his hands framed the side of her face. She turned her head a bit more, seeking out his thumb. Carmine pressed a kiss to the pad. In response, he slipped it past her lips and pressed down on her tongue, silently commanding her to suck. His low, pleased rumble vibrated through her chest when she hollowed her cheeks around it.
Atticus’s hips began to move. He didn’t thrust, but swiveled his hips, reigniting nerves. She clutched at his back and lifted her hips, intoxicated by the burgeoning pleasure and the venom coursing through her veins.
He’s mine,she thought, tasting the salt of his skin with deep, dark pleasure.I’m his.
The crypt taught her that she would only ever belongtosomeone, never that someone could belong to her, too. It was the height of decadence to know that a man such as Atticus Caldwell was hers and hers alone.
She didn’t mean to bite his thumb. It was pure instinct to sink the tip of a fang into his flesh, drawing just enough blood to make her moan.
His rhythm stuttered. The suction on her throat ended and was replaced by the flat of his tongue. “Perfect,” he breathed, thrusting harder, a little deeper. Pleasure sparked whenever he hit that spot inside her as he slid out and once again when he thrust home. “So fuckin’ perfect.”
One hand grabbed her thigh and pressed it upward, into his chest, as he bent to lower his lips to her breasts. She lapped at the tiny wound she’d made on his thumb even as he pricked the sensitive skin of her nipple with his fangs. Pleasure, sharper than any she’d felt before, snapped down her spine.
She was nearly mindless with it as he bit, sucked, and thrust inside her, his speed increasing until her own hips could no longer keep up. Their bodies met with obscene sounds, wet ones and slapping ones and beautiful, breathy groans neither could contain. Atticus slid his thumb free from her lips just as he began to pound into her, each thrust so brutal it threatened to hike her up the bed.
Holding her there with one arm bracketed above her head, he stooped to give her a raw, bloody kiss. His other hand snuck between them. She shouted something — his name, a declaration, a curse, who knew — when he rolled her clitoris between his thumb and forefinger.
Her orgasm, built up and pushed down so many times, whited out her vision. Carmine’s muscles seized. The taste of their blood mingling on her tongue sent her higher, and hisfrantic thrusts, graceless and desperate, were followed by a warm gush somewhere deep inside.
Vampiric instincts were like static in the background of her mind, a constant low-level hum of perfect contentment now that they had what they wanted: a mate, the chance to breed, and blood so sweet, it was all she’d crave for the rest of her life.
Pressing her forehead to his, Carmine whispered, “I couldn’t have dreamed of this.”
Their bodies were still joined, their skin slippery with sweat, but neither cared when Atticus gathered her close and squeezed her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
“Neither could I,” he replied, hoarse with feeling. “When I opened that trailer, I never… It never occurred to me that I’d find my everything inside.”
Carmine smiled, slow and achingly tender. “I’m still not sorry I ran.”
His huff of laughter puffed against her cheeks. “No?”
“No, because you caught me.”
“I’ll always catch you,” he promised.
She stroked her fingers through his sweaty hair and, just because she wanted to hear him say it, she asked, “Why is that?”
Atticus pressed a reverent kiss to the fresh bite on her throat. “Because you’re mine.”
Epilogue
An excerptfrom the article“Synthblood Manufacturer Sold: UniSynth Saved by Local Businessman”written by Nasir Patton forThe Sacramento Hive,dated February 30th, 2049?—
After the untimely death of its owner, local synthblood brand UniSynth was destined for bankruptcy. Hubert Todd Junger, a vampire and businessman who passed away in his home in May, left his company in a bind.
During his life, whispers and accusations plagued his leadership, and after his death, many in the company openly speculated that he’d been siphoning money from UniSynth for years, funding a lavish lifestyle. Some evidence of this has since come to light, and many of the high ranking members of the company have abandoned ship, leaving behind a mound of debt and over a hundred distressed, mostly vampiric, employees.
One of the rare synthblood manufacturers on the West Coast, the company that had been flourishing, despite what now appears to be criminally bad leadership. This would have been a blow not just to the local economy, but to the small but growing vampire community in the Sierras.
Synthblood is costly to produce and store, making importation across territory lines a hassle. With most manufacturers located across the continent in the Neutral Zone — and the prices of their product correspondingly high — losing a local company means that vampires will have even fewer cost-effective options for something that is necessary for their very survival.
Understandably, the speculation around Junger’s death and its effect on UniSynth was the cause of a lot of anxiety amongst Sacramento’s vampires. Notable among them was local businessman Harlan Bounds, owner of Empire LLC and Empire Estate.
A quiet, reserved man, he’s known for investing in several successful restaurants, start-ups, and charitable initiatives in small towns like Pineridge, Auburn, and Grass Valley.
Bounds purchased UniSynth with little fanfare. An announcement went out to employees Monday evening at nine PM introducing him as the new owner and outlining his vision for the future of the company:
