She kisses me back hungrily, sliding her hands under my cloak and gripping my bodice. Power flares beneath my skin like fire. The trees creak and groan as if bending in an invisible wind.
Her heartbeat pounds against my chest, rapid and strong—at least for now.How quickly that can change.Already she is trembling in my arms, fragile in the harsh night air.
But I silence my doubts, letting any sense of what I should or shouldn’t do dissolve.
I walk her backward until she bumps into the oak tree. She whimpers at the contact with the rough bark, and I press closer, trapping her against it.
I pull back enough to elicit a little gasp, savoring the fullness in her lips and the hunger in her eyes. My head is foggy, desire guiding my actions.
I grab her hips and spin her around. “Hands on the tree. Arch your back for me.”
She braces her hands against the bark, breathing hard. The moonlight paints silver streaks across her back, highlighting every curve and hollow.
Her perfect obedience makes me throb between my legs.
I slide my hands around her front and squeeze her breasts, feeling her nipples under my palms. She lets out a sweet, needy exhale.
Finally.How long have I wanted to touch her this way? Since I first set eyes on her?
The flame inside me grows as I drag my palms down her waist and around her hips. Her skin is cold and pebbled with goosebumps. I trail my fingers down her spine, watching her shiver.
With one hand on her hip, I trace the other up her arm, over her shoulder, and around her throat, squeezing enough to make her tense. “Do you know what you’re doing? I could drain you.”
“But you won’t,” she says, breathless.
“How do you know?” I tighten my grip, feeling her pulse flutter beneath my fingers.
A pause. “I’m trusting you.”
Foolish girl.
I kiss and nip her neck. She tastes heavenly, like everything I’ve been craving. I begin murmuring the incantation against her skin, letting the Latin words vibrate through her body. With each syllable, the air around us thickens and becomes charged with static.
Her breath hitches. She trembles harder. With a moan, she leans back against me, her head tilted to expose more of her neck.
I’m aching between my legs as I kiss her neck and shoulder, my body and my power responding to her submission with equal hunger.
Slowly, I move the hand at her hip inward, trailing my fingers over the soft skin of her thigh.
“I want your fingers inside me, Julia,” she begs, gripping my wrist and guiding my hand between her legs.
Her desire coats my fingers. She’s soaking wet, her body betraying how much she truly wants this.
“So ready for me,” I purr into her ear. “Such a good pet.”
She moans as I slide two fingers into her folds, the sound rising into the still forest.
“Yes,” she breathes. “That’s so good…”
She releases my wrist to reach up and slide her hand around the back of my head, leaning back into me as I rub slow circles between her legs.
My power drinks hungrily as I murmur the incantation against her skin. My head grows cloudy. My magic recognizes how willingly she’s offered herself, and it’s purring inside me. It’s been so long since I’ve fed from someone this intimately, so long since I’ve drunk my fill that any sense of restraint dissipates on the cold wind. The thought should frighten me, but Hannah’s essence is making me forget why I should care.
Time to bring her to total surrender. I’m going to take what I need and enjoy every second of it.
I withdraw my hand from between her legs, ignoring her whimper of protest, and wrap my fingers around the back of her neck. I push her forward so she’s bent over the large branch sweeping out from the trunk, her breasts pressed against the bark.
“Spread your legs for me. Show me how much you want this.”
