“Your way of easing cramps is way better than Midol and a heating pad.”
He smiles at me, a genuine, rare expression that lights something inside me.
“That’s because your body understands what I can do for you. It recognizes its mate.” He pauses, his arms tightening around me. “And it craves me the way I crave you—completely…obsessively…in every way imaginable.”
His words worry me a little—so he’s obsessed with me now? Is that all right?
Honestly, I know I should be scared but instead what I feel is flattered. Lucian is absolutely the hottest guy I’ve ever been with. And yet, he looks at me like I’m the hot one—like I’m some kind of a supermodel. I’ve never had that before—never been seen as a beauty queen. It’s nice to be admired not despite my full curves but because of them.
Also, when Lucian looks at me that way, I almost forget that he kidnapped me and brought me to the Shadow Realm against my will.
Wrapped in his arms, the pain a forgotten ghost and my body humming with a profound, satiated peace, I find myself thinking that maybe—just maybe—letting this ancient, dangerous, impossibly tender Vampire Don take care of me isn’t the worst thing in the world.
43
Lucian
Her taste lingers on my mouth long after I have gathered her into my arms.
Not just the blood—though that alone is exquisite—but the sweetness of her. Honey and heat and something uniquely Julia, a flavor that sinks deep into me and refuses to let go. I can still feel the way her body quivered beneath my touch…can still hear the soft, helpless sounds she made when she came for me, echoing in my ears like a benediction.
I close my eyes, breathing her in. Gods, she’s amazing, my curvy little human.
I have fed many times over the centuries. Blood slaves…willing donors…ritual offerings taken for power or survival. But this—this is different. This is not hunger alone. This is intimacy…consent. This is trust given freely.
And it has changed me.
I can feel the Sanguis Vita spreading through my system now, warm and potent, flooding places that have burned for so long I had forgotten what relief felt like. The ache—the constant, gnawing fire left behind by my father’s curse—dims. The pain is not gone…not cured…but it has quieted within me.
For the first time in years, the Blood Lust loosens its grip on me. My thoughts are clearer. My body is steadier. The relentless need that has driven me for so long retreats into something that’s almost manageable.
I exhale slowly, letting myself relax for the first time in years.
But one feeding will not cure me. I know that.
To break the curse fully, I will need her blood again…and again and again. I will need regular, frequent feedings. By tasting her so deeply tonight, I have bound myself to her more tightly than any vow or ceremony ever could.
Because now that I have tasted her, my body will crave her above all else.
If I am denied her blood for too long, the Blood Lust will return sharper than ever—stronger. And if I am deprived entirely…
I may not survive it.
The knowledge should terrify me. Instead, it fills me with a fierce, almost reckless certainty.
I don’t care about my own vulnerability. I would rather risk everything than live without her.
Julia snuggles against me now, warm and soft, her breathing finally even as the pain leaves her body. I stroke her hair, memorizing the way she feels in my arms, the subtle weight of her, the way she fits against me as though she was always meant to be here.
Mine, whispers a voice in my head. Mine forever.
I once believed I was searching the Human Realm for a cure…for a resource. For a solution to the Blood Lust and the curse my father left me.
But somewhere along the way, I found her instead—Julia.
And now I know the truth—I am not interested in a cure if it costs me Julia. I don’t want her blood without her heart. I don’t want her power without her presence.
I want her.
