She pulled herself onto his lap and her light voice surprised him when she answered, “Richël.”
Her legs wrapped around his waist. His breath came out in rapid, shallow pants as she rocked against him, sending fire through every nerve. Zev wove his fingers through her silken hair, holding the back of her head as he fitted her mouth in his. Her sharp teeth scraped against his bottom lip, eliciting a satisfying sting.
“I know what you want.” He pressed the words against her skin. “Take it.”
Richël paused, a new, hungry gleam sharpening her features. “Do you know what you ask, wolf?”
“I give it freely.” Zev drew her mouth to his in a deep, slow kiss. “Take it all.”
Richël’s eyes glowed softly in the night as she studied him. Perhaps searching for any hesitation, but he had none. He was ready.
With a strength he didn’t expect, she rolled him onto his back and straddled him. The moonlight shone over her pale skin as she let the sleeves of her sheer dress fall. A heavy breath shuddered through him as he admired every soft curve of bare skin. Her slender fingers tugged at the ties of his trousers, but he caught her arm.
“No.” His baser instincts ached to go further, but that’s not what he came for.
Richël’s head tilted questioningly, and nodded at whatever she saw on his face. Her hair curtained around him, briefly buffering the brisk air as she kissed his forehead gently, almost tenderly. Again, that recognizable metallic scent of sour blood reached him, hidden beneath the heady arousal. The smell of endings, decay, and the darkness beyond.
She smelled of death.
Richël took his face and pressed her silken mouth to his, soft and sweet, as if they were mere lovers in the woods. Her satin lips trailed over his jaw and neck as her hips continued rolling against him, enveloping him with her heat. Every taut inch of his body burned with need. Zev dug his fingers into her hip to resist the urge. Richël pried his hand free and cupped it on her breast. The other she lifted to her mouth. His next inhale of air stalled in his lungs.
Holding his gaze, she kissed his wrist, then gently drew her fingernail across it. Warm liquid spilled down his arm in dark red trails. She lapped it up with a swipe of her tongue, and her moan vibrated against his skin, sending a heated flush through him.
The flash of Richël’s fangs glinted in the moonlight as she latched onto his wrist. After the initial sting, it wasn’t painful. Though he was sure she could have made it so. Her soft moans as she drank were a symphony, rippling a wave of pleasure that liquified his body, rendering all else meaningless. The faint howl of fury from his wolf and the Madness faded along with every fault weighing on his soul. He let it all go. Strength faded as his mind grew foggy, life leaving him with every tug against his vein. Zev slid his eyes closed, satisfied with this way of ending. With a passionate embrace and a scorching kiss.
There was no thought. No more pain. Nothing but her sweet lips.
“Get your nasty face off him, wretched slag,” a voice hissed.
Light blazed behind his eyelids, and Richël let out a furious screech as something wrenched her off him. Zev blinked dazedly, a purple glow bleeding through his blackening vision. He tried to move, but his body was a sack of congealed matter. It took every ounce of strength to turn his head.
The faerie stood half-naked across the clearing; her face contorted with rage. She faced off with another fierce woman with a cascade of white hair.
Richël’s fingers curled into claws, her lips glistening red. She bared her fangs in a feral snarl. “He’s mine.”
The glow in Lucenna’s eyes flashed brighter as violet light ignited over her hands, spiraling up her arms. “Go find your meal somewhere else.”
“Mine!” Richël launched at her with frightening speed.
Zev’s useless body jerked, instinct flaring to protect Lucenna. But she hurled the purple sphere of fire at Richël, and Zev ducked from the explosion of light. Her scream echoed through the forest and faded into the night. He moaned, his aching head ringing.
Boots shifted over the ground until Lucenna appeared in his dizzying sight. Her cool eyes narrowed on him. “What were you doing?”
“I think you can imagine,” Zev grunted, well aware of his bare chest and his trousers hanging half undone on his hips.
Lucenna’s cheeks darkened, but she held her glare. “Do you have any idea what you were kissing? Why didn’t you fight her off?”
“Why does it matter?” Zev gritted his teeth, his body throbbing painfully.
He groaned and lifted a limp hand to his face, finally feeling some strength return. Except for the two puncture wounds on his wrist. Everything was intact.
“You had a nightwalker on your face, you fool. That thing was feeding on your blood.”
“I know. I allowed it.”
“By the gods, have you gone mad?”
Yes, yes, he had.
