I rest my hand on Lanlin’s chest, which is rising and falling steadily.
Lanlin doesn’t open his eyes.
Relieved, my shoulders lower. Then I cock my head, studying him more closely.
It is strange to see Lanlin stripped down. He does not look like a king or a monster.
He is still beautiful but like this, I could almost believe it possible to work out the enigma surrounding Lanlin and then how to outsmart him.
This Bat King played the Raven King, and as much as I am going to save the fanged bastard from Aurelius, no one gets away with that.
Also, no one does it twice.
Lanlin must be suffering from a desperate need for my blood already.
Shaking, thirsting, obsessed.
In the texts that I read from Maximinus, I found several that spoke about Shadow Vampires from the House of Sin who were driven mad by their compulsion for fae blood.
I’m a blade, which Lanlin has willingly held to his own throat.
I lower my face closer to his, until his breath gusts warmly across my mouth.
I glance at Lanlin’s elegant hands. I’m not used to seeing them outside his gloves. I twitch my own fingers to stroke across them.
Instantly, Lanlin’s eyes snap open.
My heart jumps. “Fuck…”
“Is that why you’re touching me, my Dove? Did you mistake me for our Omega?” Lanlin’s eyes glow in the dark.
“Nay, I’m sorry. I didn’t…” My pulse is racing.
Startled, I try to move off Lanlin, but he snatches my tangled curls to hold me still, while he sniffs at my neck.
“Why do you smell ofhim?” Lanlin snarls with a sudden rumbling possessiveness.
Oh, shit.
I hoped that Lanlin’s enhanced senses could be tricked.
Yet I knew the risk of meeting with Aurelius.
“May the ravens curse you,” I pant, as Lanlin twists his hand in my hair. “Who?”
“Relius,” Lanlin hisses.
Suddenly, rats squeal from the walls. Shadow and Devil’s eyes shoot open, before they raise their heavy heads from where they are resting in their bed and snarl. Moths flood through the open door to surround Lanlin and me like a pulsing cocoon.
Trapped, I force myself to laugh. “How could I? Were you just dreaming about the Shadow Dragon King maybe? Was it a wet dream? What’s between the two of you? Sounds to me like you’re both too obsessed with each other.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Blood Lover. Ismyobsession the reason that your heart is beating so wildly? Why can I hear your pulse roaring with fear?” With a strength that takes away my breath, Lanlin reverses our positions, caging me.
His piercing gaze holds mine, while he slowly — deliberately — lowers his fangs to my throat over the place that he bit me after the Hunt.
I shake with both pleasure and pain, as he grazes his fangs up and down.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
