“Kids are mean,” I told him. “That’s not your fault.”
“It’s my fault that I kept beating the shit out of them.”
I held him tighter, continuing to run my hands through his hair. “I’m sure you had a good reason.”
“When I was a kid, they picked on me like kids do. I was going to go through an apprenticeship with my dad, and they didn’t like that for some reason. I let it happen and became a bloody target. After Mum died, I got miffed, started fighting back.” His voice was strained as he told me, and it was like he wanted me to blame him for what he did.
“I fucking hate bullies. I’m glad you stood up for yourself. It doesn’t matter if it took you a bit to build up the courage. You did, and you stood your ground.”
“You sound like him, you know?” He nuzzled his face against my chest in a way a child sought comfort. “My dad. He’d insist on standing up for myself and for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.”
“He was a smart man too.”
“Yes, he was.” He pulled back, and his eyes were wide with curiosity as he stared at me. “That’s how I built the foundation for fighting. The rest is from experience hunting and obliterating the abandoned.”
I moved my hands to cup his cheeks. “What did you do after he passed?”
A tear trickled down his cheek, and I swiped my thumb to wipe it away.
“I took over the blacksmith title,” he said with a heavy breath. “I was twenty-six when a group of thieves broke in, nicked a lot of weapons and material, beat me to a bloody pulp, and left me for dead. Blood was everywhere, and that’s when Thaddeus found me.”
“He found you close to death,” I mumbled. “I thought you said the Order of the Void wanted him to recruit you?”
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and the calluses on his hands scratched my skin as he pulled my hands to rest in his lap. “They did. The angel on the Order had a vision about what would happen and found it best to intervene then.”
My stomach twisted in disgust.Angels.
“Angels can see the future?”
“Only a select few,” he told me. “But that’s when Thaddeus gave me the choice to become like him and help keep balance in the world.”
I nodded, swallowing the new information. Something about an angel with the ability to see the future made me uneasy.How did a power like that even work? Didn’t that give the angel an unfair advantage? That’s sure to upset the ‘balance’ they claim to want to keep...
“You did well today with using your ability to win in a fight. Next time, try a different emotion to manipulate.”
“What?” I snapped my gaze back to his, and a playful smirk spread across my lips. “You didn’t like me using my cool new powers to turn you on?”
His gray eyes turned a shade darker. “You don’t have to use those powers to turn me on, Poppy. You do a damned good job of it as is.”
My breath hitched. He was so close I could see every detail of his face. Blaise was ruggedly handsome. “Yeah?”
“Want me to show you?”
“Yeah.” My voice was just below a whisper.
He leaned forward, and his plump lips melted against mine. His lips parted beneath mine as his tongue swept inside my mouth, and he tasted like rain on a humid summer evening. Sparks flew, and my pulse throbbed in my head as I pulled him closer.
I pressed my hips down into his, feeling his hardened length at my center as we kissed. Rocking my hips, I was practically dry humping him, which would’ve been embarrassing had it not felt so fucking good. Little electric zings shot through every nerve inside my body as his kiss and hands consumed me.
Blaise pulled away slightly, pushing my hair back from our lips. “I’m obsessing over you, and I’ve never done that with a woman before. As long as I’ve lived, no one has enchanted me the way you seem to.”
My mind was still foggy, but I knew Blaise meant what he said.
It scared the shit out of me. I didn’t know how to navigate my love life, but I knew I felt something for Blaise just as I did with Kai.
“I—”
His lips cut me off as he pressed a lingering kiss before pulling away. “I know you feel something for Kai, but I know you feel it for me too. Something about vampires, Lilith, is that we don’t mind sharing.”
