“So fucking sweet.” He licked his lips, but the crimson liquid still wet his lips. “Have a taste.” His lips covered mine, and the metallic taste of my own blood seeped through.
My lips parted, and he swept his tongue in my mouth. Arching my back up, I let out a moan.
He broke the kiss with a moan of his own, and looked down at me with glazed eyes. “Your blood is the sweetest I’ve ever tasted.”
My lungs filled with air before I released it, trying to gather myself before speaking, but my body thrummed with his venom.
“Your arousal smells just as sweet,” he told me before moving us both off the top of his desk with his vampire speed.
He kept me on the side of his desk as he stood between my thighs with his hands cupping my face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay.” My mind was a buzzing mess and my body was aching to be touched, but I focused on the feeling of floating that his venom gave me and painted a smile on my face. “You’re incredible.”
He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “I heard about what happened with the four students off campus. I was worried sick.”
I shrugged, moving my hands up his chest and wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him closer. “I had my birthstone on me. Two of them, actually. The ring you gave me, and then the one my parents gave me in my bag.”
“They only work if you’re wearing them.” His voice was soft as his thumb stroked my cheek.
“Even so, I don’t have any other power,” I muttered bitterly.
“Your power will come.”
“How do you know that?”
He pursed his lips before releasing a long sigh. “How do you keep getting me to tell you things I’m not supposed to?”
“Because you like my blood?” I offered, turning and showing him my neck.
“Because I like you,” he corrected, and my heart flipped.
“I know because the seer has seen it.”
My blood froze, and my mouth dropped open. It seemed impossible, but the expression on his face told me he wasn’t lying.
The hope of developing a power sparked and fizzled once again—but so did something else.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Wren
“Iwouldliketoapologize that you haven’t had a full class with me yet,” Professor Cunningham said, twirling her thumbs.
Her gray hair was short, just past her ears, and she wore a tired smile on her wrinkled face. I’d taken an instant liking to her when Lachlan and I came in because she greeted us with kindness, and she reminded me of Alice.
Lachlan and I sat next to each other in the front row, and I could feel Grayson’s stare burning into the back of my head. It made my stomach churn.
Alister and Damien’s scents were still on me, though Damien’s was fading fast. I was sure Grayson could smell it, and with the way the bond was vibrating between us, he didn’t like it.
Lachlan threw his arm over the back of the bench behind me and scooted closer. “You okay?”
“I am now.” I leaned against him, his warmth sinking into me. The closer I was to Lachlan, the less the bond hurt from Grayson. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” He leaned his head against mine, and I nuzzled against his soft brown hair.
“Now that you’re in your second week at the academy, I hope everyone’s feeling more comfortable. I know it’s a little strange being pulled away from the lives you’ve built to go back to school, so to speak.” She chortled, ambling over to her desk to grab her tablet. “Please turn on your tablets.”
I pouted as Lachlan had moved forward to grab his tablet but did the same with the pain of the bond riddling my bones. “Lachlan,” I whispered.
