Warmth spreads through me. “I love you too.”
He kisses me, then down my throat to my collarbone. Now that I know what his bite feels like, I no longer fear it. I long for it. Lust surges through my core as I wait, his lips hovering just above my pulse point. When he sinks his teeth in, I gasp. He hadn’t been kidding when he told me vampires can make their bite pleasurable. From the moment they penetrate, it’s like liquid lust working its way through my system, filling me with that sensation right before an orgasm. It’s unlike anything I’ve felt before.
I wrap one leg around his, bucking up to meet his thrusts. Where my lips can reach, I plant warm kisses on Jericho’s skin. Despite his urgency to claim me, Jericho is moving quite slow. The pull from my throat isn’t as strong as it was in the shower, like he’s trying to draw this out. He rolls his hips in a sensual rhythm that matches his swallows, and it makes my mind spin with ecstasy.
I glide my hands up his back, kissing him wherever I can reach. He pulls his teeth out, lifting his head to look at me. Lips stained from blood, he’s never looked more beautiful.
I kiss him, urging him to move. His pace quickens, the mattress banging lightly against the wall. Just before he finishes, he bites me again but doesn’t swallow. That same intense feeling returns tenfold. I cling to him, heels digging into his ass as my orgasm crashes into me. Jericho shudders, burying himself to the hilt, then heat floods my insides.
Jericho holds me for a moment, gently kissing my neck. When he finally lets go, he studies the wound with a strange expression on his face.
“I can’t heal it this time,” he says softly. “It’ll scarand—”
“Have a faint white hue, I know.” I grin. “I’ve seen a vampire’s mate mark before.”
He drags a thumb over it, a small smile touching his lips.
“I would mark you too, if I could,” I say. “I hope you know that. I love you.”
His gaze flashes to mine, eyes glistening like he’s about to cry. He suddenly turns toward the door, then rolls off the bed to open a dresser drawer. “Someone’s coming.”
I scramble to my feet and yank some fresh track pants on, quickly hiding the bottle of lube under my pillow. When the knock comes a minute later, I almost laugh. I guess one of the benefits of having a vampire boyfriend is we’ll never be caught off guard.
When I open the door, Mom lifts a tray with two mugs and a couple slices of buttered toast. It makes me smile. It’s what she always made me on a bad day when I was a kid.
Her eyes widen when she sees my neck. Shit, I must look like a horror show to her. Not only a fresh bite mark, but if Jericho had smeared any of my blood…
She doesn’t say anything as she slips past us to set the tray on the dresser. Does she know what the mark is? Or is she just startled to see evidence that Jericho really is drinking from me?
Without warning, she turns to me, hugging me fiercely. Her whole body racks with sobs as she cries. “Screw that vampire,” she says. “I wanted to kill him.”
I choke back a laugh, hugging her tight. “You could’ve. A bullet in the head might’ve finished him off.”
Mom shakes her head, pulling away. She wipes her tears as she says, “We might need him to get into the club.”
She’s probably right. Kaine knows more about the coven than we do. But can we trust him? He’s proven how far he’ll go to get Willow out.
Mom turns to Jericho and hugs him, a fresh wave of grief hitting her. “I love you both. I just want you to know that.”
Jericho tucks his cheek against her head and hugs her back. “Love you too, Evelyn.”
She steps back. “Anyway, Forest wants to talk to you. Says it’s important.” After wiping her eyes again, she hustles out of the room.
I grab a piece of toast and turn to sit against the dresser, legs crossed at the ankle. “You know what I just thought of?”
Jericho briefly touches the toast, like he’s debating trying a piece, but then drops it back to the plate. “Hmm?”
“Kaine said he’s been trying to get to Foxx ever since his family was killed. So why hasn’t he? I mean, he knows where the club is, right? So why hasn’t he just gone in there and killed Foxx?”
Jericho huffs. “Foxx isn’t stupid, Ev. He owns the club, sure, but he also hides out there. He has a room somewhere and only comes out on rare occasions. The night he turned me, I overheard someone saying that was the first time they’d seen him in weeks.”
“He lives at the club?”
Jericho nods. “A few of them do, yeah. There are bedrooms around the building. Private ones, I mean. Not just the ones they let guests use.”
I cringe, refusing to think about what happens in those rooms. “That’s… weird. But okay. So, if they’re living at the club, how arewegoing to get to him then? Especially if what Kaine says is true about the mage sealing the entrances with magic. I don’t want any of us to get stuck there like the others.”
Jericho turns to me, placing a hand on my neck and brushing a thumb over the mark again. “Lucky for me, I can bypass the magic.”
