Only for survival.
Only for the taste of her blood calling to me like a prayer I was built to answer.
Sloane gasps, a lustful whimper escaping her, her hands flying to my shoulders, but instead of pushing me away, she pulls me closer. She bares her throat to me willingly, tilting her head, arching her body against mine as if offering herself to the dark.
She wants this.
She wants me.
And thatterrifiesme more than the hunger ever could.
“Crave…” she whispers, my name breaking apart in her throat, a plea wrapped in trust, wrapped in heat.
My Bloodfire roars in approval.
My fangs ache painfully.
Her scent wraps around me, and it is threaded with something powerful I don’t recognize but crave like oxygen.Her blood calls to me with an intensity that borders on agony, promising a high I’ve never tasted.
Take her.
Drain her.
Make her yours.
My lips brush the tender skin of her throat.
One bite. One moment of ecstasy. One second of surrender. That’s all it would take.
She moans again, arching herself toward me. My Bloodfire surges, the heat racing through me so hot I can’t hold back. A sudden rush of adrenaline surges through me, throwing my head back. I bare my fangs, my excitement racing through me as I lunge forward to bite when a blast of heat erupts between us, violent and blinding, her palms slamming against my chest with a flare of crimson-gold light that sears straight through my shirt and into my skin.
I choke on a shocked groan as pain punches through me, not cold or sharp but molten, fierce, and holy. The force of it throws me back a step, ripping her out of my grasp and tearing my Bloodfire from its frenzy like a creature wrenched off its prey.
Sloane stumbles away from me, staring at her glowing hands in horror. “What… what’s happening to me?” Her voice trembles, the light pulsing in rhythm with her racing heart, every pulse a wave of raw power spilling into the air.
The sight of it, the impossible, wild power sparking beneath her skin, shreds my Bloodfire’s control. My fangs retract with painful reluctance, my lungs dragging in sharp breaths I don’t need as I force myself to turn away until the last of the hunger eases. The burn mark on my chest throbs viciously, a perfect imprint of her palms scorched into my flesh.
No human could have done that.
No mortal should carry fire that can burn a creature like me.
What the fuck is she?
Chapter Seven
CRAVE
“I’m sorry,” Sloane whispers, her voice cracking. “I… I don’t know why I pulled away. I wanted… God, I wanted to kiss you…” She breaks off, shaking. “But something inside me just… reacted. As if it knew something was wrong even if I didn’t.”
I finally look at her, my fangs back in place, my hunger easing, and the light is fading to soft embers under her skin, but the fear remains, confusion twisting her features, frantic breaths trembling out of her.
And horror settles somewhere I cannot dislodge it.
I almost killed her.
I almost drained the only woman who’s woken something inside me that isn’t hunger or violence.
The one spark of light in a life defined by darkness.
