Luka cleared his throat, nodding. “Would you like to come back to my room or…”
I flinched. “No, that would be weird.”
“Right. Here, then.” He gestured to the living room.
I opened my legs, popping my right thigh to the side as if opening myself to him, and he dropped onto his knees.
Holy mother of vampires … seeing him on his knees in front of me with my legs open made my head swim with desire.
Ignore it, Aspen! It’s just their natural charm.
He just sat there, on his knees, staring at my bare thigh.
“Luka?”
Shaking himself, he cleared his throat. “Sorry. Got distracted.”
Reaching out, he grasped the back of my thigh with his hands, and then without warning sank his teeth into my inner thigh. A gasp tore from my throat as his warm wet tongue caressed my skin and the aphrodisiac properties of the bite tore through my system.
I’d gotten good at holding back when he fed from me, and he only took what he needed, so it was relatively quick, but this time I couldn’t hold back—I didn’t want to. I tangled my fingers through his hair, pressing him harder into my thigh as he moaned his approval. Waves of pleasure crawled up my body, mixed with heat and desire, threatening to consume me.
What did it feel like for him? I wondered.
My breaths came out in ragged, short gasps as I heard footsteps behind me.
“Oh damn,” Bennett called out, and Luka tore himself from my leg, licking his lips.
“It’s not what you think.” Luka had the sense to look embarrassed while I just closed my eyes, frozen in mortification and wishing I would disappear.
“It’s cool, bro. Do your thing.” I could almost hear the grin in Bennett’s voice. I wanted to die. Footsteps retreated and I stayed there, eyes pinched shut, still hoping to disappear.
When I finally opened them, I noticed Luka was holding his mouth, trying to keep from laughing. When he saw me, he pulled his hand away and burst into uncontrolled snickers.
“It. Was.Not. Funny,” I growled, but I was unable to keep the anger in my face as his chest shook with his laughter. His laugh was so light and free, it made my stomach warm to see him like this.
I grinned, chuckling a little. “Okay, it was a little funny, but I hope I never have to see that guy again.”
Luka grinned, eyes alight with mischief. “He lives here, and he’s one of my best friends. You’ll see him all the time.” He beamed at me, his white fangs tinged pink with my blood.
I swallowed hard at that statement. All the time. Like … we were just going to go on and do this forever. I wanted to get married and have kids one day, not be tied to this … situation … for eternity. That was depressing, so I just pushed it deep down into my worry-about-this-later portion of my brain.
“Well…” I pulled the edges of my shorts down to cover the bite mark on my inner thigh. “I gotta get going.”
Luka’s face was a mask of calm now. It was like he let out little bits of joy before realizing what he was doing and then shoved it all back into his grumpy, sexy, silent vampire package.
“Happy Hunting. Isn’t that what you all say?” His voice was devoid of emotion, and I shouldn’t feel guilty but I did. I was hunting his friends, his family.
“Everyone we hunt has proven crimes against them,” I reminded him.
“Right,” he grumbled. “What was my crime?”
Oh, he wanted to go there? I hadn’t even wanted to think about the reason why I’d been tasked to hunt him that first night at Bang. But if he wanted to go there, then I totally was. “The girl you murdered ten years ago. Took her on a date and bled herdry.”
He tipped his head back and cackled, a full on sarcastic laugh that gave me chills. “Complete and total fabrication,” he deadpanned.
I stilled. “No … it can’t be…” Was he saying Chief Baker was wrong? That Maz was wrong?
Luka pressed me: “Okay, when was it? Where? What was her name? What did she look like? Was there a DNA sample of mine at the scene?”
