Briony leaned back against him, her back to his chest. To make it more comfortable for her, Mirakel had to shift closer again. Then move the fucking T-shirt.
Oh, yeah, he was going to Hell for this, no doubt about it.
He moaned softly when Briony drew her hair around to one side, revealing the smooth alabaster skin of her neck, that delectable scent of hers drifting right up into his sinuses.
She tilted her head to the side, providing him perfect access.
“How does this take care of you?” he asked, though he was surprised the words made any damn sense.
“When you’re feeding from me, I simply need to link my fingers with yours.”
Of course she did. Becausethatwouldn’t be intimate at all.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Figuring this could all be over in minutes if he would simply vampire up, Mirakel leaned forward, then had to brush aside a few stray strands of her hair, which did not fucking help. Taking a deep breath, he thrust his arms forward so that they were … oh, yeah, on her thighs.
Better and fucking better.
Closing his eyes, Mirakel leaned in and pierced her neck, no longer able to handle it. If he didn’t hurry up, he was going to strip them both and sink inside her. More than just his fangs.
He did his best to focus on the blood he pulled into his mouth. Suck, swallow, suck, swallow.
Easy-peasy.
Ah, fuck.
Briony clearly wasn’t aware of the war brewing in his fucking body, because she took his hands, turned them over on her thighs, then slid her much smaller fingers between his. Her touch was as light as a feather, as soft as velvet. When she tightened her grip, he did as well, sealing their palms together.
He braced himself and good thing, too. When Briony began siphoning his energy, his entire body jerked hard. It was all he could do to keep his mouth sealed to her neck.
Mirakel would later realize this was the absolute worst idea anyone would ever have.
He would also realize that he’d been wrong about the first few times he’d fed from the female. He’d thought those had altered him in unimaginable ways. Not like this, they hadn’t.
It was in that moment, when Briony was sitting in front of him, his fangs buried in her neck, their fingers clasped tightly as she drew energy from his being, that the whole of his world shifted on its axis.
Because it was in that moment that Mirakel’s mind, body, and soul bonded with the female. A cataclysmic sexual imprinting also known asmielix zanin vampire terminology.
Which, in the case of vampires, only happened once in their lifetime.
And could not be undone.
Which meant…
Yeah, he so didnotwant to think about that right now.
While Mirakel was fighting his battles justdown the hall, Bijou was dealing with her own.
As she peeked out her bedroom door, she prayed Oliver was not moving about. She couldn’t sense him nearby, so she hoped that meant he was in the war room working. He spent a good amount of time down there, even during daylight hours when the rest of thefiestreighwere catching z’s. She knew because she was constantly aware of where he was. It was the only way to avoid running into him, something she’d gotten relatively good at lately.
Bijou glanced left, right, left again.
She let out a relieved sigh when she saw her father stepping out of Acadia’s room just two doors down from her own.
“I thought I heard you earlier,” Bijou called out, pretending she was out for an early-morning stroll, casually closing her door behind her.
Based on the look on his face, he had just fed. And the sight of his wet hair told her he’d also showered. She hoped that meant he was in a good mood, because there was something she wanted to talk to him about. Something important. And she could no longer put it off.
