His eyes fall to my lips before he backs away, turning toward the window with his hands clasped behind his back.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
I roll my eyes and lie down with my back to him. “Right. Because I’m just a naïve human who could never understand the mind of a monster.”
Silence descends on us, neither of us interested in what the other has to say. Eventually, I throw the covers over my head and try to push this fight from my mind. After a few minutes, a chill sprints down my spine, and somehow, I know Thane has moved to the chair and has his glowing eyes locked on me. I keep the covers pulled over my head and do the best I can to ignore his suffocating presence.
Eventually, my mind begins to drift, and sleep quietly beckons me.
Thane
It feels like there’s a chasm between us, and I want so badly to close the gap. All I wanted when I first met her was for her to see me as a monster, but now I can’t stand the thought of it. If I could undo all of the hurt I’ve caused her, I would. But I can’t. All I can do now is try to make up for it, but I seem to be failing miserably. Every conversation we have somehow ends in a fight. We’re like fire and gasoline, and as much as I hate it, it also turns me on.
Out of all the threats that have been made on my life and all the weapons that have been used to hurt me, this little human girl is going to be my downfall. A beautiful nightmare, disguised as a dream that I wish to never wake up from.
Chapter 36
When I wake, my body has grown stiff from being coiled into a tight ball, and the silk sheets that once felt like butter against my skin, now feel like a blanket of ice. I toss them back, immediately getting hit with a wintry breeze that cuts straight to my bones as I glance over to see the glass doors leading out to the balcony wide open. Thane is standing in only his sweats, overlooking the garden with his hands clasped tightly behind his back.
It must be the middle of the night.
I glance around for a blanket or something to wrap myself in, but there are only the cold covers I just peeled off. I spit a curse as I abandon the bed and head for the balcony, assaulted by vicious slaps of glacial wind.
“Thane, what are you doing?” I step out onto the stone balcony, and my feet feel like they’re wearing blocks of ice.
When he doesn’t reply or even look at me, I reach for his arm, but just as my fingertips brush against his skin, he whips around with a hiss. I stagger back, seeing his eyes dilated andfangs extended, but he catches my wrist and pulls me into him, running his hand down the side of my face.
“You’re driving me mad, Grey.” His voice is rough, and another kind of chill runs straight through me.
“It’s not me. It’s the bond,” I try to tell him, as I fight against his tight hold.
Thane’s gaze drops to my chest, where my nipples are on full display despite being covered by the silk nightgown. Without warning, he darts into the bedroom, pinning me against the wall next to his bed with one hand on my waist and the other knotted in my hair.
“It’s not the bond. It’syou.” He tilts his head down, breathing me in. “It’s your scent. And your mismatched eyes.” He pulls away and runs his thumb across my bottom lip, heating it with his touch. “It’s your wicked tongue and defiant attitude.” His hand falls to my side, where his thumb grazes the side of my breast, making my nipples ache. “And it’s your sinful body that’s driving me to insanity.”
“It’s just the lust coming from the mark. I feel it too, but we have to fight it.” His hands grip my waist, and I wrap my hands around them, intending to pry them off, but instead my hands linger as my will slips away.
“I don’t want to fight it,” he breathes into the curve of my neck. “I want to run my tongue down the center of you and devour you until your legs shake.”
An inferno consumes me within a split second as his words fill my mind with dark fantasies.
“Thane,” I whisper, as my fingernails dig into him. It’s both a warning and a plea, my mind and body battling against one another.
His fangs scrape against my skin, taunting me.
“I’ve tasted your blood, but it’s not enough.” He steps closer, pressing his body to mine, so I can feel how hard he is. “I want to know how your lips taste when you moan.” His lips brush against the side of my face, sending a shudder through my body. “I want to know how your tongue tastes when it’s tangled with mine.” His hand that was on my waist, reaches back and grabs a handful of my ass, drawing a gasp from me. “And I want to know how you taste when your body is writhing from pleasure only I can bring.”
Any last bit of restraint I had goes up in flames, and I wrap my hands around the back of his neck, pulling his mouth to mine. Fiery heat chases away the cold as his tongue slips between my lips, sending my lower half pulsing with need. His kisses taste like dirty thoughts and bad decisions, tempting me into a trap I know I won’t be able to escape.
As if to make that point clear, Thane’s fangs pierce my bottom lip. The delicious pain only lasts a second before he sucks it away, leaving me aching for more. While my right hand clutches his hair, I let my left one drift to his jaw so that I can run my thumb along its sharp edge, appreciating the work of art this man is.
Suddenly, Thane picks me up, and I instinctively wrap my legs around him, pulling him closer as my pulse races. While my tongue fights for dominance, his hands find their way beneath my silk nightgown, clutching my ass like it’s the only thing keeping him from losing control of the beast within. His hard cock presses against my aching pussy as he pushes me harder against the wall, closing any distance left between us. Everything about this moment is overwhelming, but no part of me wants it to stop.
Wild passion engulfs the two of us, and it feels like I’m burning alive as my body begs for more of him. A pleadingmoan spills from my lips, and Thane answers with one of his own, making my heart soar. I’m so caught up in the heat of the moment, I don’t even notice that he’s walked us over to the bed until my ass sinks into the mattress. Thane pulls away, his eyes a black vortex of hunger, like he’s this other version of himself now. One that he’s kept locked away until this very moment. His hands move up the sides of my body, taking the nightgown with them.
He tosses the silk dress on the floor, and my pulse spikes as his gaze wanders slowly down my body, taking in the bare sight of me. His eyes finally reach the black lace, concealing the part of me that is dripping with need, and a feral growl rips from his throat. His eyes snap up to meet mine, and my breath catches, seeing the intensity behind them as he drops to his knees and throws my legs over his shoulders.
“When you come, I want you to scream my name.”
