Page 44 of My Neighbor Literally Bites

He drives into me harder, deeper, the thickness of his cock filling me completely with every punishing thrust. I claw at his shoulders, then fist the headboard above my head. Sweat drips from our bodies, the old bedframe slamming against the wall in rhythm with us.

"Eyes on me," Alaric commands, voice rough velvet. I obey, locking gazes with him. His eyes burn into mine, stripping me bare, seeing every hidden part of me. The bond surges like wildfire between us—raw, undeniable—binding pleasure and love until nothing else exists.

I grab his biceps, nails digging in as he angles his hips and slams in again and again. "Alaric—fuck—" The orgasm builds unlike anything before, a deep, terrifying wave rising from my core. My walls flutter wildly around him. I reach back desperately, grabbing the iron headboard with one hand, the other clutching his sweat-damp hair as my body bows tight.

It hits me like lightning. A shattering, soul-deep climax that rips through every nerve. I come harder than I ever have, gushing around his cock, thighs locking around his waist as powerful contractions milk him. My scream echoes raw and broken in the room.

Alaric's eyes never leave mine—wide, vulnerable, eternal. "Hannah," he groans, voice cracking with emotion. He buries himself to the hilt and shatters with me. His cock pulses deep as he floods me, hips jerking through wave after wave while we stare straight into each other's souls. Love, survival, forever—all of it laid bare in that locked gaze. No walls. Just us.

The intensity leaves us gasping, bodies locked together, still joined as the aftershocks roll through us both. We trade lazy kisses, and my fingers trace his jaw. His palm rests over my heart. The bond feels steadier now—not a chain, but a promise we both chose.

"I'm not letting go," I tell him.

"Neither am I." His voice is quiet, fierce.

The sex lingers, warm and sated, bodies tangled under the quilt as the room darkens fully. We are steadier. Ready.

Then the lights flicker once, twice. The entire house plunges into blackness.

A beat of silence. Then screams—sharp, terrified—rise from downstairs. The front door crashes open.

Alaric tenses beneath me. My heart slams against my ribs. Nathan and Lucien's last move. It's here.

32

ALARIC

Ireach for Hannah in the same instant she grabs my arm. No shielding her behind me. We move together, shoulders brushing as we descend the stairs, her steps sure beside mine despite the blackout.

Glass crunches underfoot in the foyer. Voices clash—Nathan's sharp commands, lower growls from his remaining hunters. Colder tones cut through from the shadows near the parlor: Lucien's people. They have the others. Lily stands rigid between two men, Ben's wrist pinned in another's grip. Elias and Vivienne are held by figures whose outlines carry the unnatural stillness of vampires.

I scan the room without stopping. The Victorian's old floors groan in familiar patterns under the intruders' weight. Hannah's grip tightens once on my sleeve, a silent signal. We keep advancing.

Nathan steps forward, lantern light from one of his men catching his face. "Hannah. This has gone far enough. You've stirred forces you don't understand. Release the materials and we can still contain the damage. Think of Lily's safety. Exposure brings retaliation none of us can stop."

"You used fear like a leash. I see it now. I'm not handing anything over."

Lucien emerges from the deeper shadow, his movements precise. He nods to one of his own. "Destroy the index. These witnesses are liabilities. Blame the mess on the hunters' impatience." His gaze slides to me, flat with disdain. "Even you, Blackwood, reduced to guarding strays. Attachment makes you brittle."

I keep my focus on the room, not the taunt. Lily catches my eye from across the space. She flicks her gaze deliberately toward the sideboard near the window—once, twice. An iron poker rests there, half in shadow. I shift my weight, ready.

Vivienne speaks first, her tone cutting through the tension. "The evidence is already out. Multiple channels. Your attempt here changes nothing, Lucien. Your own contacts are receiving it as we stand here."

Elias twists against his holder, voice steady. "Council votes are moving. You're isolated. This ends with your exposure, not our deaths."

Hannah slips something from her pocket—the index case, but she holds it loosely. "Copies went wide before the lights died. It's not the only record anymore. You can't bury what everyone's already seen."

Nathan's expression fractures. "You're risking everything we built here. The balance⁠—"

"Balance you broke by working with him," Hannah says, nodding toward Lucien. "Using your position to feed information, to keep secrets that served you. It's over."

One of the hunters shifts, and the room erupts. I lunge toward Lily's position, trusting Hannah to stay close. My hand closes on the poker as I pass the sideboard. Metal meets resistance when I swing it low, catching a hunter's knee. He buckles. Ben uses the opening, driving an elbow back and breaking free.

I collide with Lucien near the hallway, our clash rattling old frames. He strikes with cold precision; I counter using the narrow space, driving him into the banister. Glass shatters somewhere behind us. Across the foyer, Ben grapples a hunter, slamming him against a sturdy side table while Hannah dodges another's reach and kicks low, buying Lily room to grab the poker I dropped nearby her. Elias twists free and joins me, pinning Lucien's arm as Vivienne disarms a second vampire with sharp efficiency.

Lucien claws for my throat, but I pin his arm back down. "You hid behind silence. That silence is gone. Isolation kept me breathing, but it never made me strong. They do."

Vivienne steps in once the hold breaks, her presence enough to still his remaining allies. "Your line ends here."