Page 63 of A Trial By Blood

“What do I do?” She sounded almost desperate, and when her stomach rumbled with hunger again, I snapped.

“Bed.” I grabbed her hand and led her to it. Then, without delay, I lay on it. It would be easier for her this way. She stared down at me wide-eyed, her gaze trailing over me. “Come here, Rose.”

“Right…” She climbed up beside me. Her scent filled my head, and I felt dizzy and desperate for what was about to happen.

“Where should I…” She licked her lips. “Where would you like me to feed from?”

My gut was in knots, but this was a good feeling, not an awful one. This was anticipation. My abdominal muscles tightened. “Where would you like to bite me?” My voice was back to demonic, so impossibly deep. Her face darkened, and my need for her to bite me, feed from me, increased.

“Is there anywhere you don’t like to be bitten?” she whispered.

“I don’t know. The day I learned you needed blood was the first time I’d let anyone feed from me.” It had always been me, starved and waiting for Azel to allow me to feed from him. Making me addicted to his poisonous blood, using it to control me, manipulate me. The thought of Rose being hungry all day, that she’d needed to feed and hadn’t felt as though she could ask me for it, made me sick to my stomach. Her belly rumbled again, and a snarl was torn from me. “I can’t bear that you’re hungry, Rose. Please bite me. Anywhere. You can bite me anywhere you want.”

Her gaze darted to my throat once more, and her eyes changed, now obsidian. Her bat eyes. I sucked in another of those unnecessary breaths. “The vein in your throat seems…” She licked one of her fangs, and my cock stiffened even more. “Um…thicker. An easier target for a first attempt. Would that be a good place to start?”

“Yes,” I bit out, close to grabbing her and putting those little fangs right there, where I desperately wanted them.

She nodded and shuffled closer on her knees, then, tucking her hair behind her ears, leaned in.

I stilled, watching, waiting. Ready to jump out of my skin.

“So I just bite and…and suck?” she asked.

“Yes.” I reached up, unable to wait, and cupped the back of her head, drawing her closer. “I promise, instinct will kick in. You’ll know exactly what to do.”

She was hovering over me, and when her black eyes locked with mine, the impact was like a physical blow, but in a way that felt so incredibly good. More than good. It was pleasure and pain, desire. A wild storm inside me. A storm that only Rose could create and one that only she could calm. Then her eyes dipped down, her hunger driving her gaze to the vein in my throat.

She moved closer, and at the first touch of her soft, warm lips to my cool skin, I jolted in surprise.

“Are y-you okay?” she asked.

“Yes, don’t stop.”

Her tongue darted out, touching my skin again, sending zaps of sensation through me, and she moaned softly. What was she doing to me? I thought I knew what desire was, but what I did in the shower thinking about Rose the night before was nothing compared to this. Rose, so close, I felt the heat of her body, her mouth on my skin, her scent filling my senses. When she did finally bite me, I was afraid I’d lose control completely. I almost pulled her back, afraid of what would happen, but then her fangs grazed my throat.

“Rose,” I choked out, not sure if it was a plea for more or a warning for her to stop.

She struck.

I jerked under her, but this time she didn’t pull back. No, she slid her fangs free, making my entire body shudder from the pleasurable tingles dancing through me, over me, then opened her mouth over my vein and sucked.

Desire rocked through me, like nothing I’d ever experienced. Heat flooded my body. The urge to thrust my hips almost too much to resist. The need to touch her, to pull her closer, had me fisting the covers beneath me to stop myself.

Rose’s tongue slid over my skin, encouraging my blood to flow faster, and I felt every deep pull on my vein through my entire body and down the length of my throbbing erection, as though Rose’s mouth and hands were all over me.

She pressed closer, her smaller body pressing down on mine, our legs tangling together as her hands moved to hold each side of my head before her fingers delved into my hair.

Her legs moved restlessly, then spread over one of my thighs, and she moaned as she pressed down harder. I felt the heat of her there, between her legs, against my thigh, and I grew harder, so much so, it hurt. I squeezed my eyes closed, fighting desperately for control.

One of her hands slid down my chest, lower, over my belly, bumping against the waistband of my trousers and brushing the head of my cock. I hissed and grabbed her wrist, pulling it away. I didn’t want her to touch me, not like this. Feeding her was my privilege, as her male—if she one day consented to be my mate.

I would never, ever expect anything from her in return for feeding her. Azel made me pay for it with my body every time, and after the frenzy of feeding, I’d realize what happened. I hadn’t enjoyed it or wanted it. I wasn’t able to experience the emotions of what happened to me then, but I could now, and I would never subject anyone to that. Not ever. I would never use her that way. I’d do anything to prevent her from feeling humiliated and used, violated. I’d die first.

“Touch m-me,” she said softly against my skin.

I ground my teeth. “I can’t.”

Her fingers dug into my shoulders. “Please.”