Disturbed and confused, Sara turned and ran from the room, down the hall, her heart slamming against her ribs. The scene played in her mind, over and over, and suddenly she couldn’t catch her breath. She stopped at the apex of the tunnels and gripped the rock wall for support. What was happening to her? Why was she stopping? Why wasn’t she running for the front door, terrified, desperate to get away from him? Why did she, even now—even after what she’d just seen—yearn for the beast in him to search her out?
“You saw me.”
Sara gasped and whirled around. Naked and aroused, nostrils flaring and fangs bared, Alexander towered over her, his mere presence forcing her back against the stone wall of the frigid tunnel.
“You saw what I am,” he snarled.
Her breath coming heavy and uneven, Sara locked eyes with him. “Yes.”
“An animal that seeks blood.”
“Yes.”
He leaned closer, his warm breath on her cheek, his spicy blood scent filling her nostrils, his cock hard against her belly. “An animal that hovers over its dead prey—”
“Stop saying ‘it’!” she broke in passionately.
He leaned in closer still. “—Ready to sink its fangs into the animal’s vein.”
“You’re not an ‘it,’ goddammit!”
“Am I not?” he roared back, the sound echoing through the cavernous tunnels. “You saw me in that cage! What the fuck am I, then?”
Sara didn’t move, just stood her ground, chin lifted, staring into his belligerent merlot eyes. “You are the one I ...” Her tongue refused to say it. She couldn’t. It was too soon. He wasn’t ready or able to hear the truth from her.
Alexander dropped his head, his mouth just inches from hers. “You are afraid.”
“Yes.”
He cursed. His jaw looked tight enough to crack and he pushed away from her. “Go now.”
“Alexander . . .”
“Go now, because if you remain I will take you—your body and possibly your blood as well.”
Sara barely hesitated. “Then do it.” She started to unbutton her shirt. “Take me!”
Alexander’s eyes flared with panic-laced desire. “No! Sara, stop.”
But Sara wasn’t listening. She was done with this shit. She wanted her shirt off, wanted to be naked like him—wanted his hands on her and his cock inside her, and she didn’t care about the consequences.
“For fuck’s sake, Sara, stop!” He reached out and grabbed the two sides of her shirt and held them together. “No matter what I am, I would never take a female who fears me.”
She tried to push his hands away. “I’m not afraid of you, Alexander.”
“Bullshit,” he growled. “I heard what you said before, and I scent your fear now—”
She locked eyes and growled back, “Listen to me, vampire, and listen well. The only thing I’m afraid of is me! That’s it. Afraid of what’s happening inside of me. Things I want, things that don’t make any kind of sense for a human to want.” Her voice cracked with emotion, but she kept going. “I’m afraid of being without you, never feeling again the way I feel when I’m with you. I’m afraid of never seeing your eyes again or your mouth, or hearing your voice. I’m afraid you’ll never allow yourself to fill the emptiness in my heart, my soul, or my body—”
Sara never finished her thought. Alexander crushed his mouth over hers, his kiss so warm and intense that Sara felt utterly helpless and heart-shatteringly thrilled all at the same time. With a moan of pleasure, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply, her tongue playing with the tips of his fangs. Suddenly, a fragrance so rich, so intoxicating, floated into her nostrils and she opened her eyes and stared at him. Then she saw it. The wound on his shoulder. It had opened again, just a millimeter, but she saw two tiny tears of blood on the surface. How was this happening? she wondered, her tongue dry, her throat parched. She had no answer, only the cry her body refused to silence, and she hugged him close, let her tongue sweep over the two sweet red droplets.
Alexander’s skin blazed with a sudden and intense heat. It had to be forty degrees at most in the tunnels and yet his body burned as though it had been pitched into the epicenter of a forest fire. Sara. Paradise and hell pressed sweetly against his cock and his chest. His arms tightened around her. She was everything—his desire, his tormentor, his sparring partner, and his savior, and if he was going to burn for this, so be it.
He pulled his head back and found her mouth again, kissed her hard and furious and hungry, tasting her sweetness and something else he couldn’t describe but that made his cock weep at the tip. He prayed to all who looked down upon him that he could control his need for her blood, that her mouth and her eyes, her words and her honey-sweet cunt could satiate him enough not to go for her vein.
In his history, mating and feeding had never gone together: one was for pleasure, the other for sustenance. With Sara, that custom was for shit. He wanted both, he wanted his cock inside her while he suckled from the spot below her left breast.
On a growl, he eased away, looked at her with her back against the wall, her face tipped up to him, her long lashes fluttering, her blueberry eyes heavy with lust. She was so beautiful, his heart ached to have her—to claim her—completely and always. He smiled at her then, and when she smiled back, he reached for her unbuttoned shirt and splayed the material wide, pulling it down off her shoulders. Then he dropped his head and cut the fastening of her bra with his fangs. Sara’s breasts sprung free, the large, perfect globes lifting and lowering with each breath she took. Alexander stared with shameless hunger at her nipples, pink and rigid. They called to him, as a grown paven and as a balas who had never been allowed the closeness and care of his mother’s bosom. Her sweet tits begged him to suckle, and he did, drawing on the hard tip, flicking one with his tongue while his fingers played at her other breast.
Sara moaned, arched against him, gripped his scalp with her fingers. “Feel me,” she whispered, taking his hand and placing it between her legs. “Feel what you do to me. How ready I am ...”
She was hot and damp, even through the heavy jean fabric. Alexander nearly lost it. His cock strained, pre-come beading at the head, desperate to find its way into the hot tunnel of her body. He yanked at her jeans, the zipper, pulling the whole mess down to her ankles, growling as she quickly stepped out of the unwanted fabric and stood naked and glorious before him. His mouth found hers again as his hand slid between her thighs. He palmed her, held her in his hand, cursing at the feeling of hot, wet curls tickling his skin. He couldn’t help himself. He let one finger slip between her lips, run lazily over her clit, then slide home, so deep into her cunt her body jerked and she sucked in a breath. Oh God. To be here, he thought, to be buried here for days . . .
“The guards,” she uttered against his mouth, reaching between their bodies for his erection.
Fuck. Alexander moaned, pumping himself against her hand as he slipped another finger inside her. “They will not. Our scent will keep them away. No male would approach another male during mating, and if they tried, it would be their death.”
“I want you.” Sara reached behind his shaft, cupping his balls. “Now. Inside me.”
Alexander released a feral cry. He could take no more of this play. He lifted her up and placed her down on the head of his cock. The hot slide into her cunt was pure, unimaginable pleasure and his fangs lengthened and pulsed with an all-new flash of desire to feed—like nothing he’d ever experienced before. For a moment, he just held her there, closed his eyes, fought for control over his hunger and let her muscles clench around him. “We’re going to hell for this,” he uttered against her neck, her vein that throbbed with life.