Page 18 of Blood on the Tide

“The wounds will close quickly. You might be light-headed for a little while, but you’re not human, so I expect it will pass quickly.” She still has one arm banded around my waist. If she weren’t already touching me, I would have missed her tiny shiver. “I’ve never tasted a selkie before.”

It must be the orgasm muddling my thoughts, because there’s no other reason I would allow the question to leave my lips. “What do selkies taste like?”

“I don’t know what the others taste like, but you’re... salty.” She inhales deeply, inhales me. “There’s a depth of flavor there, something familiar and yet not at the same time.”

My brain is slowly coming back online, and that’s the only reason I’m able to stop my next question before I speak it. Is that a good thing? It doesn’t matter if it’s a good thing or not. I’m currently her only source of food. I just need to be grateful that I don’t have to suffer through the experience.

I’m a little woozy as I shift back to my spot and take up the rudder again. I want to blame it on the blood loss, but she only took a few mouthfuls. No, what’s scrambling my senses is her proximity and the pleasure she dealt me.

I’m in trouble.

Lizzie stretches out and makes a sound that I know isn’t sexual, but my body responds all the same. I’m helpless to do anything but stare at the long line of her. Her shirt rides up a tiny bit to reveal a slice of pale skin. Gods help me, but my mouth waters at the sight. I want to taste her. To see if she’s just as salty and layered as I am, or if there’s a sharp edge to her like I suspect. To discover what kinds of sounds she makes when she comes.

Foolish thoughts. Downright suicidal thoughts if I’m being honest. We’re partners; the very last thing we need is to complicate things with sex. The only reason we’re sailing together is because I need my skin and Lizzie needs her jewels. Once we’ve fulfilled those conditions, I’ll return home and so will she—to an entirely different realm.

I’ll never see her again.

The thought should bring relief, but there’s only a strange sense of loss. I barely know this vampire, and yet I’m drawn to her all the same. She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of her. That’s a good thing... or at least it should be.

Without meaning to, I lift my hand to my chin and press my fingers to the exact same spots she did back in Viedna. The memory of her holding me, commanding me back to myself, washes over me. Only this time it’s accompanied by her mouth on my skin, her teeth piercing me. With need.

I’m in a whole lot of trouble.

chapter 9

Lizzie

Biting the selkie was a mistake. She tastes even better than I could have dreamed, her blood as full of mystery as her inky eyes. Even thinking about it now, hours later, my fangs throb in wanting. Worse in some ways, she came so sweetly. Desperately. With cute little whimpers and shudders that tempted me to let things get out of hand.

I need her help for a prolonged period of time; otherwise, I’d already be planning a full seduction the moment we find a bath and bed.

I’m such a fucking liar. I am planning a full seduction the moment we find a bath and bed. We’re adults. We can enjoy each other and go our separate ways at the end of this. Sex is a perfectly natural outcome when desire sparks so fiercely between people. There’s no reason not to give in to it.

No reason except Maeve acting skittish ever since she came back to herself. I can’t quite decide if her racing heart is because she wants more... or because she’s afraid of me in a way she hasn’t been since we met.

To distract myself, I nod at the bag she tucked away. “Why did you have a go bag packed when you’d already escaped the island once?”

Maeve makes a face, but we have nothing better to talk about. There’s nothing to look at but the endless blue of the sea, and that is not something I want to focus on for any length of time. I’ve historically enjoyed the sea—from shore. The soothing crash of the waves, the early morning mist that kisses my skin, the way the sun glints off the surface as it sets behind the horizon. It’s so much different on the water. The sun is unrelenting, the surface creating a mirror that means there’s no escaping the bright rays. Salt is everywhere, crusted on my clothes, my skin, my hair. I hate it.

Better by far to focus on Maeve.

She finally sighs. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Then would you rather talk about how pretty you are when you orgasm?” I’m not flirting with her. I just want information, and this is the best way to get it. There’s no way she wants to discuss what happened between us when I bit her. Which means I’ll get the information I’m seeking. That’s all.

Sure enough, her skin deepens to a bright crimson and she looks everywhere but at me. “You are incredibly frustrating.”

“People have said worse.”

“I can only imagine.” She pokes at the rudder, but unless she dives over the side of the boat, she’s not getting out of this conversation. Finally the selkie sighs. “The bag isn’t mine. It’s a community thing. We have them stashed all over the island.”

I examine her words from several angles. “To escape the Cwn Annwn or monsters?”

“Monsters.” She makes a derisive noise that wrinkles her cute little nose. “My people have been in Threshold since before the Cwn Annwn showed up. So have the peoples of all the islands. Do you know what stories we pass down?”

This anger feels like it’s following a known path, the way a river carves its way through a mountain. “What stories?”

She clenches her fists. “Cautionary tales to give predators wide berth. Because that’s what these so-called monsters are—predators acting according to their nature. The Cwn Annwn have killed more than any predator they hunt, and they’ve done untold damage to communities who tried to push back against their rule. No monster has done that.”

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