Page 59 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

Then I remembered the way she’d teased them, encouraged them, had all but promised them herself.

“We seem to have gotten off track,” I said, the dim light of my study flickering as I leaned back into my comfortable wrath. “You will not, under any circumstances, go into the born districts. And if you so much as offer your blood to anyone in this club…”

I imagined any other vampire’s fangs in my Little Flame’s neck, and shadows once again reached for her. I let them wrap around her wrists, and in a burst of movement, I had her arms pinned up above her head. She kicked at me, and I pressed into her with my immoveable form.

“…I will claim you in front of everyone here.”

“What in the fuck does that mean?” she spat.

I moved in closer, our lips inches apart. She went still, her eyes drifting low. Her arousal grew thicker in the air, headier, nearly ripping through every ounce of my restraint.

“Provoke me like that again and you’ll find out.”

Anger and disbelief swam in her eyes, but the stronger emotion was the fire that burned in her blood, the force that had her small body leaning into my touch despite her conscious protests. It was the unnamable twist of fate that continued to bring us together, to intertwine our lives. On the surface, we were direct opposites. We shouldn’t have belonged together, this ageless monster cloaked in shadow and this human ray of sun. And yet, my darkness called to hers, and even more disastrous, so too did the humanity that I secretly mourned every year or two in early autumn.

29

SCARLETT

I’d deftly dodged all of Rune’s prying attempts for more information, as I still didn’t think it was time yet to reveal more. Not that I had any ability to focus at this point.

I fought hard to maintain my anger, to remember my purpose. But all I could see was him, all I could feel were his hands holding my bound wrists and his body ensnaring mine. Everywhere he touched burned, and tingling pleasure spread from each focal point to wash over every inch of my skin. I ached between my thighs, more painfully than I ever thought possible.

I was nothing but need. I wouldn’t have been able to think about anything else if I’d tried. The warning bells that spelled danger dampened to a nearly imperceptible whisper before getting drowned out completely by the rushing of blood in my ears.

“Use your words, baby,” Rune said, his voice a low rumble as he held his face close. “What do you desire?”

He was using my own lines and tricks against me, and I hated him for it. Yet it only made the yearning grow more molten, my intrigue overwhelming. It was as though he already knew me, like he understood things about my life and my mind that not even I had ever understood or could put into language.

It was terrifying. He was terrifying. Anyone else would’ve taken off running as far as their legs could take them. I might’ve tried if I wasn’t pinned up against the wall. But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want him to catch me.

Maybe we were both sexual deviants.

“I can wait here all night,” Rune said with a smirk. “But by the way your legs are squirming, your pupils blowing as wide as saucers, and,” he deeply inhaled, “the way you’re begging me with those dangerous eyes, I have a feeling you don’t have nearly the patience I do.”

“I am not begging you with my eyes,” I lied.

He smiled, and my gaze went straight to his fangs.

“Are you going to feed from me?”

A shudder rolled through him, and I smiled with my own satisfaction at breaking his cool façade.

“No. The first time you’re fed from will be after you’ve sufficiently begged me to claim you, and I don’t think you’re ready to do that yet,” he said. “Because after I have my first taste of you, no other blood will ever again be satisfying. And I will be addicted to you even more than I already am, body and soul.”

I wanted to remind him that he didn’t know me, but that didn’t feel true. None of this made any sense but Helia, did I want him, all of him. The charge of electricity between us surged, and I couldn’t use my words, my guilt and confusion and villager superstition locking my ability to plead away from my grasp.

But I could move my body, or at least, my head, as the rest of me was controlled by him.

I closed the distance between our lips before I could talk myself out of it. As soon as I did, the room filled with darkness and power. The scorching heat on my skin melted into sweeping pleasure, a dance of tingles that swept over every inch of me. His soft lips dominated mine, quickly taking control of the kiss as he grasped my face in his hands. He let go of my wrists, but they stayed captive against the wall by shadow.

He tugged at my bottom lip, and when I felt the gentle brush of his fangs, I gasped softly. He smiled into my lips for a moment before devouring me again. He slowly teased me with the elusive graze of his tongue, and I chased him, begging for more with my body the way I couldn’t with my words.

When he pulled away, I wiggled my bound wrists, but soon his lips were at my neck, and I went utterly still. He sucked on my skin softly, making a low growl of approval when I moaned and leaned into him, opening myself to him.

Again, the sharp tips of his fangs grazed my skin. I should’ve panicked, but I was consumed with blinding lust instead. He didn’t bite, only kissed and softly sucked at my skin, sending shots of pleasure that traveled from my neck all the way to the apex of my thighs.

At the next soft noise that escaped me, he captured my lips with his, as if to taste my moans as I arched into him.

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