Page 36 of Poison's Kiss
Each of his sculpted lines becomes a sweet trail for my hungry eyes. He's so different from Gage, and I feel so much more familiar with his body. It's almost as if he's still mine, though nothing could be further from the truth.
His lip is split - obviously he's taken a beating at some point. He's bruised on different sections of his body. His face has smudges of dirt from a week of living down here, but he still looks so incredible even now. He should smell foul, horrid possibly, so why does his scent leave me almost spellbound instead of appalled. I swear he's defying all the laws of nature right now.
His dark hair sweeps his brow. His bedroom messy locks are tousled in a way only he could pull off. The strong line of his jaw, the firm promise of his skin, and his towering stature all taunt me with the things I desperately want but can't have.
He rips part of the shirt, and then he kneels to tie it around my bloody knee. The force of the impact split it open when they threw me in here.
"Did she pull you out of bed or something?" he asks, his voice softer than I've heard it in a while.
My heartbeat quickens as my eyes fall prey to his perfection. There's no telling the collage of colors I'm sorting through right now.
"No. Sierra showed up, broke a window, and then warned me. We were on our way to Edgebrook when Castine caught up with us."
He finishes his makeshift bandaging job, and then his eyes scroll up my body to rest on the jacket that has fallen open.
"I assumewestands for you and your dark user."
I just nod, not giving him more than he needs to know. He lets out a derisive huff before walking away.
"How long before you lose it? I'm not overly fond of feeling like a juicy steak being waved in front of a starving man."
He lets out a bitter laugh, one of exhaustion and disbelief.
"I don't know. I've never been starved before. I've had control of my blood needs for a really long time. How long beforeyoulose it?"
Great.
"I assume you're referring to my-"
"Your inability to keep your hands off me when around me for too long? Yes."
He's almost smug with his matter-of-fact release, and I groan inwardly.
"I don't know, but I do have an idea of how we can avoid you slaughtering me like a lamb. If you want to hear it, that is."
He moves a hand in front of him, motioning for me to 'take the floor'.
"Take my blood while you're still sane. Witch blood is stronger, so it'll fuel you with less."
He grips his head again while shaking it.
"Absolutely not. Witch blood is toxic. It becomes addictive. There's a reason I neverknowinglytook any before."
He's still trying to act as though he didn't know what I was. Even now. Unbelievable.
"It'll be no more toxic if you take it now than if you take it later. The difference is, you could stop yourself from bleeding me dry right now. When you lose it, I won't stand a chance."
He grumbles under his breath, possibly cursing too softly for me to hear. He knows I'm right, and what scares the hell out of me is the fact I want him to do it for all the wrong reasons. I almost crave his touch in any way... enough to die for it, though I'm doing my best to seem composed.
"You know you'll feel venom."
I stand and move toward him, slipping off Gage's jacket as I do so. He squirms uncomfortably as I kneel before him, my knees touching his leg.
"Just don't leave me looking worse than this," I murmur while pulling down the veil that hides the hideous scar left behind years ago. "I know now it's possible to be bitten without scarring this badly. The first one never scarred at all, and Isolis barely left a mark."
I motion to the second set of bites, though they're nearly faded from existence.
"Who the hell did this to you?" He jerks me closer to study the old wound, and I gasp at the feel of his touch on my skin.
