Page 175 of Born of Blood and Ash

He chuckled as he came back to me. “Besides the fact thatyou remain without pants,” he murmured, nipping at my lower lip, “you need tofeed.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Thoughts of seeing his paintings vanished asthose four words elicited a sudden throbbing in my upper jaw. Until thatmoment, I hadn’t felt like I needed to feed.

My gaze dropped to his throat, and the ache moved to mychest and then my stomach, reminding me of hunger pains. Muscles tensed, and Icould’ve sworn I saw his pulse beating beneath his flesh. My throat dried withthe sudden need to feed. I started to lean forward, but my thoughts decided togo in an unwanted direction.

An image of Veses flashed in mymind—her at Ash’s throat, taking from him as she straddled him. Usedhim.

I drew back, my heart thumping unsteadily. I didn’t want todo that to him. “I feel fine,” I said.

“I know you do.” He cupped my cheek. “But we don’t know howmuch essence you used against the kynakos.And even if you hadn’t been in that fight, you would still need to feed everycouple of days for a bit as your body continues to adapt to the Ascension,” hereminded me as he smoothed his thumb across my cheekbone. “If you don’t, you’llfeel as exhausted as you did while in your Culling.” His eyes met mine as hefixed my shirt. “I don’t want to risk that.”

“You’re right. I remember. It’s the whole baby-Primalthing.”

His eyes searched mine. “Then why do you hesitate?”

“I…I guess I’m not used to it. I don’t find it repulsive oranything,” I quickly added. “It’s just…”

“Different.” He moved on to the vest, his fingers as nimbleand quick as they had been when he unhooked the clasps. “That’s understandable.It’s not yet natural to you.”

“But it will be,” I murmured, running my tongue along theback of my teeth. The pulsing sensation returned, more intense than before.

Ash watched me, his eyes halfway closed. “I enjoyed it whenyou fed from me before. Thoroughly.”

I stopped messing with my fangs.

“And when you were at my vein, it was only you I thoughtof.”

I went completely still.

“I knew it was your fangs piercing my skin. Your mouth thatmoved against my throat,” he continued. “I knew it was you I willingly gave myblood to. Not her.”

A tremor ran through me. Gods, how had he known? I didn’tthink sensing what I felt could’ve filled in the gaps like that. A mix ofemotions swirled through me. I was relieved that he hadn’t thought about herwhen I fed from him and was clearly far better at dealing with certain thingsthan I was. But that relief carried the bitter edge of guilt.

Eather pulsed brightly in his eyes. “Sera.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I didn’t want to, you know, makeyou feel like I’m using you.”

“I would never think that, Sera.”

“I hate that I even caused you to think of her,” Iwhispered. “That’s not what I wanted.”

“I know.” His lips brushed my forehead. “But I’m glad youdid.”

My eyes flew open. “You sure about that?”

“Yes.” He drew back. “Because now I can make sure you knowthat when you feed from me, I’m not thinking of her.” His fingers slid into thehair above my loosened braid. “When I’m with you, she doesn’t even exist.That’s what you do for me. And that is an exquisite gift. Let me do this foryou.”

I knew he spoke the truth, so when he guided my mouth to hisexposed throat, I didn’t resist.

I’d just come out of stasis the last time I fed from him.I’d been acting on pure instinct fueled by hunger. But nature did take over assoon as my lips brushed the steady beat of his pulse. My body knew what it wasdoing even though my mind wasn’t exactly sure.

My head tipped, and my lips peeled back. My eyes fell closedonce more, and instinct took over. I struck. His body jerked as I pierced hisvein, and then mine did the same as the first drop of his blood rolled over mytongue.

Gods, the taste of him… The flavor of his blood filled mymouth and coursed down my throat. I swallowed, and it was like every cell in mybody woke up and stretched in response. I took more of him into me.

“Liessa,” he saidroughly. “Release your fangs.”

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