Page 57 of Taste of Fate

“Cy—”

Tavi’s voice choked off on my name the moment she came apart so beautifully. She broke, clenching around my fingers as she shattered into a million pieces before my eyes. It was the hottest, most beautiful sight I’d ever seen, so much that my own release shot through me like a cannon as I watched her. I spilled over her fist, onto the bedsheets. Through her own release, she kept pumping me, wringing it all out of me until I was spent.

Somehow, despite having no bones in my body, I managed to find a towel to place over the wet spot on the mattress. That could be cleaned up later, when I had more than a few brain cells firing.

I collapsed on the towel, drawing Tavi into my arms. Her skin was so warm and her pulse thrummed in a rapid, but gentle beat. It almost felt like she was purring. She nuzzled into my throat, hands stroking over me. Neither of us spoke. There simply weren’t words to describe what happened, or this feeling in the afterglow.

Not that it was sex. I didn’t get cuddly after sex. This was…us. Me and Tavi, on a whole other level from the debauchery and bloodlust I knew too well.

“Cyan?” Tavi’s voice was soft, hesitant. She drew back as if to look at me.

“Mm-hm.” My eyelids were heavy as I brushed a kiss over her hairline.

There was more hesitation before she spoke again.

“Are we blood mates?”

Chapter 21

Tavia

Cyan stiffened like a bucket of ice water had been poured on him, and I got a creeping sense of dread that I had said the wrong thing.

“Who told you about blood mates?” His tone was casual but I still heard the iciness in his voice.

“Bea,” I admitted. “Something about how one person’s blood chemistry perfectly matches the needs of a single vampire, and it makes all other blood taste bad?—”

“I know what it is. You don’t need to explain it to me.”

Cyan started pulling away, and I felt the distance both physically and emotionally. He rolled to his back, hands resting on his stomach, gazing at the ceiling. It was such a startling difference from moments ago. When his hand was between my legs he couldn’t seem to stop looking at me.

“I just, it made me wonder since you healed so quickly.” I rushed to explain, desperately grasping for the connection he’d severed so swiftly. It was like an on/off switch with him. “And every time you’ve had my blood, it’s made me feel…”

Aroused. Horny. A bundle of nerves and need desperate for his touch alone. Every way to describe it felt too damn vulnerable now.

Cyan continued to stare at the ceiling as if I wasn’t even there. As if he didn’t just give me the most intense orgasm I’d ever experienced.

“Blood mates are rare,” he said flatly. “Biological match-ups like that don’t just happen between two random people.”

Is that what we are to each other? Just random people? I was afraid of what his answer would be, and didn’t dare voice the question out loud.

“Yeah, Bea mentioned that. She said the last ceremony was fifteen years ago.” At Cyan’s silence, I seemed unable to keep myself from rambling. “I’m just asking because I don’t know, Cy. I’m trying to understand what this is. I’m trying to understand you. Why we’re so close sometimes, and then I get this complete opposite side of you. I’m always wondering if I’m offending you or turning you off in some way. I’m just confused, that’s all.”

“Quite the headfuck, aren’t I?” He smiled mirthlessly up at the ceiling.

“I mean, if you put it like that, yeah kind of. But I know you don’t mean it?—”

“And how do you know that?” he demanded sharply, turning his head to look at me. His gaze was just as cold and distant as the rest of his demeanor.

I felt like I was walking on a frozen lake, and each step carried the risk of plunging to an icy, painful death.

“Know what?”

“How do you know I don’t mean to headfuck you?” His stare bore into me, harsh and challenging.

“Because you, that’s—” I was so whiplashed that I had to stop and start again. “That’s just not who you are.”

He barked out a harsh laugh. “Right. Because you know me so well.” His feet crossed at the ankles while bringing one arm behind his head. He was relaxed, if even enjoying this. All the while, I felt a slow, ripping heartache.

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