Page 38 of Taste of Fate

His soft, hooded gaze lifted at the sound of my voice. He looked at me as if I were lying in bed next to him, warm and sensual. I felt the flick of his tongue against the wound on my thumb and thrashed at the sensitivity coursing through me. When his mouth pulled away, I wanted to cry out at the abrupt loss of pleasure.

“Tavi.” My name came out a low moan as his hand cupped the back of my head.

And when his mouth crashed down to mine, my whole world exploded into new sensations.

The heat and pressure of his lips were intoxicating, an addictive fountain I wanted to sip on for eternity. His tongue swiped across mine and I tasted the coppery tang of my own blood. It didn’t bother me, but instead reminded me of the intense pleasure I felt from his drinking it.

This kiss sent pleasure through me in a similar, but different way. I understood it now, how sexual pleasure and blood-drinking were so intertwined. Cyan’s fangs added a hard pressure and thrill to the kiss, even though he never cut me. I trusted that he wouldn’t, trusted him to hold me here with his kiss and his embrace rather than let me float away.

When the kiss broke, the first thing I noticed was my thumb. The cut was sealed shut with only a small red line remaining.

“You…healed it.” I felt drunk and woozy from that kiss and his brief feeding. My pulse pounded in every sensitive spot in my body and I still buzzed with a need for release. If it felt like that from a tiny cut, how would it be if he actually bit and drank from my neck?

I didn’t even mind that Cyan had drank from me when he vowed not to, not when it felt that good.

“I’m…sorry.”

Cyan’s expression was unreadable. He looked angry but also in pain. His chest heaved with harsh breaths, fists clenched at his sides, and he wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“Don’t apologize, you healed my cut. And I’m not mad that you drank my blood. It actually…”

With each passing second, it became increasingly clear that mentioning how much I enjoyed it would be the wrong thing to say. Cyan’s grimace deepened, like every word I said was a silver knife digging deeper into him.

“Cyan, is something wrong?” I went toward him, because no one else was doing anything.

“Don’t!” The word was a harsh command, stopping me dead in my tracks.

He then left, running down the staircase leading to the lower level.

As I felt everyone’s eyes on me, the vampires in the room and the dragon shifter woman Cyan had left on the couch, confusion wasn’t the only thing swirling inside me.

I was humiliated.

Chapter 14

Tavia

Three stiff raps came to my bedroom door early the next evening. As much as I would have loved to keep hiding in the cocoon of my bed, I dragged myself up to answer.

Cyan stood across the threshold, his face a cold, impassive mask. “We leave in an hour. I’ll meet you in the garage then.” Immediately, he turned to leave.

“Wait, what?”

He paused with his back still turned to me. “We’re going to Sapien to visit your friend. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“Oh. No, I haven’t. I’ll be ready.” After the weirdness of last night and this mean robot-Cyan now, I needed my best friend more than ever.

“Good.” He started for the door, and I felt my chance for answers slipping away.

“Cyan!”

He stopped stiffly, still not looking at me. “Yes?”

I held onto the doorjamb, feeling crushed under his coldness. “Is there…can we talk about what happened last night?”

“I would rather not.”

The words stung like a slap. He wanted to pretend like none of it happened? He broke his vow to me by taking my blood. Not that I cared, but that had to be important to him, right? Plus there was that giant elephant in the room of him kissing me. I was embarrassingly aroused the whole time but I knew I didn’t instigate that.

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