Page 33 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

He actually laughed a little at that, although it was more of a wheezy hiccup. I reached out for him, making sure to telegraph the movement, and put my hand on his chest to steady him.

“I want to help. Together, we can wean you off, get you back to animal and synth blood. But for now, you’ve gotta eat, okay?”

Something in Gabriel shifted. He didn’t look like a cornered animal now. When he looked at me, my mouth went dry. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop,” he admitted. It seemed like it cost him a lot to tell me that.

“I trust you,” I said.

“I don’t trust myself,” he rasped.

“Well, great news. I’m a pretty powerful witch. If I need you to stop, I can make you stop.” His eyes darkened at that, which was definitely something to investigate later. “I know you don’t trust yourself right now, but do you trust me?”

Gabriel nodded slowly.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, I raised my hand to his face. The little streak of blood was still on the pad of my thumb, and I pressed it against his lips, his breath shuddering against my skin.

“It’s okay,” I said softly.

Gabriel closed his eyes and took the digit into his mouth, lapping and sucking. He looked desperate and blissful.

“Fuck,” I murmured. “We’re really doing this, huh?”

Even though he thought he couldn’t control himself, he was careful, making sure to mind his fangs. I pulled my hand away, and he made a little sound of protest, but I cut it off quickly by leaning forward to kiss him. It was an open-mouthed, hungry thing. There had been so little blood on my finger, I couldn’t even taste it on him, and I’d braced myself for that. If that little blood had gotten him so worked up, what would a proper bite do?

We stumbled backward toward the bed. I tripped on something—Gabriel’s towel?—but he caught me, his arms wrapping around my waist. He’d moved impossibly fast, holding all my weight without breaking a sweat.

Maybe those swooning maidens were kind of onto something with that one, I thought as I kissed him again.

We only stopped kissing so Gabriel could tug my shirt over my head, and then our lips came together again. By the time we made it to the bed, I was down to just my bralette and panties. We crashed down onto the pillows, sending a couple of them flying.

“What do you need?” I asked. Gabriel had wound up beneath me and was doing really distracting things to the side of my neck with his tongue. “My neck?”

He pulled away and shook his head. “Too risky.” He already sounded wrecked. “Please, just… whatever you’ll give me.”

It was the horniest I’d ever been while trying to remember major arteries, but I was good at thinking on my feet. I scooted away a little, and Gabriel moved to follow me, but I pushed him back down. He went willingly. I shuffled up the bed on my knees, and Gabriel’s eyes went even darker when he realized what I was thinking.

“One bite,” I said. “You drink until you’re full or until I tell you to stop. Clear?”

“Clear,” Gabriel rumbled.

I straddled his face. Gabriel groaned, rubbing his nose along my thigh. I’d sort of imagined he would try to find the perfect spot, but either he was too far gone for that sort of patience, or he was too good at this to need to hunt for it. I felt his damp breath against my inner thigh, then the fangs dug in.

Gabriel’s fangs were too sharp for there to be much pain. It was like slipping with a sharp knife and not realizing it until you saw the blood. After a second, there was a little bit of an ache, but then suddenly, it began to feel… good. Really good. My mind went fuzzy, my body warm and floaty, like I’d had just the right amount of champagne.

Gabriel stared up at me, looking as drunk as I felt. His eyes were hooded and a little dazed, but he was watching me like it was unthinkable to do anything else. He sucked at my flesh, drawing the blood out of it and guzzling it down. That warm, floaty feeling filled my whole body. I’d read something about vampire bites releasing a chemical that made humans euphoric. Was this what it always felt like? God, no wonder some people chased after vampires.

I tangled a hand in Gabriel’s hair and held him close, encouraging him to keep drinking. One of us groaned. Maybe both of us. Distantly, I was glad I knew what dizziness from blood loss felt like, so I could tell I was just dizzy from arousal. His hands were on my hips, not keeping me in place, but just holding me. The sounds coming from him were obscene and hungry. I was so wet I couldn’t think. My hips moved without my permission, humping the air in tiny waves. Gabriel’s head moved in time with my undulations, keeping his mouth on my thigh. He began to alternate suckling at the wounds with broad passes of his tongue, licking up the blood. Slowly, he stopped sucking entirely and simply laved at my thigh, cleaning up the stray droplets of blood.

“More,” Gabriel said hoarsely. His mouth was streaked with blood, and he looked fucked-out. “Please.”

“I said one bite,” I reminded him, tensing up. Would I have to use magic on him?

“Not blood,” he said. “You. Please.”

I was already nodding, shifting to climb off him so I could get my panties off, but his grip on my hips tightened, keeping me there. He reached up and grabbed the thin fabric. There was one tearing sound, then another, and then my panties were off.

“Fuck,” I hissed. “You really need it, huh?”

Gabriel didn’t answer. He gripped my hips and pulled me down against his face, letting out an animalistic noise as his lips met my cunt. I slammed my hand against the headboard to keep myself upright. My thighs were burning, but the ache was well worth it. Gabriel licked into the core of me, even hungrier for it than he was for my blood. He stroked his tongue up to my clit, licking and sucking so intensely perfect that I screamed.

---