Page 27 of Club Blood

Before I could reply, she had exited my bedroom and pulled the door shut behind her. I wanted to scream, frustrated and annoyed that I was being manipulated like a plaything – exactly like Narcissa had said I would be. But the worst thing was that, despite my anger, I craved Mercy’s touch like no one before.

And so when I lay back and worked myself to orgasm, there was no turning back when I shattered with Mercy’s name on my lips.

17

MERCY

She did not say no.

To my surprise there was absolutely no hesitation from the woman in that room, my prisoner, my eternal damnation. I could feel the heaviness of my breasts, the pounding of my dead, metaphorical heart, the steep heaving of my chest as I exited the room. I could still taste her on my lips, mylittle flower. She was as sickly sweet as she looked, and I knew her blood was the next thing I wanted to taste. I was chaste in my departure, afraid that the adrenaline running through my veins would make a decision for me that I was not yet ready to make on my own.

As I walked away I heard her scream.

My eyes shut, and every muscle in my body followed suit, retracting and tightening as each scream was more tantalizing than the next. She touched herself, so full of desire that it made me quicken my steps towards my bedroom for my own form of release. I could smell her just as easily as I could if she was sitting before me, legs splayed open. My nostrils flared from the delectable fantasy.

I kneeled for her.

On my knees, tongue flicking back and forth in the center of her heat. I licked my lips, not yet ready tonottaste her against them.A queen would bow for no one. My thoughts were running rampant, all falling back onto the words Carlisle and I exchanged. My back straightened in defiance because I did not bow to her. Iclaimed her.

From this point forward, Cecelia, in all of her beautiful softness, was mine. The manor would be able to scent us together, danger and temptation intermingled. I did it for her safety, obviously. With our scents so connected, she was safer now than she ever was. No one would dare touch something that was mine.

My long fingers pushed lightly on the double doors that opened to my master suite. My room was the least regal part about my home, but it still would make any average person drool with envy. My bed was lush and large, four thick bed posts and a backboard that cried with scratch marks from various partners. The carpet was the color of dried blood, masking the puddles that could accumulate on nights of pleasure and feeding.

I disrobed, undoing the few buttons on my blazer and shaking my shoulders out of it, letting it fall to the floor in a heap. I stretched my arms over my head and felt my spine crack in satisfaction. My pants were let loose and stripped, the leather clinging to every piece of skin it could, my legs crying from their entrapment. My feet followed suit from the form of the heels. Every ounce of my body ached from three days of the conference, but a bath would soothe away that pain.

Standing fully naked, I turned to the ensuite.

A low hiss escaped my throat on its own accord, my nostrils flaring as I recognized the scent that was filling it. Goddammit, Narcissa. As I crossed the threshold between bedroom and bathroom, my eyes landed on the bitch sitting in my spa tub, head flung back on a rolled towel and fingers playing with herself in the water. She cocked an eyebrow and opened an eye in my direction. I felt myself recoiling.

“I was wondering when you’d return, my queen,” she said melodically, her eyes closing again as she rubbed herself towards release. My eyes stayed focused on her face, “I could think of nothing else but your return. I’m ready for you, Mercy.”

“I am not in any need of your services tonight, Cissa,” I found myself turning away from her, as if I was trying to convince myself of that more than I was trying to convince her. Her face opened up, the water stopped rippling in the center and she stared at me. There was something sinister in the way she looked at me, but the moment passed into a mourning fixation.

“The scent of your arousal tells me otherwise,” she mused, standing from the water. Droplets rolled down her perfect body, glistening in the fluorescents of the room. I tried not to look at her.

“Surely I can help you curb the edge. You’ve been traveling, I’m aware you had your fair share of beautiful people there,” there was a hint of jealousy coating her tone, “but I’m sure it would feel delightful cominghome.”

I shook my head, eyes narrowing. “On the contrary, I would like nothing more than to satisfy myself tonight. If you have forgotten, I am a Queen. No one and nothing butmyselfwill be enough for me.”

She opened her mouth in protest, taking in a huge breath before catching her next retort before it came out of her mouth. I could see her brain processing while I turned from her and walked back into the bedroom. I no longer had any interest in stepping into the water Narcissa occupied. She sprinted to press herself flush against my back in half a second, fangs playing with the spot on my neck I usually delighted in, tracing it lightly.

“You had someone,” she said accusingly. “That girl, your newpet.”

“Who I share my company with is no concern of yours,” I said quietly, tilting my head to the side unconsciously to give her more space to continue threatening my neck with her sharp canines. “From my understanding, it wasyouwho was ignoring my calls.”

“I’m sorry, my queen,” she cooed, “I was too concerned with finding information for you. I need to keep you safe. I found nothing of concern,”

“You’re becoming negligent,” I said, frustrated. “Someone on the council told me they'd found your newborn, Wade, dead just south of where you hid Tusker. I was afraid our sloppy work would ruineverything.”

I could feel Narcissa wince behind me. It seemed to be as much a surprise to her as it did to me. “Fuck,” she whispered.

“Carlisle Valore knows too, although I feel like he’s less inclined to stake me for our crimes than the others on council. Who knows why, although I feel like Valore always has a reason for everything he does. We must tread carefully.”

“I’m sorry,” Narcissa said earnestly.

“You are forgiven this once. Your lapse in judgment is concerning, however. I worry you might be losing your touch.”

I could feel the caress of her hiss against the back of my neck. “I will not let you down again.”

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