Page 74 of The Hunt of Night

My words are cut off and forgotten as he effectively shuts me up with his bloody lips crushing against mine.

31

RAIDEN

Iwant her.

I need her.

I have to have her.

Her lips are soft yet firm against mine as I slam my own against them, and something settles in my soul as we fuse together.

Easing my grip on her chin, I cup her face with both hands, tilting her head back to the perfect angle to part her lips and taste her sweetness on my tongue.

“Raiden,” she rasps against my lips, a moan etched with concern, and it’s enough to tear me from her mouth to see what’s wrong. “Your neck,” she gasps, instinctively reaching out for the open wound as blood trickles down my collar.

“It’s fine, Adrianna,” I murmur, declining to mention the wooziness that is slightly dimming my vision and leaving my head a little light.

“It definitely doesn’t look fine,” she grumbles with a pointed look, and I grin. I would bleed out right now if it meant I got to kiss her again. “We need to get this seen to. Where’s Brody?” she asks, her fingers curling tighter around my neck as she tries toapply pressure while her gaze flits to the opening of the alley in hopes the mage will magically appear.

If he does, I’ll kill him.

“Troublemaker…Troublemaker…” Two breaths of her nickname and a squeeze at her chin again so she’s finally looking back at me. Certain I have her full attention, I lean closer. “I’ll heal on my own…eventually. Until it passes, it’s just me and you.” My tone drops deeper, darker, and needier as I peer into her eyes.

Her tongue sweeps out over her bottom lip and her gaze drops to my lips.

“When? It looks bad,” she whispers, taking a slight peek at where her hand presses against my throat. I don’t need to look to know her fingers are going to be coated in blood. My blood. That only turns me on more.

“It’s fine. It’ll be even better if you kiss me again.”

She shakes her head at me in disbelief, but I’m deadly serious. I need her more than my next breath. The tremble that vibrates through my veins has nothing to do with the wound at my neck and everything to do with her proximity.

“Raiden, now isn’t the time to?—”

I slam my mouth against hers, raking my teeth over her bottom lip as she groans, but I swallow each little cry for myself. Her protests are wasted on me, but her moans…they’re exactly what I’m living for.

Releasing her again, her head slumps back against the stone wall behind her as she tries to catch her breath. Her fingers don’t move from my neck, warming my icy veins as I stare at her in wonder.

“Do you realize how fucking phenomenal you are?” I breathe, catching her eyebrows pinching in confusion, leaving me to be the one to shake my head in disbelief this time.

“Raiden, I?—”

I press my thumb against her lips, cutting off her next words. “The next time my name leaves your lips, it’s going to be with a moan. Ideally, with your cum dripping down my fingers or, preferably, my cock. Understood?”

Even under the moonlit night, I can see her pupils dilate, the rhythm of her heartbeat kicking up a notch as she stares at me in a mixture of desire and confusion. To save her any more bewilderment, I spell it out to her.

“Adrianna, there are never going to be enough apologies that leave my lips to make up for ever doubting you. Tonight, you left me awestruck. Your fearlessness, resilience, and brilliance—I want all of it. And if I tell you a little secret, you can’t tell a soul, do you hear me?” She nods, eyes wide as she hangs on my every word. I want to see her reaction to my words, but keeping them as quiet as possible is more important. Her hearing them surpasses anything else, which is why I lean in, pressing my lips to the shell of her ear as I offer her my secret. “I walked through the doors of the academy with one thing in mind: become the next leader, the new heir, the royal I know I can be.” My chest tightens, aware that I’m no longer the same man who walked through those doors such a short time ago, and it’s all because of her. “But if it comes down to it, if it was just me and you at the end of the race…I’d fall and stumble to watch you rise, to see you shine, to be in the presence of your greatness as you reclaim who you were always meant to be.”

Leaning back, the first thing I notice is how blown her pupils are, the crimson stains of blood laced across her face drying with every passing moment.

“I would never ask you to do that,” she manages, her voice nothing more than a croak, and I shake my head with a smirk.

“You wouldn’t have to.”

She tugs at my neck, eliminating the distance between us as she takes the reins, crushing our lips together.

All sentiments are gone, every word disappearing along with them as our bodies do the talking.

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