Page 176 of Mama Si's Paradise

He was there.

Those eyes. Those lips. Those fangs…

The world stood perfectly still for a moment, and even the sun under my skin forgot to burn me. The room, the bed, all the other brothers disappeared, and it was just him holding me in this timeless space, his hands on either side of my face, his lips parted.

I don’t know what it was about this guy, but my body was a stranger to me when it came to him. I raised my head before I knew it, and I kissed those lips, fangs and all, like I knew I was going to be burned to ashes any second now, and I didn’t want to die without knowing his taste.

Spicy.He tasted spicy, just like the scent of him. He tasted like Grey.

His tongue slipped between my lips and I moaned, and the sensations returned full force—the heat and the sound and the feel of his hands on me, his tongue in my mouth. He licked the inside of my lips, but he didn’t kiss me, didn’t have the time. I felt his urge in the way he bit my neck, on the same side Romin had.

The moment his fangs were inside of me, I was alive again.

My blood was in his mouth, my arms locked tightly around his neck. My eyes rolled in my skull again, and the more he took, the lighter I became. The more he took, themore power that heat inside me lost until I was finally breathing again.

I wasbreathing.

“That’s enough,” said Romin from somewhere to the side, and Grey growled, still latched onto my neck.

I held onto him tighter. It wasn’t enough. I needed more. Just a little more…

But Romin wouldn’t have it. “Grey, that isenough.”

The power that charged the air was instant. It nudged both Grey and me as if with a finger, and the next moment, Grey began to move back. He let go of my neck and licked my blood off his lips, staying there in front of me for a second as if to make sure that I was okay.

But I wasn’t, not anymore.

Please,I said to him with my eyes, and he understood. That’s why he refused to move away from me, and Romin had to actuallypushhim to the side so that another one of them could come closer—Tristian. It was Tristian’s turn, and when his fangs were inside me and my blood in his mouth, the heat began to retreat again, slowly.

My body had developed a mind of its own because no matter how scary the nameBlood Callhad seemed to me, and no matter how many nights I’d lain here awake, terrified of the idea of being bitten by a vampire, right now I craved it. It was all that mattered. It was my salvation, and Ineverwanted to stop giving.

But Tristian moved away from me, too, my blood dripping off his fangs that he caught with his finger and licked clean.

Then he gave way for the last brother—Valentine.

Sweet Valentine whose little dragon had chosen me. Sweet Valentine who’d somehow gotten under my skin without my even realizing it, who’d claimed me as his at first, and now we were right where we were always going to be.

He didn’t look at me now the way he did in the beginning.It was different.Better.And call me crazy, call me naive, but I believed with all my heart that he cared about me. Maybe he even considered me his friend, too.

Valentine crawled over me, on his knees and hands, looking down at the sides of my neck as if he were both in awe and disgusted. I gave him time because with all that biting until now the heat had lost its intensity, and though I was still burning, it was about to get cooler inside my body any second.

Valentine came closer and closer, his beautiful face filling my vision—so young. So smooth. Everything about him wasbrand new.

“Ready, Sunshine?” he whispered, and a brand-new chill ran down the length of me.

Fuck, yeah, I was ready, but he didn’t wait for me to say it out loud. He whispered those same senseless words in my ear, then bit the side of my neck like his brothers had done.

Cold slipped inside of me one more time. I was completely lost to the sensation as Valentine drew blood out of me, just a little, but I felt all of it. Iheardevery last drop filling his mouth, and it felt incredible to know I gave himlifewith it, just like he was giving me.

My eyes opened and I saw the ceiling of the room, and my thoughts began to fall in order.

I remembered the ring and Faeries’ Aerie, and Emerald with her Storyteller. I remembered Syra and her siren sisters and the curse—and I remembered Grey.

My heart skipped a long beat.

Valentine let go of me and fell back, his lips red, my blood dripping down his chin.

It was over. The Evernight brothers had all drunk from me now, even if most had taken only a little.

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