Page 224 of Blood Feast

Her heart beat faster, and her Craving pounded inside his chest. Her rising magic tingled across his skin, driving his desire higher and higher. This bloody worship only stoked their appetites. His body ached to give his goddess her fill.

In answer to his unspoke desire, she moved up his body. He kissed their feast from her lips, and she opened to him hungrily. When he rolled her onto her back, she arched beneath him, their bodies rubbing wet and warm against each other. While she was lost in his kiss, he untangled her fingers from the cup.

He let her up for air, and she gasped. He moved back to kiss his way along the inside of her thigh. When he sensed the flow of the powerful vein here, he sank his fangs in deep, relishing her husky outcry.

He pressed the cup to his bite. It was full before her Gift sealed her vein again. He swirled the chalice, savoring the bouquet that wafted up to him from her blood and body.

Hooking her other leg over his arm, he tipped the cup and let its contents trickle down the inside of her thigh. A shiver went through her. He caught the trail of blood on his tongue.

He emptied the chalice slowly, taking his drink from her knee to the groove of her thigh. Her sighs, her scent, the swell in their Union all told him she was on the verge of climax.

Suddenly, he was holding empty air. He turned toward her aura to see her at the side of the pool with their avowal cup in her hand. She gave him a saucy look over her shoulder and dove into the water.

He stepped after her, and despite the lust befuddling his thoughts, his aim was true. He appeared in front of her under the water and grabbed her.

As they surfaced together, water cascaded off her, slicking his braid against her head. Their blood swirled in the water around them. She looked into his eyes.

Her magic rippled through the water and down his spine. Arousal gripped him harder, and he gasped. Then her spell sank away into the pond, and she swam away from him.

He chased her, his longer arms bringing him close to her in a heartbeat. Just as he was about to grab her waist, levitation stirred the water, and she sank out of reach.

He dove after her. She was a shimmering shape below, a whorl of dark hair. The deeper they went into the letting site’s heart, the thicker their magic flowed. Power cascaded over his skin with every stroke. Immersed, he was parched for her, desperate to sink into her body.

At last, the bottom came into sight, covered in black petals. She was there, floating on her back with her fangs bared.

Before she could escape him again, he caught her wrist, pinning her hand and the cup to the floor of the pool. With her other hand, she pulled him to her.

He thrust inside her in measures, pumping his hips with the currents of magic. She undulated beneath him like part of the spell. Nothing had felt like this since they had left their own letting site behind.

When he was as deep in her as he could reach, she wrapped her legs around him tightly, grasping his hair. Her climax shuddered through her. Her magic surged into him, and hisbody shook on the edge of control. He went still, clenching his teeth, and held her against the floor of the pond while she writhed under him.

Her peak faded, but she still rocked her hips in little hungry motions. Her fangs were straining for him.

He sank his fangs into her throat, anchoring her. She found her way to his vein and fastened on. As their blood flowed into each other, the cycle pulled the magic in and through them. It poured out of him in wave after wave of pleasure as he spent himself in the grip of her power.

When the cycle released them, they floated to the surface in each other’s arms. She wiped blood and water from his chin with her thumb. Her eyes were still dilated, and her fangs showed no sign of retracting.

“Love me,” he said.

She sank her fangs into his throat again. Floating, he savored the pleasure she pulled out of him with every suck. His back came up against one of the pillars that descended into the pool. Magic feathered across his skin.

Her wet heat came down over his shaft. He gripped her hips and thrust to give her more. Pushing him against the pillar for leverage, she rode him hard.

Her moans echoed through the cavern. Their night apart had cost her more than she had wanted to admit. He held her close, stroking her hair as she took her fill of him.

She devoured him until he lost himself in her again and his body served up his pleasure to her. His shout rang in his ears as she suckled his climax from his veins, her own body spasming with vicarious release.

When he could move again, he gathered her in his arms and carried her onto the bank. They lay together, dripping and fulfilled, while the pond lapped at their toes. He reached up and pulled a black rose petal from her hair.

“I will never leave you again,” she whispered. “Not even for a night.”

“I will never watch you go,” he said. “I’ll follow you until you let me catch you.”

She rested her head on his chest. “You won’t have to. Just hold me right here.”

46

Nights After

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