Page 2 of For Love and Blood and Fury

Unlike witches, Vampires were organized. They respected boundaries. Perhaps they had the advantage of not needing to learn from stories handed down over generations. A weary few had lived through the vampire wars. Remembered what it was like to decimate each other and to what end? They only weakened themselves. It was senseless and, even worse, boring.

“And what exactly is it you want from me?” Elena trained her gaze on Zuri, sure that she’d probably agree to anything.

Mischief turned Zuri’s eyes luminous. “Whatever it takes for the other coven to get the message to stop interfering with us.” She moistened her lips in a way that made Elena want to lean forward. “Short of killing.”

“Oh, come on.” Elena tossed her head back like a petulant teenager forced to go to church rather than sleep late. “Fine,” she added after an exaggerated sigh. “I’ll do it…for a price.”

Zuri lifted her dark brows in question.

Cocking her head to the side, Elena feigned surprise. “What did you think? I’d do it for free because we used to fuck?”

The comment was a self-inflicted wound that burned in her chest. They’d been so much closer than that.

Absorbing the jab more easily than Elena expected, Zuri gestured behind her. “Why do you think I brought your favorite flavor?”

Elena tore her attention from Zuri to the woman standing sentinel at her side. Looking like she was going to step out onto the gallows, the witch crossed her arms over her chest.

When Zuri glanced over her shoulder, the witch begrudgingly closed her eyes and complied with Zuri’s silent command. With a flick of her wrist, the witch ignited all the dormant candles scattered around Elena’s office. A cute trick if matches hadn’t already been invented.

“I’ll take a little fire,” Elena agreed before adding, “for an appetizer.” She gestured for Librada to come closer. “Lib will happily take your donation.” She nodded at the witch, who looked relieved not to be bitten and even happier to be out of Elena’s sight.

Elena waited until she was alone with Zuri before she fixed her attention on her again and said, “But, baby, you know that’s not what I want.”

Chapter Two

People have never feared magic.They fear the women who wield it.

Annoyingly, Zuri thought while sitting across from her, Elena had forgotten what it was like to fear. All spectacle and bravado. Her ex-girlfriend never stopped being painfully predictable.

“Sure you can still handle me?” Zuri made no attempt to stand. She’d known exactly what Elena would request, but it was fun to pretend not to want to give it to her.

Elena’s full lips—painted a red that would stain Zuri’s skin if she was foolish enough to let her—curved into a smirk. “Only one way to find out,” she replied, her original accent buried under centuries of practice. Languages came to Elena like breathless lovers, but she’d mastered the art of hiding them.

Uncrossing her legs, Elena beckoned her by dragging her teeth over her bottom lip. The silent promise to unleash her fangs.

The memory of Elena’s bite crept into Zuri’s mind against her will. That exquisite razor’s edge between pain and pleasure, danger and desire. The pull of her tight fist in Zuri’s hair, yanking her head back to reach her sensitive neck. Theincredible high that peaked right before her fangs plunged into her. And then the spreading hunger triggered by being ravaged.

Zuri focused on the present, on the woman across from her wielding seduction like a weapon. That shit wasn’t working today. Zuri wasn’t going to be conquered. Even if she had to get close to her one more time, she wasn’t going to drift back into Elena’s orbit. She wasn’t going to set herself up for heartbreak. Once was bad enough.

Standing, Zuri decided to get her desperate plan over with. Every second she spent in her space was a risk. Elena was like radiation—manageable only in small doses.

Tracking her every move, Elena stalked Zuri with her eyes while she moved around the hideous desk she was sure had never once been used to conduct actual business. She pushed away the memory of being bent over its edge. Refused to remember what Elena looked like splayed across it.

Glad for the elasticity in her tight jeans, Zuri straddled Elena’s hips and forced herself not to get distracted by the way the double-sided tape holding Elena’s jacket in place strained to pull away from her tempting skin. She tried not to want to touch her.

With a rumble in her chest that was somewhere between a groan and a growl, Elena ran her hands up Zuri’s legs. She’d worshiped her thick thighs when they’d been together, and Zuri couldn’t help feeling like she’d scored a small victory that Elena was still weak for her. The big bad vampire always came undone by what she’d called the best ass she’d seen in her life. Both of them.

Her fingers slid through Elena’s silken hair, nails raking her scalp and eliciting a soft moan. Zuri leaned in until her lips grazed the shell of Elena’s ear. “Close your eyes,” she commanded, voice deep but soft.

Elena obeyed, her lips parting. Zuri’s thumb floated over her strong jawline as she studied her face, so achingly familiar.

Grasping her hips, Elena tried to pull her closer, but Zuri resisted. Zuri would set the pace.

“Home?” Zuri whispered, magic awakening in her veins and warming her skin as it traveled out from her chest and into her fingers.

At her mercy, Elena didn’t open her eyes when she nodded. Zuri had to engage every drop of her restraint. Had to ignore how alluring Elena was like this. Up close, Elena’s beauty was almost blinding—those artfully smudged kohl lines around almond-shaped eyes that still made Zuri feel naked with a glance.

She pressed her mouth to Elena’s brow, feeling the ridges of her furrowed concentration. The charge between them was a live-wire, raising the fine hairs on Zuri’s arms and supercharging the power pushing at her boundaries like it had missed Elena and was desperate to get back into her mind.

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