Page 30 of Blood Moon Heat

His voice slid over me, low and smooth, and I couldn’t stop my shiver. “Donors?”

“People, others who like to be bitten and fed from.” His warm breath teased my skin. “They get sexual gratification from it. The blood drinkers get what they need and so do the donors.”

I didn’t like the thought of Nero doing that, of him feeding from someone else, of him…touching them. “Have you done that? Have you made a mutually beneficial transaction with the donors who come here?”

“Yes,” he said. “Many times.”

No. I didn’t like that at all. In fact, the idea of it was so abhorrent, I found myself pushing back against him, the action involuntary, as if to shield him from anyone in this room who might think they could offer themselves to him. It made no sense. I didn’t like this male. Until tonight, when he’d finally let me out of my room for a few hours, he’s been nothing but cold, cruel, and manipulative.

But that was the power of fate, of a bond like ours. Still, I found I wanted to hurt him back, because the thought of him being with another did hurt. It was stupid, of course he had. He was old. He would have fed from many others over the centuries, but that didn’t seem to make any difference.

“Maybe I should choose a donor to feed from,” I said.

His fingers were back at my throat in an instant, his fang grazing my ear. “If you feed from anyone but me, little doll, I will skin them, shred them in front of you until there is nothing left but gore. Do you understand?”

His words should scare me. Instead, they made my heart race faster and the deep throb between my thighs grow heavier. “Does that mean you’ll only drink from me?” I whispered.

He nipped my ear, and I shivered again. “Is that what you want?”

It was. I was already at a disadvantage with this male. I didn’t want to give him anything else to hold over me, but then I thought about what Lucinda said and I decided if I wanted to claim my mate, to break through the ice and thaw the emotions that were buried deep, I needed to tame Nero’s inner beast, whatever it was. I needed to disarm him, and giving him the truth would hopefully do that.

“Yes… I want you to only drink from me,” I confessed.

“Then no more drinking from a glass, Lalka. No more barring me from your room, and you can have what you want.” He sucked my earlobe gently. “I gave you freedom tonight, Mina, does that mean I get everything?”

“Not everything,” I forced myself to say. “That was only a taste of freedom, and I’ll need a lot more than that before I fully surrender to you.” Lucinda had pushed Rainer to his breaking point, and if I wanted Nero to give me everything, then I would have to do the same.

He purred low and rough. “So does that mean I get a taste of you, little doll? It’s only fair, a taste for a taste.”

His cool lips and warm breath caused goose bumps to lift across my skin. The scent of blood and the moans of pleasure filling the room had my head spinning. My body was tight and hot and hungry for more than just blood. I was supposed to entice him, instead he’d turned the tables on me. “Yes,” I said, giving him the truth again and hoping he didn’t make me regret it.

“I can smell how wet your cunt is. Does it ache?”

A whimper slipped free. “Yes.”

“Would you like me to ease it?”

I rubbed my thighs together, squeezing them tight, but it didn’t help. Only Nero could make it go away. “Yes…please.”

“Say that again, little doll.”

He wanted me to beg for him to make me feel good. If I hadn’t been in this room, if I didn’t feel so out of control, I would have refused, but I needed relief. I needed him to touch me so badly I shook. “Please,” I whimpered. “Please, Nero.”

A long, drawn-out rumbling sound vibrated from his chest, startling me. I expected him to lift me to my feet, to lead me from the club, but instead he turned me on his lap so my side was pressed to his front, my bottom cradled by his muscled thighs.

His hand slid up under my dress, and I slammed my knees together. “What are you doing?”

“What you asked for, bride.”

“But everyone will see.”

“Look around you, Mina, no one gives a fuck what we’re doing. They’re taking their own pleasure. Besides, if anyone looks at you while I’m pleasuring you, I’ll kill them, so it won’t matter.”

I blinked up at him. “You’d kill them?”

His hand traveled down the back of my thighs, then easily slid up between them. A gasp left me when his fingers brushed where I wanted him to touch me so badly.

“Unclench your thighs,” he ordered softly.

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