Page 34 of Blood Moon Heat

Day by day, she was chipping away at my defenses, shattering my resolve—weakening me. Even now, all I could think about was the taste of her blood and her cunt. All I could hear were the sounds of her screams and her calling my name when she came for me.

With the way she affected me, I knew using my mouth, my fingers to pleasure her wouldn’t be enough for long. I’d barely stopped myself from fucking her on that table last night, mating her in truth. Soon, I’d need more, and though my needs and wants had been few the last couple of centuries, I wasn’t used to denying myself.

Resting my hands on the frame of her door, I gritted my teeth as the urge to go inside slammed into me. I had a meeting tonight. The war between the fae and the vampires had ended when the new king had taken the throne, but there were members of the previous royal house who were out for revenge.

My services were still very much needed.

“Nero?” Mina’s voice came through the door.

I stayed silent.

“I can smell you,” she said, surprising me. “I can also see your shadow under the door.”

“What do you want, Mina?” My throat felt impossibly tight. I hadn’t thirsted for blood like this since I was young, but now not anyone’s blood would do, only hers.

“I need your help…please.”

Just hearing her say please had me hardening against the front of my trousers. My self-restraint right then, with her taste still on my tongue, was nonexistent. I should walk away and come back when I’d mastered the unrelenting need still stirring inside me, but I couldn’t do it.

Instead, I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Mina stood by her bed in only a pair of pink lace panties and matching bra, her eyes were wide, her hands trembling slightly at her sides. With a snarl, I slammed the door shut after me in case Pretender walked by and saw her like that.

I rounded the bed. “What do you think you’re doing? Put your clothes on, now.”

She looked up at me, one of her little fangs, biting down on her lower lip. Just the sight of her fangs had my gut clenching and my mouth going dry.

“That’s why I called you in. Pretender said you were going out tonight, and I wasn’t sure what to wear.” She motioned to the bed, where two dresses were laid out, both of which had been given the same treatment as the one she wore last night.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” I said.

“Yes, I am,” she answered and, straightening her shoulders, stepped closer. “I have the key to that door hidden somewhere in this room. Either you take me with you or I walk out of here in my underwear the moment you leave, let myself into The Vault, and bury my fangs in the first handsome donor who offers me his vein.”

Irrational rage slammed into me. I hadn’t felt anger in centuries, but it had been returning again and again since I’d brought Mina here. “I’ve already told you, if you feed from anyone else, I’ll kill them. Are you willing to risk another’s life, just so you can prove a point?”

She held my gaze. “Yes, I am. You can kill every donor in your club if that’s what it takes, but I don’t think that would be very good for your business. I don’t think anyone would want to offer to feed your customers if they’re worried the great Nero Kossek, feared member of The Five, might murder them.”

She was far too fucking clever. “I don’t take kindly to threats, Mina.”

“And I don’t take kindly to being a prisoner. So choose a dress…or I will.”

Her heart was pounding. Despite the bravado, she was definitely afraid. This little stand she was making had taken all of her courage. “I have a meeting; this isn’t some social event.”

“I don’t care. I’m going with you,” she said.

I should say no. Agreeing to this would only make her think she was the one who held the power in this situation, and she very much did not. But I found that I wanted to reward her for her bravery, and that I…I liked the idea of having her with me. Pretender could watch her while I was in my meeting.

This display of bravery definitely deserved an appropriate response. Reward, yes. Courage should always be acknowledged. But my little Lalka also needed to be punished for her defiance, and I knew exactly what that punishment should be.

I was playing with fire, I knew that. But the cracks had already formed, my emotions were slowly seeping to the surface, and there was no repairing those fractures now or turning back time. It was too late for that.

Mina was mine. Perhaps I should just enjoy her any way I saw fit.

“Very well.”

Her face lit up. “You’ll take me with you?”

“Yes,” I said, spotting a bag on the bedside table, something gold poking from the top catching the light. Her jewelry, I guessed, and judging by how rounded the bag was, all of it stuffed into that small bag. The only items she had of value.

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