Page 6 of Forced Vampire Mate

I knew I couldn’t regret that choice. Not when Thessa and Darcie were such close friends that Darcie had given her the necklace she inherited from our grandmother. Memories washed over me from the all-too-recent Blood Trials. It had been less than a month, and despite the training I’d put myself through with an assassin’s coven, I still had nightmares about what happened. Our teammates Kael and Ysara…

My stomach clenched, and I closed my eyes, breathing my emotions away. “Given what I know now, I’m not sure I would have been granted my wish to free Darcie, even if I hadn’t saved you, Thessa. Besides. It’s a good thing to have you here.” I opened my eyes again and took her hand, squeezing lightly. “I need the reminder that there’s still goodness in this world. And I needed you, an ally I can rely on.”

Thessa bit her lip, still looking hesitant. “I guess I… I don’t understand why you can’t ask Luken for help, since he’s on our side now.”

“Because he won’t help,” I answered, clenching my hands again. “I made it clear that I wanted to save Darcie, and he made it clear that he didn’t intend to help me. He’s not on our side, Thessa. He just used me.”

“I…” Thessa fell silent, but her expression clearly said she wasn’t convinced.

It didn’t matter if she was convinced or not. I knew the truth. How even though I’d given Luken everything I had left, he wasn’t willing to give me my sister back. Maybe it was jealousy on his side. Maybe he didn’t want anyone around who might compete with him for my affections.

Thessa was quiet, rubbing her chest where I’d stabbed her through the heart. I shuddered as I recalled my own experience. Greyson had flung a knife into my chest, too, seconds after Luken saved Thessa. I hadn’t gotten as close to death as Thessa had, but Luken still needed to feed me his blood and pump the vampire venom into my body to save my life. I was close enough to death that it had changed me, even if I wasn’t a full vampire now.

And most worrisome, the feeling of him drinking from me was the most blissful experience I’d been through. Even regular vampires created a euphoric sense in the people they drank from. Many people said there was nothing more orgasmic than an orgasm from a vampire’s mouth. I’d trained myself against sexual arousal, building up a tolerance so I could control my body.

When it came to Luken, all that training disappeared.

“Elara?” Thessa said.

I shook myself, too swept up in the memory of the sheer delight of Luken’s body. Even now, my core tightened, and my breasts swelled, wanting him to touch me, to hold me, to inhabit me. It was like an addiction from the first hit.

“Are you sure?” Thessa asked.

“Am I sure what?”

“That Luken isn’t on your side? You said that he isn’t coming to your room because you told him you don’t want him. Surely, if he respects you enough not to push the matter—”

I snorted. “He doesn’t respect me at all. It’s just a game to him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I slid the pack onto my shoulder and jerked my chin toward the hiding place where we’d store everything, to make sure it couldn’t be connected to us if it was discovered. “I know that he puts on a good show. He even fooled me. But he doesn’t care about me, Thessa. He only cares about himself and his goals.”

Disappointment hit the pit of my stomach. Tears pricked my eyes. It was a lie to say that I succumbed to Luken simply because of the desire that he created in my body. More than that, it was the desire he created in my mind. I wanted him to love me. I wanted to trust him. I wanted it so badly, I’d let myself believe without evidence.

We stashed the supplies and started back toward the palace.

“You told me that you trained to be able to resist a vampire when they fed on you,” Thessa said abruptly while we walked. “How did that work? And how can I make sure that I… I only drink from people who went through the same training?”

Her cheeks went red.

Oh.

Oh.

I hadn’t considered what it would be like from her perspective. At the temples, she would have been trained to believe that her virginity was her greatest value. Now, as a vampire, her sustenance would eventually require her to drink from another person.

“I’m not sure how much to tell you,” I hedged.

She gave me a firm look. “Please. I don’t want to take advantage of anyone.”

I smiled slightly. “My training included putting me through pain whenever I was sexually aroused. And that includes having vampires drink from me, and punishing my body for responding. But it’s not perfect, you have to know. Most times, I’m able to control my body, but sometimes pain elicits arousal, too. But as for drinking from people,” I hesitated, uncertain how she’d take this suggestion, “You can drink from me, at least to begin with. I can handle it.”

Thessa opened her mouth again, but closed it. She nodded jerkily. “Marissa says I’ll have to drink within the next month. We should try before we leave the palace. In case I can’t stop and you need help.”

Her breathing was rapid, and as we passed through a beam of light, I saw that her normally golden skin tone had gone pale.

I understood her fear. “We have time,” I assured her. “We’ll have to wait until our guests leave, and Luken lets down his guard before we make our move, anyway.”

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