Page 53 of Smoke and Blood

The lithe beauty under his mouth and filling his arms was all life.So much life force that, in a twist of fate, it was killing her.If he had not come upon her within the hour, such a precious, lissome creature would have drawn her last breath.Simply because who grew inside of her, barely larger than a six-week fetus, was devouring her body’s nutrients too rapidly to sustain the growth, and her organs were shutting down one at a time.

He could only imagine the excruciating level of pain her thin form dealt with continuously.She would not have been able to carry one child of such kind to term, but multiple, never.

And now that blood was pooling in his mouth and streaming down his throat; he could break down everything that made up the woman gripping his waist tight and arching into him, blindly seeking for satisfaction to her need.She writhed against him, grinding her sex along his cloth-covered shaft.He knew not only her age and medical status but that she carried not one, not two, but three babies inside of her.

Soon his.

The other thing he knew for sure, something he’d have to bring before the preternatural council, was the alterations of her blood.Her DNA had been modified.It wasn’t what made her his match.The Archangel of the Great Spirit did that, but it was the reason for her current state.

But the council could wait.Saving Michaela was Amaros’s primary goal.

His grip on the back of her neck held fast and firm, keeping her fixed against his voracious mouth.He dragged his other hand over the slope of her ass, sliding it to the perfect spot where her backside ended, her supple thighs began, and her legs parted.Later he would attempt to figure out the enigma of how a perfectly plump ass developed on such a lean form.He growled as the enticing heat of her pussy warmed the tips of his fingers.

If he hitched her knee up to his hip, it would open her thighs nicely and provide him with easy access, glide his fingers into her slick pussy.And it was wet, and he could smell the thick nectar of her arousal perfuming the air around them.The scent was so heady that he got drunk on it.He lived for the nefarious scent of a woman—it was a gift.

She was a gift.

“Please...”she rasped along his ear.

He knew this stage.The woman was out of her mind as she hovered in the valley between desire and death.She’d willingly allow him to continue to sup from her as long as he brought her to multiple orgasms, not caring if thela petite mortbecame the big death.People who were sucked dry by a vamp died in ecstasy.It was the reason vampires ripped the throats out of their enemies and gorged on what poured out, never piercing or giving them the powerful serum.

Oh, angel, just wait...you will have everything you desire.Amaros could not wait until they were fully mated, and he could communicate with her telepathically while he fed; they fed.

However, he could be patient because they’d have centuries before them to have such moments.Amaros needed to tend to his mate now that he’d sated his hunger.

Right now, he needed to begin her transformation.

He couldn’t resist thrusting his hips and pressing his steely cock at the apex of her thighs to stroke over her clit.She quaked against him, climaxing the final time.

Michaela’s arms, her willowy, beautiful arms, drifted from his sides as her body went limp.

Amaros wasn’t concerned by her weak, coma-like condition.No.He no longer drank her blood but instead began pouring his serum into her vein.

He still dragged his tongue in erotic patterns along her neck, collecting every drop of the sweet-tart, spiced chocolate goodness of blood.His serum continued to stream from his fangs, flooding her body.Her lax state didn’t change as he lay on the ground with her held in his arms.

But he didn’t expect it to.He’d never transformed a mate, but it was bedtime stories told to his kind from youth—a time that went by in a blink—a way of giving eternal beings hope they would not walk the Earth alone even though it was a rare occurrence.

At the onset, it was the same process it took to make a prime, except more than a drop or two of pure serum would kill a non-mate instantly.

But she was his.

His angel.

So, she would survive the first and second part of the transformation.The latter part of the induction would give her and the little ones a new life.She would remain in stasis until everything that made her human died, and her composition was corrected.Then came the hunger.

That hunger and need would change her forever.

Thump, thump.Michaela’s heart went.

Thump, thump.Thump, thump.Thump, thump.The little ones’ hearts echoed in an angelic harmony.

Thump...thump...Her heart began to fade.

Thump...thump...The small rhythm faltered.

Thump.She died.They died.

Amaros sighed as he retracted his fangs.He used the tip of his tongue to brush along the raw, punctured flesh of her skin.The holes closed instantly, but they didn’t vanish.No, they would remain as outer evidence of his claim for some time.One that vampires wouldn’t need to see to know she was his, but he leaned away and enjoyed the sight, nonetheless.

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