Page 58 of Griffin Undone
He leaned closer, the glow in his eyes throwing his face into shadow. “You’d love the way I suck, Kitty Kat.”
My eyes went so wide I felt the strain.Breathe.
“So…” Arik’s tone deepened. “When we’re aroused, we usually want to feed.”
Oh. “O-okay.”
Arik leaned closer, his chest firm against my shins, and pushed the heavy fall of my hair back from my face, stealing my ability to hide. “This has been coming for a long time, Kitty Kat, this thing between us. You know it. I know it.” His gaze fixed on my throat. “I am…God…so hungry for you.” His lips parted just enough to reveal the tips of his gleaming white fangs. “I won’t be able to hold back. I can’t. And I couldn’t spring that on you, not after what you’ve been through.”
He meant my attack. A jolt shot through me as I realized those memories hadn’t even entered my mind until he mentioned it.
Arik stared a moment more, and as I watched, satisfaction slowly settled over his features. Without warning he stood and hauled me, blanket and all, into his arms. When he sat back in his original seat on the couch, I ended up in his lap, like he couldn’t take even that small separation between us any longer. The feel of him beneath me, around me, created a cocoon of safety that settled the nerves trying to rise—until he pushed the blanket down to my lap. His gaze dropped, sweeping my body, and my stomach clenched, hungry, wanting.
But Arik wasn’t through. He took my hand, the rough scrape of his thumb somehow grounding and arousing me at once. “That’s not all.”
I couldn’t have spoken if I wanted to.
“If we are together, I will feed; it’s inevitable—I need to taste you too badly. You’ll likely be distracted, sated…” His gaze went distant, his grip on my hand tightening for a moment before he shook his head. “Sex is the perfect time for an exchange. And given your Archai genes, it’s likely you will crave blood in that moment as well.”
I jerked.Me?“Wait, I thought we were talking about you. You’re sayingI—” I choked over the rest.
Arik’s gaze held me steady. “Yes. You will want to feed. From me.”
Without thinking, I grazed my mouth with my free hand. “How? I don’t—”
“No, your fangs haven’t started emerging yet, and there’s no way to tell when they will. If they don’t make an appearance at the right time, I’ll take care of that part for you.”
When I thought about it objectively, drinking blood, revulsion swelled in my throat. But when I considered having sex with Arik, feeding from him then… I shivered, this time definitely not from cold.
The sharp edge that entered Arik’s expression said he’d caught the reaction. “That’s right, Kat, it won’t be that bad. In fact”—his hand rose to my face, his finger tracing the lower edge of my bottom lip in slow, languid strokes—“it will be good. Very good.” He took a deep breath that I swore wasn’t as steady as usual. “And I think it might help us get your gift to cooperate.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.” He stroked absently along my bottom lip, my chin, my jaw while he gathered his thoughts. Or maybe he was just enjoying the feel of my skin, the freedom of touching me. I really wish I knew which it was; maybe then I’d feel more like I was on sure footing here.
“When Archai feed, it’s typically from humans. Male humans. There’s a reason for that. Feeding from another Archai means you gain not only protein—or superprotein, since our blood is much more potent than humans’—but what is called shadowing. The Archai you feed from lends you a shadow of their gifts. Not near as powerful as the original, and a female wouldn’t gain shifting abilities since their body isn’t equipped for it, but the recipient does gain some of what the donor has for a short period of time. My gifts—strength, physical and mental, control, focus—those are things you already have but cannot seem to tie to your gift. My blood can help speed the process by supplementing your strength as you learn control and become more powerful on your own.”
“How long does the shadowing last?”
“Around seventy-two hours. When it fades, we just repeat the process.”
The process being sex. Feeding.
Christ.I forced myself to think beyond the heat burning me up inside.
“Remember what I told you?” Arik reminded me. “It’s going to happen eventually. All of it.”
“So are you asking or telling?” My words were barely more than a whisper.
“Begging.” He hooked his hand around my nape and pulled, bringing our lips within a whisper of each other. “Please.”
My throat went dry as dust at the hunger in that one word. At the hunger it engendered in me. But Arik didn’t bring us closer, didn’t kiss me. He was waiting on my answer, not forcing his own. Which was good, because for the first time in weeks, maybe in my whole life, I not only needed to butmustbe the one to decide. I refused to be commanded in this, the giving of my body. Giving myself to him had to be my choice, especially knowing my first time having sex would also be the first time I’d drink someone’s blood. At least the first time I remembered.
And yet, searching my feelings, I found there really was no choice to make. I’d wanted him for weeks. I’d refused him when my life was too far in chaos to think straight, but now, after knowing him, working with him, fighting with him?
The decision was already made. “Yes,” I whispered.
Arik’s ice-blue eyes went nuclear-bright. I had no more than a moment to appreciate how beautiful he was, emotion laid bare, hunger overtaking him—forme—before his lips were on mine and he was taking me over.
