Page 67 of A Shadow in the Reaping
"I don't need you to Reapersplain the mating habits of vampires to me. I'm familiar with how the process works,thankyouverymuch."
"I'm merely trying to say that you can still take some of my blood, if you want it. It will be easier than hunting in daylight," Ashen says, sliding his hand down my arm to pull my wrist free from where it's clamped across my body.
And right here, as he gently pries my arm free from its vicelike grip across my chest, I'm sure you're wondering,what the fuck is the big deal, Lu? He's trying to be sweet and you're kind of being a stubborn cow.And yeah, while I totally agree, you need to understand that the more blood that I take, the harder it will be to not want to mate with him. Like,properly. Not just sex but binding myself to him. And I'm already feeling the tug of it in my heart, the whisper of it from the box in my mind.
"You don't understand," I mutter, keeping my eyes trained on the fields and trees out my window, even when he pulls my hand to his lips and lays a kiss on my fingertips.
"You're right. I apologize, vampire," Ashen says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. There's a long pause of taut silence. "When you say you are familiar with the process-"
"Fuck off, Reaper."
"You are an acerbic creature."
"Screw you."
"And dramatic."
"Fuck my life," I moan as I pull my hand away to cradle my head. "It's not even ten in the morning and I feel like I need a bottle of tequila to survive you."
I feel Ashen's warm palm slide across my neck and I close my eyes.
"And I have just the place in mind for that."
Chapter 29
"No. No fucking way," I snarl.
"I get a sense you have a problem with this particular establishment. Care to elaborate on why that might be?"
"Absofuckinglutely not."
"But look at the sign," Ashen says, pointing to the brick building in front of us. His voice is laced with far too much amusement for my current state of hunger to endure. "It says'Under New Management'."
"Go fuck yourself."
"There are douchebags here. I guarantee it."
"So do I. You're one of them."
"You will find both tequila and lunch. It's the perfect solution."
“I’ve lost my appetite.”
“There’s a connection here. Mila and Bobby shared something in common.”
“That’s fucking gross imagery I never needed in my head.”
“Just a quick little investigation. The link to Semyon is here, I can feel it.”
“If you make me go in there, I will never have sex with you again."
Ashen laughs. The sound is richer and more musical than the song still playing in the car. I turn my gaze from the familiar bar across the street as Ashen leans toward me and rests an elbow on the center console of his car. His eyes make a languid pass of my skin and rest on my lips. "You lie."
I put on my fiercest vampire glare, but it feels like a thin mask. "Do I?"
Ashen shifts out of his seat and prowls across the narrow space of the vehicle. He braces one hand against my door and looms over me.
I smell silk. I smell unlit cigars. I smell the decadent blood that pulses in his neck as he draws near. "Yes, you do," he whispers, letting his breath rest on my skin before he presses his lips to my throat. "And you are terrible at it."
