Page 81 of A Heart Of Bitter Poison
The Reaper takes my hand and lifts my arm. In the stillness of this cabin, the air between us seems alive with an electric charge. Ashen’s gaze is soldered to mine as though we’re chained together by this moment of time.
Ashen catches the thick channel of blood on his tongue before it can drip onto my dress. He laps it up my skin and smears it across his lips. My heart hammers my ribs as he draws closer to my wrist.
When he finally seals his lips over the wound and draws in a deep pull of blood, the effect on my body is instantaneous. It ignites my desire like a fuse. And I can sense the relief in him. I can hear the pins of bone slowly start to stitch back together as Ashen closes his eyes and sighs.
“How does it taste?” I whisper. My lungs pump with shallow breaths. Intense need coils low in my belly. I feel my arousal dampen the fabric of Ashen’s pants as I try to stop myself from grinding against his leg.
Ashen takes another long pull of blood and the pleasure of it wraps around my bones. A stuttering breath shudders past my lips.
Ashen opens his eyes and they burn with the brightest flame. “It tastes like heaven, vampire,” he whispers.
For a moment, we are both so still we might have fused into stone. We don’t blink or even breathe. And then in a swift motion he locks an arm around my back and rises from the chair, his lips sealing around the wound once more.
I feel like my bones are melting, like my flesh is dissolving beneath his touch. Ashen sets me on the edge of the table and presses his body between my legs as he pulls more blood from my arm. It fuels the feeling of his effervescence, as though the more he takes connects him to the part of him that lives within me. All his power and history, all that loss and longing. He’s alive in my veins.
Ashen takes another long pull of blood and then lets go, his gaze bouncing between my eyes as if he’s just discovered a world he never knew. We look at one another for a long moment, both of us consumed by pumping, heavy breaths and raging hearts. And then he leans forward and claims my lips with a kiss as deep and unfathomable as the sea. I taste my blood. I’m surrounded by his intoxicating scent. I feel his pulse hammer against my chest.
Ashen’s hands find the drawstring behind my neck and he loosens the tie. The neckline gapes open and he pulls it down my shoulders, past my braless chest, down to my waist. I let out a gentle moan as he runs his fingers across my skin, lingering over my tight nipples. “I think I am starting to see the merits of this hideous dress,” he says.
“Wait ‘till you get a little lower.”
Ashen pauses for a moment before drawing his hand down until he reaches the slick wetness of my opening. He coats his fingers in my arousal before painting circles over my clit. “Vampire,” he says in a low, chastising voice. “No underwear in the Realm of Light? That seems salacious, even for a vampire. I certainly hope you weren’t looking to fuck an angel.”
A devious laugh escapes my lips. It turns to a moan as he pinches my clit. “Would that bother you?”
Ashen growls as his fingers dive into my opening and I clench around him. “Yes, it would. Very much. You aremine, vampire. And I don’t share with anyone, especiallyanunnaki.”
“Good,” I reply. My voice is airy and breathless as he pumps and curves his fingers and strokes my flesh, sending rippling waves of pleasure through my core. “Because I only want you. Only ever you.”
Ashen pauses his motion and we lock eyes. It’s the most of everything in his expression. The most peace. The most desire. The most longing. It breaks and remakes my heart. I feel as though we’re two shattered pieces stitching together, just like the ancient myths of humans said. And it’s not a simple process. Some stitches are crooked. Some have to be pulled out and stitched again. There is pain and progress and blame and beauty. There are deep shadows and pools of light. And I know now. I know I want it all.
I reach between us and undo Ashen’s belt, not taking my eyes from his as I lower his zipper and release his length. He pushes up the layers of my dress and I guide him to my opening, sighing as he slides inside. I bite into my wrist again where the punctures are already closing. “Drink it,” I plead as he pushes in as deep as he can go. “I want to feel what it’s like.”
Ashen takes my arm as he glides out to the tip of his erection. He seals his lips over the bite and watches my eyes as his tongue sweeps across the twin holes. And then he thrusts back in as he pulls in a mouthful of blood.
I cry out with pleasure, nearly on the brink of tears with the overwhelming ecstasy of it. He moans against my skin as he does it again, and again. I writhe beneath him and he hooks one of my legs over his shoulder, burying himself in me. I whisper his name as he propels us closer to the cliff edge.
“I feel you,” Ashen says when he lets go, running his hand up my thigh and then to my breast as he continues the rhythm of his thrusts. “I taste everything you hide from me. Even if you can’t say it, I know it.”
I don’t utter a word in reply, but I feel all those unsaid emotions knot in my throat. I keep my eyes on his when I nod and push my wrist toward his lips once more. It’s my admission, and he understands. As Ashen drinks and we come together in a brilliant, blinding rush of pleasure, he knows.
Even if my words are still a half step behind, he’s won my heart.
CHAPTER31
Ediye is the one who drives back for us. It’s dark by the time she arrives and climbs the snow-covered path to knock on the cottage door. She looks so relieved and yet so lost when I pull her into an embrace. It burns in my heart to know how they would have found Cassian, lying in the snow like an afterthought near the body of the one that killed him.
“It was my blade,” I whisper as we hold onto one another.
“But it wasn’t your hand,” she says, and grips me tighter. We stand like that for a long moment before I feel Ashen’s palm on my back.
“We should go,” he says. His voice is the perfect balance of firmness with kindness. “Have you seen any other Reapers?” he asks Ediye as she and I separate.
“Yes. We killed two, Valentina captured one more. She managed to get out of the demon that they had followed Semyon to the area and figured we were getting close. They were tipped off with confirmation by a witch in Câmpulung when we rented the vehicles.”
Ashen’s brow furrows as he closes the door behind us and we follow Ediye toward the car. “Did she kill the last Reaper?”
“She did. None of them were everlasting deaths, though. She didn’t have the means. Valentina’s got quite the security set-up, but we definitely shouldn’t linger. Not with Semyon in the area too. Do you think the Reapers we killed will come back with more?”
