Page 87 of The Book Reader
I growl at her words and pull back to look down at her, my fangs lower in my mouth; the need to mark her as mine runs hot through my body. “I’ll bite you, Ari, but I will not mark you.”
She goes to open her mouth to speak, but before she can get a word out, I thrust forward and bury my cock deep in her cunt. She cries out and clutches onto my shoulders, her nails digging in. I hold still, just wanting to feel her. I lower my head and run my fangs along her neck, teasing her. “Fuck I want to mate with you, I want to sink my fangs into your skin and never let go.”
She uses her hand to press me closer to her.
“Gaelan, bite me.” She asks panting.
My whole body shudders. Trelor growls in my head, wanting us to mark her, wanting to reclaim what is ours, but I push him back. She has yet to fully meet my other side—she was asleep when he first came forward—and he’s part of the mating ritual; I don’t want to scare her.
I open my mouth and bite lightly into her skin, my hips pull back, and I start to thrust harder, her fingers digging into my skin.
“Fuck yes… Gaelan, harder.”
I roll my hips and ram into her. I can taste the sweet rose taste of her blood, and it fills my mouth, and it drives me crazy. Trelor ripples harder under my skin. Desperate to take over, wanting me to give usallwhat we crave. But not now, not yet.
Ari screams out my name as she comes, her pussy squeezing around my cock. The need to bite her harder, to drink from her, rushes over me. I pull my fangs slowly out of her flesh. If I keep tasting more than a little of her, I will end up marking her. Her blood coats my lips. Lowering, I kiss her. Ari shudders, her orgasm continuing to roll through her, making her shiver under me.
Wanting to give her one more, I place my hand between us to find her clit, pushing down on it as I start to rub it in time with my thrusts. My hips speed up, her pussy squeezing my cock again, pulsing around me, pulling me closer to the edge.
Pulling back from her lips, I grunt, “Again, Ari, come for me again.” She arches up and breaks apart under me. I thrust a few more times, pounding into her cunt, drawing out all her pleasure before I come with a roar, my whole body shuddering. I look down and smile.
“I love you.” I do, so fucking much, my soul feels complete with her.
She smiles at me, then closes her eyes. “I think I’ve lost the ability to walk,” she laughs.
I chuckle, trying to hide the hurt that she hasn’t said she loves me back. I know it’s different for her; she must fall in love with me all over again, even if her soul already does.
For me? I’ve always loved him, and for as long as I have breath in my lungs, I always will.
I roll to my side, taking her with me, my cock still hard and buried deep in her pussy.
I watch as sleep claims her, her eyelids moving as she dreams—it’s been a while since I’ve dreamed of walking with Ari.
I feel my eyes flash bright blue as my power surges, and my eyes close; I slip into her dreams.
Chapter 31
ARIANNA
The land is empty; it’s like a desert with no life. There are trees spread around. They look like all of the water has been sucked out of them; the land is dry. Up ahead, I can see a harder, clay-like ground with cracks running through it. It must have been a pond or lake of some kind. The air feels hot and close, so much so that I find my chest tightening with each breath I take. Everything is dead. I shiver even though it’s far from being cold. Something happened here, something bad.
I turn and start walking. I have no idea where I’m going, but something feels as if it’s pulling me toward it.
The tree line thins out more; the only thing visible is the heat waves in the air, rising from the ground: no buildings or houses, just space, frozen in a memory of something evil. I can feel it pricking over my skin like razor-sharp needles.
Hearing voices up ahead, laughter, and someone squeaking in delight, my heart warms at the sound, but I still can’t see anything.
Moving faster, chasing the sound, the sand under my feet slipping, making me sink deeper each time I move; each step now getting harder to make. I keep falling further, the sandnow up to my waist. My heart is pounding with the fear that I’m going to get stuck.
The more I move, the faster I sink—it’s up to my chest now, so tight my arms are stuck under the surface. The sand is up to my mouth now; The grains of sand flicker over the surface with every breath I take—I can’t breathe. My eyes lock on a figure running toward me, and his blue eyes are what I see first.
Gaelan.
He’s running, but he isn’t fast enough.
I sink under, the last thing I see are his hands trying to reach for me.
Blackness surrounds
