“Then what’s the problem?”
A vein pounded in my temple when he said nothing in response. Goddamn this infuriating male with a body so freaking gorgeous it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair how much I lusted for him. It wasn’t fair how hot he made me burn and that he refused to quench this fire.
And it wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t tell me why.
“Am I not good enough for you or something?”
Again, he said nothing. The silence that pulsed between us flayed me like a bullwhip. It was a form of torture that didn’t feel good, nothing like being strapped to Eros’ workbench.
Sterling’s refusal to claim me was a pain that didn’t feel so good.
The distance between us, the silence, it felt allwrong.
Even more frustrating, I knew Sterling wanted me. He wasn’t saying it, but he didn’t have to. His body told me everything his words refused to.
“You were the one to tell me to give in to my instincts. That’s what I’m doing. So why can’t you give into yours?”
My question was met only with more silence.
My blood began to boil with anger, filling me with a rage so pure, the little purchase I had managed to gain over my control began to slip again.
And once more, my instincts had shoved their way into the driver’s seat.
Without thinking, I sank to my knees in front of him, grasped the waist of his pants, and pulled them down over his hips. I paused for a split second to see if he would stop me. He didn’t though, In fact, he let out a rattling growl of encouragement and pushed his hips forward.
So I guess it was cool for me to suck him off, but claiming me as his mate and queen was off the table.
His delicious length sprung out into the open, and for a beat, all I could do was stare at it, completely enthralled. I wanted to shove myself on it, to make him moan and writhe while he was seated inside me. But the heady scent rolling off his cock fell into the background noise as my senses honed in on the dark veins in his hips and thighs.
I arched forward as if to take his length into my mouth, but instead, I sunk my fangs into his thigh, taking out my rage induced by his rejection in the form of my blood lust.
The cavernous growl that tore from his throat rattled my bones, shaking me to my core. Taking a handful of my hair, he wrenched me to my feet, pinning me down with a baleful glare that made me squirm.
With his free hand, he wrenched his sweats back up, blood and pre-cum staining the fabric like some perverted abstract painting.
Eros had offhandedly mentioned in his room that if I wanted a gentle lover, I should seek out Sterling. But I had a feeling I was seeing a side of this vampire prince that no one else got to see. Just as he was seeing a side of me no one had yet seen, including myself.
“Get out of my room,” he muttered through a voice so steady and calm, it made the little hairs on my neck stand up. “Go find one of my brothers to claim you because I won’t do it.”
“I’m not leaving until you either claim me or give me a damn good reason why you won’t.”
There weren’t words to describe the wave of frustration that ravaged my body. I wanted Sterling to the point of pain, and I knew he felt the same. So why was he rejecting me? Whoever his mate had been, they were no longer in the picture. There was an inexplicable force pushing us together, and yet, for reasons he wouldn’t say, he was going out of his way to resist it, and he was hurting me in the process.
Blind with rage, I twisted in his arms and bit him again, this time over the mark on his throat. I knew my bite wouldn’t permanently cover it, not unless he was buried balls deep inside me. But damn it, I wanted it on his flesh forever. More than that, I wanted him to want it as badly as I did.
And the fact that he didn’t left a bitter taste in my mouth that his salty-sweet blood failed to wash away.
“Ruby! Stop this!” He wrenched me away, holding me at bay in his arms. His black blood trickled down his ivory flesh, soaking into the collar of his sweater. Even covered in sweat and blood, he was beautiful.
“I need you. Please. I don’t know what reason you’re resisting this—whateverthisis—but please don’t.” I should have felt pathetic begging for him, but the only sensation left in me was the excruciating pain in my chest, where my heart had broken into a thousand pieces. “You’re supposed to be mine. Can’t you feel it too?”
“Of course I do!” His lip peeled to reveal sharp fangs that glinted in the moonlight. I resisted the urge to step back as his face twisted with the fury he could no longer bridle. “Listen to me. I want you so bad I can feel it in my balls. But I’ll never be yours. I won’t be anyone’s ever again. Do you want to know why? Because your father ruined me! I don’t want anything to do with him! I don’t want his throne! And I don’t want you!”
Sterling still held me, with one hand in my hair and one on my wrist. But I couldn’t feel him. I had gone completely numb.
I hated my dad.
I’d never met him, and I hated him with every fiber of my being. He had taken so much away from me, a chance at a normal life, a normal family. And now that I found something I actually wanted, that felt right, my father had gone and ruined that too.