Page 13 of Rising Darkness

“What’s happening?” Tye tightened his hold on me, crushing me to his chest as he cradled me.

Yes, Master, the shade inside the vampire hissed ecstatically while his host sucked at the blood bags to fortify himself. A chorus of other eerie voices joined him as the room shook once more. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling. I whimpered from the cacophony in my mind. I wanted to cover my ears. To pry their nightmarish hisses of triumph out of my head.

Electricity zapped from Elan, the bolts firing along his limbs. Tipping the vessel to his mouth, he gulped down a few mouthfuls of blood, and if I wasn’t part vampire, I would have found it disgusting. Then again, any part of me merging with any part of that evil fuck was revolting.

Setting the rest of my blood aside, he held out his arms and threw back his head. The sigils he’d drawn glowed to life.

And his power went haywire, flying from him in an explosion of onyx lightning. Tye and I grunted in pain as they collided with us, and then he was curling over me and giving his father his back, shielding me within the shelter of his arms. Tye screamed as the magick ravaged him, and the scent of burned flesh assaulted my nose.

I tried to dredge up my magick, but it only fizzled, refusing to grow like it usually did.

The feeling of darkness increased until it was suffocating. I just knew Elan was accessing the veil. It crept over my skin like thousands of tiny ants, and the darkness in me answered, leaving me feeling shaken and off-balance.

Floaters—class one shades—suddenly emerged, flying out of Elan’s chest, their shadowed forms circling around their master. They dove at us as their master’s magick charged the air like a thunderstorm and the ward flickered.

Tye’s blood misted around us with the next wave of power, his skin flaying with each lash of electricity. The light spray of it made me sick and hungry simultaneously. I hated that his agony had awoken something so primal inside of me, but my fangs descended without permission, and I groaned from the sharp pang of need in my stomach. I loathed my reaction, but Tye’s gaze immediately fell to those sharpened points.

“Bite me,” Tye urged, falling to his knees. “Do it now, Lorn,” he demanded vehemently. “Hurry. I can’t… I can’t hold out for much longer. Do it before he issues another order.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about other than my need to feed, but Tye’s sacrifice, the pain etched across his tight brow and the sweat beading across his forehead as he withstood the attack and kept me safe, made me want to do as he asked.

“Please,” he pleaded.

I should hate him. I should hate myself. But that didn’t stop the way I craved his body, his blood.

And if I was honest with myself… his heart.

Pressing close, I weakly lifted my arm and cupped his head, tangling my fingers into his black hair. Angling himself to keep the attack from touching me, he covered as much of me as he could and tipped his head to help.

On a needy moan, I sank my fangs into his pulsing throat and lost myself to the euphoria of his blood. The hunger took over, and I barely registered the sharp prick at the crux of my shoulder in return until the pain warmed into pleasure. My body hummed as I fed, and I realized Tye was doing the same thing.

Oh my goddess, he hasfangs.

Every pull against my throat pulsed in my clit, and though the world was falling apart around us, I clung to him and the feelings he created. I had so many questions, but my need wasn’t sated, and this wasn’t the time. So they fell away as I gave into the bliss of bloodlust.

Tye’s magick invaded my body, seeking and asking for the bond. I reached for the connection and let it chase the loneliness that had crippled me since Mara destroyed my mate bonds.

Another suck. Another pull.

Deep within the well in my chest, the mate bond flared to life. I’d expected the sudden link to diminish like usual, but instead, I felt an incomprehensible need to push that same connection into Tye. Warmth filled my gums, and I whimpered.

My fingers tightened in Tye’s hair as my body replenished, and I pressed myself harder against his body. He groaned in a mixture of pain and pleasure, and pulled me endlessly closer.

And the small spark in the darkness grew into a blinding light.

Now that I’d gotten a taste of the mate bond again, I wouldn’t let it go.

Without thinking, I let the heat in my fangs flow outward, and I clung with dear life to that shared connection.

That’s it, sweetness. Give it back to me,Tye encouraged roughly.

I moaned as the bond between us locked into place. That he had spoken directly into my mind didn’t hit me until afterward.

Reality came crashing down with a starkness that left me more than breathless.

Disengaging from the bite I had on Tye’s neck, I pulled away, carelessly ripping his fangs from the column of my throat. I stared at him in horror.

“Holy shit,” I gasped. My fingers fluttered over the wound, then flew to cover my aching fangs before I could latch back onto him and take my fill.

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