Page 7 of The Mistress, the Monster and the Marquess

Lina flew away from him, faster this time.

His hands tingled with the loss of her skin against his palms. Benedict turned his body to see her land on the stairs.

“It is much more complex than you realize,” she answered.

Benedict sighed and nodded. He didn’t like being treated like a child. He could handle the truth. “Tell me. I’ll listen.”

Lina smiled like she’d found a treasure in the dark and Benedict’s body responded to the beauty before him. She may not fulfill all of his needs, but his cock certainly loved her.

“How long until you next need to feed? A week?”

Lina shook her head, looking suddenly afraid again.

Benedict’s own fear increased when he saw the look of hunger in her eyes. She wanted him again, too, but he sensed her reluctance. She could probably kill him if she drank too much too soon. He’d likely need time to recover from the loss.

“Two weeks?” he pressed.

She nodded slowly, though her expression didn’t quite fit with her actions.

“I can go a month without blood and have done so many times before.”

He inclined his head. She was being so considerate, a notion so at odds with the behavior of his Domme during sex. “But two weeks would be better?”

She smiled with impish appeal, her lush full lips turning up at the corners. She really was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Blue eyes, red lips, elegantly high cheek bones with flame red hair. She would put any duchess to shame.

“Yes, if you can handle this again.” She motioned to her dungeon.

Benedict chuckled with real mirth and picked up his jacket, cravat, and boots. Unexpected joy floated through his veins at the mere idea of being with her again. “Lina, that was the best sex of my life,” he said honestly. “We can do this every day if you promise not to kill me.”

Her face turned solemn, and she stared at him for a long moment. “I must speak to an elder. I have never experienced this before.”

Benedict’s chest tightened unexpectedly, as though someone had clamped a vise on his ribs. Conflicting thoughts were flowing through him. He loved the idea of being special to her, being something that she wanted but had never experienced. Being used simply as a feeding and fucking toy was not what he wanted to be, though.

He reached her on the stairs and pulled her into him for a kiss.

Instantly, her tongue sought his out.

They clung to each other, lips, and tongues melding into one another until he was hard again.

She pressed herself into him, her nipples peaking against her dress.

“Another round?” he suggested, not entirely joking.

Lina smiled but pushed him up the stairs. “No, my pet, I need to think.”

Benedict ascended the stairs much slower than he had descended. What awaited him up there except drunken friends and a world full of worries and responsibilities? Lina at least provided one glorious hour of escape. He turned to her when he heard her lock the door behind them. “Two weeks then.”

Lina nodded and pulled him into her. Her lips were soft but so sure as they branded him, making a statement he’d not forget.

He broke away from her, panting, his cock rock solid again. It was not usually the way one walked out of a brothel, but that was exactly what he did.

Chapter Four.

Lina watched her intended blood mate walk away, then sagged against the door, her strength finally giving out. She licked her lips in remembrance and let a moan escape her. Never had she tasted blood so sweet or known such pleasure in a man’s arms before. She knew the legends and always half feared the stories. Yet she hadn’t believed them to be true. Not really. Now, she needed time to think, and she needed to speak to an elder. What am I going to do?

“Lina, please...”

She heard a woman’s plaintive plea from a room above. A whisper meant only for her ears. She flew up the stairs and wrapped her hand around the drunken old man’s throat that had caused her problems earlier.

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