Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“Yeah. You lucked out.” I scoff.
“We follow them out of respect,” he says.
“My father isn’t worthy of my respect.”
“Isn’t he? Tell me why.”
“You seem to already know my story,” I say. “Why don’t you tell me?”
He chuckles and finally lets go of me. “I don’t know as much as you think I do, and unlike you, I don’t possess any talent for mind games, so I can’t force you to tell me.” He moves in closer, his neck only a few inches away from me, and that damned artery is pulsing out of control.
He’s playing me.
He knows what I want, and he knows he has it.
If he lets me feed, maybe I’ll forget I stumbled in here to find him conversing with one of my assailants.
“You may not have the ability to mess with my mind,” I say, “but you’re messing with my body right now, and you know it.”
“Am I?”
Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.
No.
No, Hannah. No.
Maintain. Focus. You can do this.
I inch backward, taking all my energy not to melt into him and take what I so desperately desire.
“I have something you want,” he says.
I take another step back. Away from him. Still his heart pounds in my ears, his blood whooshes through his veins, ready to squirt out his carotid and nourish me.
And his body. The warmth of his body. The bulge in his jeans.
“I have something you want as well,” I retort.
“You do. I don’t deny it. I don’t understand it, but I can’t deny it, princess. You’re my… My…”
“Your what?”
He advances, like the wolf he is, and I’m his prey. In my entire life, I’ve never imagined such a desire to be prey.
His warmth. His nearness. His fucking beating heart.
I inhale, breathing him in. Getting renewed just by his presence.
This is all so unreal. Can’t be happening.
Then he grabs me, and our bodies are touching, our hearts pumping outward toward each other.
Our mouths are now only inches apart, and I don’t know what I want more—his blood or his kiss.
“Damn it, princess. What you do to me.”
I sigh, raising my chin, giving him better access to my lips.
“You’re my… My…”
“Your what?” I rasp. “Your what?”
“Fuck.” He grabs the back of my head. “You’re my damned mate.”
His lips come down on mine.
11
The kiss is furious.
Rogan is angry. With me. With this situation. Even with himself.
But the thought is fleeting. Emotion coils through me as our lips slide together, our teeth clash, our tongues duel.
A thick groan fills the air, and I’m not sure whether it came from Rogan or from me. From both of us, probably, and I feel it. I feel it down to the marrow in my bones, like a mild earthquake consuming us.
All the while his heart thumps, its beat growing more rapid. His blood thrums through his veins, the sound like the flowing rapids of a Colorado river.
My gums tingle, and my fangs drop. And oh God, just a scratch against his tongue, and I get a taste of that amazing elixir—his blood.
This time I know where the growl comes from. From my body because of what I crave. His blood. Just a trickle and I need more. So much more.
I pull back, breaking the kiss with a loud smack and baring my teeth.
His emerald eyes are on fire. “Fuck it all. How can you look so fucking beautiful like that? With those damned vampire teeth? With…fuck. With my blood…”
“I need it, Victor,” I growl. “Don’t make me wait.”
“Damn it, princess. I need it too.” He takes a step forward, erasing the short distance between us. He brushes his hair off one side of his neck and tilts his head. “Take it. Take what you need.”
I’m on him in a flash, my fangs in his flesh and his delicious blood trickling over my tongue and down my throat. I close my eyes, allow the drugging liquid to take its hold on me. To give me nourishment and strength.
The flavor is unique—a little dark chocolate, a little lusty red wine, a lot of woods and wolf.
It’s fucking delicious.
Delicious in its flavor but delicious also in its effect.
Energy courses through me. I feel like fucking Atlas holding up the world. This blood. This Alpha-were blood.
Nothing will ever be the same again. No more bagged blood. Not even blood from a live human or animal. No. Nothing else will do.
Only Victor Rogan’s blood. Only—
He pushes at me, then. Tugs his neck away, dislodging my teeth.
“Enough, princess. You don’t want to drain me.”
I move backward, wobbling, and meet his gaze.
“Fuck,” he says again. “Your lips and cheeks are smeared with my blood, and I find it… I find it… Fuck. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I lick my lips, savor the last bit of his blood. “And you find that unusual? That you’re attracted to a vampire?”