Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 42637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
Her sigh was soft, content.
Above us, the moon traced silver lines across the rooftops. The castle had been a tomb for so long, but now, it breathed again, because she was here, because her laughter carried down the halls and she’d been given back to me.
For centuries, I had clung to a fruitless hope I couldn’t name, a belief that darkness itself had been given to me not as punishment but as a promise.
Not death nor even immortality could destroy our destiny to be together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
IVAN
For a week, Clara and her family had spent every waking moment together. By day, they traveled into town, shopped, ate, even returned to her grandparents’ village. For me, those hours were hell. The sun chained me inside, and worry gnawed at me she might not come back. But she always did. Her parents accepted the excuse that I worked during daylight easily enough, though her grandmother’s eyes lingered on me with sharp, knowing suspicion.
The night after their departure was hushed, emptied of voices and laughter. Their warmth faded down the halls, leaving silence behind. Clara had smiled for them, reassured them, but I saw the worry in her eyes.
I told her there would be as many visits as she wished, that these walls were hers and theirs as much as mine. And if she ever wanted them under this roof, I would yield without question.
Because I was bound body and soul to her desires.
And tomorrow, she would return to the gallery, back to the world of light and strangers and mortal obligations. Tonight was mine. Tonight, I would savor her as if I could keep time to myself.
So I took her back to the garden that had once been hers alone and now was ours. Where birds with fragile wings once fed from her hand. Where family ties tugged at her daylight hours and the night belonged only to us.
The courtyard garden was all darkness and ivy, old stone walls closing us in. I spread a blanket over the grass, and when Clara stretched out, her hair fanned around her like spilled ink.
All I could think about was how good she looked here.
“Ivan…” Her voice was thick with arousal.
I shifted my body, so I leaned over her, my mouth brushing her jaw, tracing lower, grazing the frantic flutter of her pulse right below her ear. I lingered there, teeth grazing lightly, enough to make her breath hitch. Her fingers twisted in the blanket, but she didn’t push me away.
“You feel me, don’t you?” I murmured, dragging my palm down her stomach until I cupped her between her legs. Even through her clothing, I felt how hot it was. “How hungry I am for you… my dark need.”
Her legs parted instantly, hips tilting up to meet my hand. I moved between her thighs, positioning so I could really press my mouth to the hollow of her throat and wrap my hand right up around her perfect pussy.
I smiled against her skin, kissed down her throat, and across the valley between her breasts. She tasted like lukewarm sugar. Each kiss left her trembling more, her body surrendering inch by inch until she was sprawled flat on the blanket with me hovering over her.
By the time I reached her stomach, I was already half mad. I pushed her sweater up, letting my lips graze her navel. It was cold outside, but we created our own heat. “I can smell it, baby.” I buried my face between her cotton-covered lips and slit. Even through two layers of clothing, I smelled it was her time of the month.
Her hips lifted again, silent permission. I worked her pants and panties off and leaned back, admiring the view. My hunger rose, not just to fuck her but for her blood, too… any way I could have it.
My fangs ached. My cock throbbed, and hunger roared through me so loud it drowned out everything else.
Her hand fisted in my hair, holding me with her, grounding me. “Are you sure?” I knew what she was asking.
We’d never done this… never fed this way.
“Oh, I’m fucking sure.” My teeth scraped the inside of her thigh, making her gasp. “You make me feral. You’re essential to every single part of me.”
I placed my hands on her inner thighs and pushed them further apart. Then, while holding her gaze with mine, I lowered my mouth to the sweet, feminine spot between her thighs.
I dragged my tongue over her clit, soft enough to make her body jolt. Then I gave her a long, deliberate lick up her slit, the taste of sweet copper detonating across my tongue. Her blood rushed across my tongue, and a guttural sound ripped from my chest.
I locked both hands around her hips and held her there as I feasted. Long, slow strokes of my tongue, circling her clit until she squirmed and moaned for me, then dipping down again to gather every drop of red wetness that slipped from her pussy hole.