10. Nikolai

10

NIKOLAI

L eaning forward, I scrape my teeth along her wrist, trying to prepare both of us for what’s going to happen. But I’m not ready for the way a soft gasp would escape her.

Or the way my body reacts to it.

My mouth still hovering above her skin, my eyes flick up to see her cheeks tinge pink. “Sorry.” She swallows and watching her throat work does something unexpected to me. “Go on.”

But her fear scents the air. It finally hits me that the last time, this hurt her. She doesn’t know that I won’t allow that. So, I brush my lips over her skin, fighting a groan at how she tastes already, and murmur, “It’s not going to hurt.”

I don’t give her time to respond, mostly because my body can no longer be restrained, before my teeth pierce her thin flesh. Instinctually, she jerks, and my hands clamp around her wrist to keep her in place.

I want to say it’s to keep her from slicing open, but it’s really that I have lost all control of my senses. Her blood floods my mouth, even more exquisite now that I am starving for it. I drink in slow mouthfuls, trying hard to be aware of how much I am draining her.

My numbing agent was already coating my fangs when I bit down. It takes Jessa all of thirty seconds to throw her head back and moan. “Fu-fuck.”

She slowly slides back and I push up onto my knees, curling over her wrist as I force my teeth out. My tongue flicks over the skin, laving over the wound and drinking in every drop.

I’m dying for more, but I look over at Jessa. She’s lying full back on the bed of rock and cool moss, her eyes nearly rolled back in her head. Her body writhes slightly, soft whimpers escaping her as she does so.

It’s enough for me to move over her, brushing her hair back as I inspect her. I thought it wouldn’t cause her pain…but maybe I was wrong. My eyes dart to the hammering pulse along her neck, my nature fighting my mind. But I keep distance between us as I lean over her.

“Jessa?”

“More,” she cries softly, her body arching up off the stone. “It felt good.” She tries to blink open her heavy eyelids and fails. “Why…” Her voice is all dreamy, assuaging my worries that she is in pain. “Why did you stop?”

I hover over Jessa, unsure what to make of her reaction. She writhes gently, cheeks flushed as she begs for more.

"I don't want to take too much," I rasp out, though my fangs ache to pierce her tender flesh again.

"Please," she breathes, tilting her head to bare the graceful column of her throat. "It feels so good..."

I clench my fists against the urge to comply, to send her spiraling deeper into intoxicated bliss. "You've lost blood already. It's not safe."

Jessa makes a small sound of frustration, still lost in a haze of endorphins. "I don't care. I need it. Need you." Her eyes flutter open halfway, glazed with desire.

Swallowing hard, I debate what I should do. As much as her willing surrender tempts me, I try to reason not to indulge further. She is helpless to resist in this state.

"Please," Jessa breathes again, her voice throaty. She reaches up to cup my face with trembling fingers, guiding me back toward her bared throat. "You haven't taken too much," she insists, though her words are slightly slurred. "Just one more."

I try to resist, but her floral scent envelops me, sweet and heady. As she arches up, her body brushes against mine, kindling a very different hunger. A ragged groan escapes me unbidden.

An image flashes behind my eyes of her bare beneath me, begging me to cover her in bites. My cock jerks with her taste still coating my tongue and the idea of seeing her skin decorated in my marks – bruises and bites alike.

I wouldn’t be gentle with her, but I can tell she wouldn’t want it to be. And that idea alone has new urges blooming through me.

I have to put an end to this.

"Jessa, we shouldn't..." My weak protest dies as she presses my face into the crook of her neck. Her racing pulse thrums against my lips, the call of her blood impossible to ignore.

Hands skimming down her sides to her waist, I let my fangs graze her skin. She shivers, tangling her fingers in my hair to hold me close. My predatory instincts surge, desperate to make this human as mine.

"Yes, Nikolai," she whispers, baring herself fully to me. "Please..."

The breathy plea shatters my restraint. With a feral growl, I sink my teeth deep once more, her body arching sharply beneath me. Jessa cries out, but in ecstasy, not pain.

I’m careful not to drink much. It’s just enough to make my veins feel like they're on fire and pour more numbing agent through her body. No matter what she says, I don’t want to push her too far. But fuck if the taste of her, of her filling my body and bringing me back to life, doesn’t do something to me.

I scrape my fangs along her sensitive skin, earning me another groan as she twists both hands in my long strands. I lap at the wound, savoring the taste of her as I do, and she whimpers as she leans into me.

She wraps a leg around my hips, locking me against her as she rocks up into me. Fingers tangling almost painfully in my hair, she holds me to her throat and I continue to lick and suck, not taking blood but getting lost in the rhythm of her hips.

Strength surges through me now after drinking so deeply, power thrumming in my veins. I notice as I hold myself above her, gently pressing myself against her, that I feel no pain. My skin has knitted back together, my bones and joints healed.

Her blood works through me like the most potent elixir, chasing away weakness and pain. Already I feel energized in a way the animal carcasses could not grant. She sustains me wholly, body and mind.

I lap at the puncture wounds until they close, sealing away the precious blood that has revived me. Jessa continues rocking against me, soft moans escaping her lips.

With care, I detach her leg from around my hips and pull back to meet her hooded gaze. Despite the euphoric haze I've put her under, clarity still shines in her hazel eyes.

Jessa reaches up to cup my face with a trembling hand. "I want more," she whispers.

I grasp her wrist, stilling its movement. "I can't take any more blood. It's too dangerous."

"I don't mean that." Jessa trails her fingers along my jaw. "I want this. I want you."

Before I can react, she draws my mouth down to meet hers in a heated kiss. I tense, shocked by the contact, before instinct takes over and I return her caresses hungrily. She tastes of life itself.

When we finally part for air, I press my forehead to hers, struggling to collect my scattered thoughts. "We shouldn't...not while you're still affected."

Jessa smiles up at me languidly. "I'm still me. I know what I want." She claims my mouth again, banishing any further protests. For now, I let her take the lead, allowing us both this fragile moment of bliss.

Sucking my bottom lip into her mouth, I let out a shocked hiss when she bites at my flesh. Blood tinges my taste buds, and I’m not sure how to feel as my taste mingles with hers.

But then Jessa’s tongue lashes out, lapping up the blood and I pull back to see her run her tongue across her body lip. As the red smears disappear, my already hardening cock stiffens, begging to be buried deep inside of this woman.

I’m not sure how long I will be able to hold back. I want her. I want to see her split open by me, her flesh covered in my marks, her blood pumping through my veins. I want her squirming from my venom as her body squeezes my cock, begging for a release only I can give her.

As if she can read my intentions on my face, she pushes up on her elbows and playfully nips at my lip again. The wound has already healed, but the reminder has a low growl building in my throat.

But when she reaches between us and pulls her tunic overhead, leaving her breasts only covered by a thin white material I can see her puckered nipples through, the growl rips free. Her eyes light up, and I pounce.

Grabbing her wrists, I push them above her head, holding her in place as my lips claim hers. It’s less gentle this time, as my tongue sweeps in to claim hers. Both of her legs wrap around my waist, her hips rolling up to meet mine as I get lost in every bit of her.

I should have known the second I felt the call of this woman that she would be trouble. She’s taken control of me, and I’m so far gone, I don’t think I could claw my way back out.

And as she whimpers against me, panting as I lean down to lick and suck at her throat again, I’m not sure I want to.