Chapter 16

Kayla

Holy shit, that really just happened.

Pushing my arousal aside and composing myself enough to actually knee the big bastard in the nuts had been the hardest thing I’d ever done. Because submitting and letting him do the wicked and deviant things I knew he was capable of sounded so much better.

So. Much. Better.

Any self-respecting person would’ve pushed their basic needs aside and kept their hold on reality. As much as I wanted to ignore the insanity he spouted about humans and mates and vampires, another part of me said that it all made sense.

His sheer size, the fangs, blood, and glowing eyes, and especially the ethereal, otherworldly aura that surrounded him, made so much sense.

Oh God, I was losing my mind.

But my thoughts and needs didn’t stop me from tearing out of that prison as he dropped to a knee and cupped his crotch. My heart was thundering as I really realized what I’d done. This could go only one way for me. The bad way that had him thoroughly pissed off at me, pushing him to the brink to harm me.

Although as soon as I entertained that thought, something pushed against it. My mind repelled it, causing my belly to clench in denial. He hadn’t hurt me so far, hadn’t done anything but touch me, stare at me as if I was the most important—only—thing in his life.

He looked at me like he owned me.

And so I ran, ran hard and fast as if I were trying to escape that fact, because that was my reality right now.

I probably should’ve been more worried about kneeing a guy in the balls, a guy who claimed he was a vampire. And even though that thought settled into my mind and consciousness, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it seemed so absolutely right and believable, that it made so much sense.

Was I in some kind of parallel dimension? Dropped into some alternate universe? Was I unconscious and just dreaming this entire scenario? Oh God, had I died back in my room, and this was the afterlife?

Because vampires were only in books and movies. Right?

I nearly tripped over my own feet as I slid to a stop at the front door, reaching out and tearing it open, rushing outside just as I heard a deep, rumbled laugh come from Adryan.

Oh God, how crazy was he if he was laughing at being kicked in the balls?

I wasn’t thinking anymore. I was just reacting. There was a flurry of snow that had just started to fall, the ground not yet covered, but the brown, dormant grass was crispy under my bare feet as I ran. It was like little needles under my soles, but as I ran harder and faster, that discomfort faded when survival picked up, and I started to feel numb.

The need for survival coursed through me, but also something else, something darker. Something that had my insides clenching and heat moving through me. Something that I’d only felt with him.

I knew there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. I knew I could try to escape, but that’s all it would be. Trying. He’d catch me. I could hear him behind me, feel his gaze on me. A glance over my shoulder showed he stood in the open doorway, a sadistic fucking smile on his face that shouldn’t have had my insides tightening in anything other than fear.

I faced forward and ran harder, having absolutely no idea where I was heading or what I was going to do, knowing there was a very real possibility I would freeze to death out here.

But still I ran, pumping my arms and legs faster and harder, winding my way around the thick trunks of the trees. By now my feet had gone numb from the cold. It was pure adrenaline that gave me the strength to keep going when otherwise I would’ve felt too tired, too sluggish to go on.

Or maybe it wasn’t any of those things. Maybe I wouldn’t have run because of how I felt, but because of something far deeper than I wanted to admit.

I was turned on from all of this.

But despite all of that, I refused to be a victim. I refused to just give in, even if a part of me—a strong and incessant part—whispered how good it would be to just let go with Adryan.

So I ran and ran hard, hearing him coming despite the distance that separated us, picking up every little thing as if my body was attuned to his, as if this was exactly what was meant to happen.

His boots crunching on the ground.

His even breathing.

The low, rhythmic sound of him growling.

His groan when he was close enough to me that I felt his body heat.

I could barely see, the night a cloak of dark shadows and barely discernible moonlight filtering down through the bare-bone branches.

I swore I felt his warm breath on my neck, causing goose bumps to skate across my arms. I was shaking, and it had nothing to do with the cold of the winter”s night.

And then I felt a surge of strength and stubbornness move through me. I stopped and turned, facing off with a man I didn’t want to believe wasn’t a man at all.

My heart raced, fear so strong in me I knew he could smell it. But I wouldn’t let it outwardly show. And then there he was, walking casually, leisurely toward me as if he hadn’t been chasing me. He wasn’t out of breath, wasn’t disheveled from a hunt through the woods.

He looked amused.

He was aroused.

I narrowed my eyes and straightened my shoulders as he came closer, shaking my head vigorously. “I refuse to believe you’re some fictional creature.”

He grinned all predator-like. “Whether you believe it or not, the truth still stands.”

“You’re not some immortal vampire,” I whispered more to myself than to him and retreated a step back, and another, until I felt a tree stop my escape. I placed my hands behind me on the thick, rough bark.

“Immortal, no. Another species that needs blood to survive, that lives far longer than any human can fathom, that is stronger and faster than you could ever understand or imagine… yes.” He stalked closer, the smile gone from his face. “An Otherworld creature who is so dangerous the darkness fears me.”

God, he was close enough I felt his heat surround me like a soothing balm. That wasn’t right. It shouldn’t feel so good to have him close.

“A monster who is now linked to you forever, an undeniable bond weaving us closer and closer until one can’t survive without the other.” He lowered his gaze to my throat. “And once I claim you, mark you good and hard… properly, our life spans will be forever tied.” He slowly trailed his gaze back to my face. “You’ll age nice and slow with me because I’m never letting you go.”

I was panting, starting to freak out even more as the world crashed around me. “Fuck. You.” The words weren’t as strong as I hoped they’d be, but I’d gotten them out and felt a surge of power at the fact.

His smile was instant and all things predatory as he came to a stop right in front of me. Before I could blink, he reached out and curled his huge hand around my neck, leaning in.

Our gazes were locked as he tightened his hand on my throat, not hard enough I couldn’t breathe, but with enough pressure it was clear he wanted me to know he could break me as easily as snapping a twig under his boot.

And God help me, but it made me wet.

“Kitty.” He said that nickname low, deep, his eyes flashing a red that illuminated the barely there space between our faces. “If anyone else had said that to me, I would have ripped their jugular out.” His very long, sharp, and white fangs elongated right before my eyes as he looked down at the spot on my neck in question.

He leaned in even more until he was flush with me, and I suppressed a shiver at his close proximity, at the feeling that he was just as affected, judging by the massive hardness digging into my belly. I couldn”t help the way my body softened for him.

“That”s it,” he praised. “Just give in, knowing there’s no use in fighting it. Fuck, you please me to no end.”

I hated that it felt so good, so right to have him so close, that the very scent of him had my pussy wet and aching. He used his hold on my neck to tilt my head to the side, then slid his lips over my throat before letting his tongue follow the path of my jugular.

“But when the words come from you,” he murmured huskily, and I felt the vibrations of his voice go straight to the center of my body, to my clenching pussy that had never felt so wet or heavy or needy in my entire life. “When you say it, princess, it makes my cock so hard.”

My eyes fluttered closed on their own at his obscene words, and the groan he let spill forth made everything so much better… and so very wrong.

“I’ve never had a weakness,” he growled and lightly nipped at my throat.

I couldn’t hold in the gasp that left me. I wasn’t pushing him away, couldn’t—hell, wouldn’t.

“Until you, kitty.” With his thumb and forefinger now gripping my chin, he jerked my head forward before I could protest or even comprehend what was happening.

Oh God, I should stop this, kick him in the balls again, push him away, run even if it means my demise.

But I couldn’t find the strength to move. He felt too good, smelled too potent. My body had never felt like it was on fire before, as if, if I did move away, it would be the very worst mistake of my life and I’d regret it.

So I said nothing, didn’t move, hardly even breathed as he kept licking at the side of my throat, as the growling noises that came from him—ones that were totally inhuman—grew with intensity the longer I let him touch me.

It all cemented the fact that this man was something… else.

“I know you want me to make you feel good.”

I curled my nails into the bark of the tree, the discomfort of little wooden pieces digging under my nails making my already heightened pleasure grow tenfold.

“Just give in and let it happen. I swear it’ll be the best fucking thing on this godforsaken planet.”

“I don’t want this. I don’t want you,” I whispered, but even I could hear how false those words sounded, especially given that I wasn’t pushing him away, and especially given the fact that I was tilting my head and giving him better access to my neck.

So he can run those sharp teeth over me, and so the threat of him tearing into my throat is even more real and all too arousing.

He laughed deeply, a dark sound that had my clit throbbing. The way the scruff from his cheeks and jaw scraped along my skin created this painful abrasion that had my inner muscles clenching desperately, trying to grasp onto something that could fill it.

Clenching like… that huge cock currently digging against my hip bone.

“I can smell how wet your cunt is, Kayla. I know you’re soaked, know that if I placed my hand between your thighs right now and added a bit of pressure to your clit, you’d come for me so hard.” He groaned. “Isn’t that right, baby girl?”

I couldn’t think or breathe or function coherently enough to answer.

“Yeaaah.” He let that one word drag out between us in that sexy, gruff voice of his. I’d never heard a voice so deep, so arousing. “Yeah, you would, and it would all be for me.”

He licked me nice and slow, up the side of my neck, his teeth biting at my earlobe hard enough it stung. I felt that discomfort rise in me, exploding into a colorful burst of ecstasy.

God, why did that feel so good?

“When I finally have you in my bed, with all that porcelain skin in contrast to my black sheets, I’m going to spread your thighs and sink my cock into your pussy.” He was breathing so hard, his warm, humid breath bathing my skin in a dirty, erotic way. “And you’ll soak me, won’t you?” He didn’t give me a chance to respond before he murmured, “Yeah.”

He started grinding his erection into me with enough force that it was uncomfortable, but God help me… I wasn’t about to stop it.

“You’ll drench my cock until all that sweet, sweet honey has my thighs slick and makes the hottest fucking wet spot on the bed.”

Oh my God.I felt bursts of pleasure exploding in me, knowing I could orgasm from his dirty words alone.

“Nah.” He slid his tongue across my jaw, over my cheek, licking me like a fucking lion playing with his prey, and finally stopped right at the corner of my mouth. “You won’t stop me, because you want this as fucking badly as I do,” he whispered and flattened his tongue to swipe it over my bottom lip. “And Kayla, fucking princess, I ache for you.”

I let my head rest back on the tree and closed my eyes, too tired of trying to fight the need to comply. I wanted to just give in for the first time in my life, to allow that part of myself I’d always thought was wrong to come to the surface and take over completely.

Completely take over until all I felt, saw, smelled, and heard was him. Adryan.

He gripped my chin in a firm, pleasurably uncomfortable hold, positioned my head so I was now looking at him full-on, and I opened my eyes, staring into his. They were dark, so damn dark it was like inky pools of that darkness I craved.

For long seconds we just stared at each other, his cock a throbbing rod between us, my pussy so wet my inner thighs were soaked, my arousal sliding down my inner legs, embarrassingly so.

For long moments we were locked in some kind of power struggle, one I knew I wouldn’t win.

And when he smirked and pulled back an inch, when he started sinking to his knees in front of me, I knew he was waiting for me to stop him. Whether he’d listen to me if I tried, I wasn’t so sure, but the truth was—I wouldn’t have.

I wanted to be so selfish that I put aside the crazy shit he said, the dangerous things that happened, and the frightening way my body reacted to him. I wanted to put all of that aside until the only thing I felt was this… this right here and right now.

And so I stared him in the eye the entire time he went to his haunches, his gaze never wavering from mine. He smirked, and it looked so arrogant, like he knew I wouldn’t deny him, deny this. But fuck him. This wasn’t about him. This was about me and what I wanted, and I was going to allow the only man who’d ever made me feel pleasure to give it to me.

“That’s it.” He kept staring up at me as he slid his hand up my leg, starting at my ankle and slowly moving that huge palm over my calf, slipping it to the inside of my thigh, and using pressure to open me up. “Keep being good for me, kitty. Relax, just relax.” I bit my lip to stifle my moan at hearing him praise me. “That’s right. You’re gonna let me take it, aren’t you? You’re gonna give it to me.” He wasn’t asking, wasn’t phrasing it as a question. He was telling me in that cocky way of his that I wouldn’t stop him.

“Stop talking,” I whispered, my heart racing and jumping into my throat. “Do what you’re going to do.” God, who was this woman? Who am I right now?

His expression hardened, frighteningly so. I could see others cowering at that expression alone. I could tell by the way Adryan watched me that he always got what he wanted, and if he didn’t, he put others in the ground.

But I wanted this. He wasn’t getting what he wanted. I was getting what I wanted.

He bared his teeth in a violent display of passion and need, his nails sharper, more claws, more animal than I should have liked. But it all turned me on, the crotch of my sleep shorts soaked, and when his nostrils flared, I knew he smelled my desire for him.

“Do it,” I challenged, and the way his eyes narrowed, how his jaw clenched, told me he wasn’t used to being ordered around. And I didn’t know how I knew, but I was very aware he wouldn’t deny me. Not anything.

He gripped the waistband of my pants and panties and tore them from me so suddenly my heart raced even harder. The material dug into my skin with a burning intensity before it fluttered to the ground, no match for his strength or clear need for me.

He inhaled deeply, leaning in another inch, his gaze still locked on me, the feel of his claws—yes, fucking claws—digging into the tender flesh of my hips. His nostrils flared again, and he finally tore his focus from me, looking at what was revealed.

I knew what he saw right then… my bared pussy, my feminine slit, all that wetness that was spilling from me in an obscene manner.

He groaned, and when he leaned forward again, I braced myself for his mouth on me, but all he did was rest his forehead on my flat belly, inhaling so deeply, continuously, as if he wanted my scent ingrained in his body. And his hands on my waist—God, he gripped me so fiercely, as if he was afraid to let me go, that I’d run again.

I felt the sharp prick of those deadly claws digging into my skin, breaking it, that burning, searing sensation causing my pussy to clench.

But still he didn’t move, just stayed right where he was, smelling me as if he couldn’t get enough. And so I took matters into my own hands, slid my fingers into the silky strands of his thick black hair, jerked his head back, and glared down at him.

He snarled, his eyes flashing red, his teeth bared, his fangs—holy shit, those fangs—growing longer and seeming so thick, like they could render my head right from my neck.

“If you’re going to lick my pussy,” I said with a lot of heat and anger in my voice before bending slightly at the waist and bringing my face closer to his, my hand still in his hair, “then fucking do it already.”

I was pissed, mad at the situation, angry that I felt so out of control, that I couldn’t control my emotions or body… that he was the reason for it all.

I let my gaze stray from his eyes to his fangs, my mouth parting slightly and my breathing becoming nothing but fast pants as I stared at those daggers that were so damn long they were past his bottom lip.

And I couldn’t stop myself from imagining him running those lethal teeth along my skin, along the sensitive flesh of my inner thighs, so close to my pussy. God… then I was thinking about his big body covering mine, pressing me down on a bed, his lips at my neck, his fangs sinking into me.

“Oh God,” I whispered before I could stop myself. And the slow grin he gave me told me he knew where my thoughts had gone, where they were staying for the foreseeable future. And then everything in me settled as I schooled my features, rested my head back on the tree again, and said in a low voice, “Go on, Adryan. Show me how a big, bad vampire eats out a pussy.”

He said nothing but made this low, rhythmic sound from deep in his chest as he gripped my thigh, lifted it up and out, and rested my all but frozen foot on his shoulder. But I didn’t feel discomfort from my bare feet on the icy ground. All I felt was this burning fire in me that had sweat beading on my flesh.

A heartbeat of stilted time passed between us as he stared at me, I looked down at him, and both of us seemed to hold our breath for him to… do this.

And when he finally buried his face between my thighs, running the tip of his nose through my cleft, and groaned, I felt those vibrations straight to my clit. I reached out with my other hand and gripped his head, holding his hair tightly as he started to devour me.

“So fucking soft, silky. All pink, smooth skin, and sweet fucking nectar spilling from this tight, virgin cunt.” His words were muffled against my soaked, swollen flesh, and I barely heard him through the mewling, crying sounds that left me.

I didn’t ask how he knew—or if he just assumed—I was a virgin. I didn’t care about anything but Adryan continuing to do what he was doing.

“You like not having any hair on this perfect cunt, princess?” I moaned when he flattened his tongue and licked me from hole to clit. “You like having your pussy so sensitive you can feel me sucking at you, drinking your honey?” He started sucking again at the skin of my inner thigh, and I knew I’d have marks, purple and red hickies… his marks.

I felt anger from my confusing and conflicting emotions.“Stop talking.” My voice was breathy, those words carrying on a moan. I was shocked and slightly embarrassed at what I was doing right now with this man I didn’t even know. It didn’t matter if it felt too right; it pissed me off.

Of course I didn’t want him to stop talking, his dirty words lighting me up something fierce. I wanted him to keep saying those filthy things. But I’d never admit that.

I’d never been the type of person to be vulgar or obscene, never imagined speaking to another person in that way. But this man brought out all the deliciously dark feelings in me.

He snarled and licked my inner thigh, and when I pulled his hair, steering him back to my pussy, where I ached and needed him the most, he laughed darkly, knowingly.

“Ohhh,” I whispered and arched my neck.

He was a madman, a lush for my pussy as he buried his face between my thighs again, his mouth and nose, chin and cheeks all up in there so there wasn’t any part of my pussy he wasn’t touching, licking, sucking… consuming.

He thrust his tongue inside me, fucking me with the muscle before sliding it up and drawing my engorged clit into his mouth, working me over so good and hard and fast I felt my orgasm climb until I was gasping for breath and seeing stars behind my closed eyelids.

And the whole time, I held onto his hair tight enough I knew it had to hurt him, but he just growled and snarled against my sloppy wet pussy and kept eating me out.

“Yeaaah, that’s it. Gods, so fucking good, princess. Give it to me; give it all to me until I’m drowning.”

I was there, so close, and it felt so good, incredible, but I couldn’t go over the edge. I was at the precipice where I hung onto that ecstasy, needing to suck in that last breath that would have me toppling over the edge, but it was forever an inch from me.

As if he knew my struggle, felt how tight my body was as I tried in vain to reach it, he growled deep, slow and long.

“I know what you need.” He was panting as he moved his mouth to one of my pussy lips, sucking the flesh into his mouth, biting it gently before letting it go and licking that soft spot where my thigh and pussy met. “I need it too, baby.”

With his other hand, he snaked it up my body, curled his palm around my breast for only a second, and kept ascending until he was wrapping his huge palm around my throat.

When I opened my eyes, my attention was on the obscured sky, flutters of snowflakes falling, shattered bits of moonlight forcing their way through the spindly branches.

I looked down at Adryan, his lips and tongue still moving back and forth at the junction where my thigh and pussy met, his eyes glowing so that hazy red glow illuminated the space around us. I felt his fingers tightening even more around my neck.

“I know what my fucking female needs,” he snarled, his expression so fierce it jacked my desire even higher.

Slowly my air was cut off—not completely, but enough that as the seconds ticked by, it was harder to suck in oxygen, my lungs burning from the force of trying to breathe. Instinctively my arm lifted, and I curled my fingers around his hand, knowing I should pull it away. But I didn”t. I added pressure, keeping it there.

What’s wrong with me? Why do I need this so badly?

“Fucking fate,” he grunted. “Giving me a female who is perfect for me.”

I should have felt panic, fear, but the only sensation that settled in me like a balm of intense pleasure was how good and right it felt to have his hand where it was and those wicked sharp teeth now scraping down my inner thigh.

My back arched, and I rested my head on the tree once more, my fingers now curled around his thick wrist.

I was soaring higher as he growled against my inner leg, his teeth opening my fragile flesh like tissue tearing. It burned and hurt so good.

He groaned again just as I snapped my eyes open, parted my lips on a silent moan. “Now be a good girl and come for me.” And then I felt him sink those fangs deep into my thigh.

I splintered in two, combusting as I came so hard my body locked up tight, my pussy clenching painfully. The wash of endorphins caused reality to fade away as I floated to another plane of existence.

Bursts of white and black popped out in front of my vision.

I could hear a high-pitched sound, realizing it was me crying out, screaming as my orgasm peaked and soared.

He was growling like a beast, like if he didn’t swallow every last drop of my orgasm, he’d die. “So fucking sweet. So fucking mine.”

And then I felt him bite me again, the pain and pleasure making me come once more, my breasts thrusting out, my nipples stabbing against my cotton top. I was dizzy and moaning, not even caring if in that moment I sounded like a wounded animal caught in a snare.

Because that”s what Adryan was to me, I realized. My trap, my own personal bear trap.

I found the strength to look at him. The sounds coming from him weren’t human and just solidified the fact that what he’d said—being a vampire—made more and more sense, even if it shouldn’t make any.

He watched me as he had his mouth latched to my thigh, drawing from me… drinking my blood. Oh God. He was drinking my blood, taking long, hard pulls from me. And then he got a hooded expression, making a muffled growl that vibrated against my flesh.

I felt something hot and thick, wet and purely male splash across my lower legs. I gasped, knowing what it was, knowing he came. And the entire time, he watched me.

Both of his hands were on me still, one around my throat, not as tight anymore so I could breathe freely, the other gripping my hip and keeping me in place as he’d eaten me out and made me come twice.

He orgasmed without even touching himself.

That was incredibly hot.

My legs shook, my back sore and raw from scraping against the tree, my knees buckling.

He broke the seal he had on my flesh, and I watched as a trail of crimson started to slide down my pale skin. He leaned in and lapped it up, ascending until he got to the twin puncture marks. He gave the wound a gentle kiss on his mark, that soft touch going against the very grain of the arrogant, violent, and dangerous man he came off as.

He set my leg on the ground and slowly stood, and I felt my eyes widen as I saw his cock pulled out from the fly of his slacks. I didn’t know when he’d done it, too lost in my own pleasure to examine anything past my own need.

God, he was only semihard, but he was huge, so thick and long I didn’t know how that appendage could even fit comfortably in a female.

And my pussy got wet all over again.

His nostrils flared, and I felt my face heat in embarrassment. Without taking his gaze from me, he gripped his cock, squeezing himself from root to tip, pushing a bead of cum out the slit before it dropped to the forest ground. And then he tucked his dick back into his pants, the corner of his mouth lifting. “You see what you do to me, kitty? You did so well, getting me off.”

My knees locked, everything rushing back. I was going down. But before my body fell to the ground, the world spun, and I became weightless as my body was lifted easily into Adryan’s arms.

I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck, resting my head on his chest. He tightened his hold on me, his chest rising and falling as he inhaled and exhaled deeply.

“I don’t need you,” I murmured, still trying to fight whatever this was between us, even if I knew deep down it was pointless.

He laughed softly, deeply. “Don’t forget what I am, princess. I can smell a lie. I can smell your pussy getting wet all over again.”

My eyes grew heavy, the crash of everything that had happened catching up with me, so it felt like I hadn”t slept at all.

And as I tried to fight sleep, I realized… I felt safe in his arms.

And that scared the shit out of me more than the fact that a vampire was carrying me back to his lair. Or that he wouldn’t let me go.