Okay. So, what do we do? Should I
Just have a seat, kjære. He gestured to the chair shed been sitting in all day.
Oh, the endearment in that low, sexy voice. Did he really hold her dear to him? Taking a deep breath, she did as he asked, her heart already sprinting before her bottom hit the cushion.
If youll pull up your sleeve, he said, his deep voice rasping with hunger. I will drink from your wrist. That will help make this...less intimate.
Those last three syllables rolled off his tongue with such exquisite promise, her whole body flashed hot. She yanked up both sleeves of her T-shirt and nodded, worried that her voice would express the arousal ramping up deep inside.
Jakob? the king said.
His brother crossed the room.
Jakob is here to ensure I dont lose control as you saw before, and to make sure I stop before the blood loss becomes harmful to you. He will need to monitor your heart rate. Would you be okay with him holding your other wrist?
Sure, she whispered, her gaze flickering to the other vampire. He crouched beside her, his expression serious, a little on edge, even. His big hand wrapped its warmth around her right wrist, two of his fingers pressing firmly against the thrumming pulse there.
Looking into her eyes, Henrik whispered, Just relax. His voice was almost mesmerizing, and a calming ease blanketed her body. The tension drained from her shoulders and her heartbeat decelerated.
He cradled her hand and forearm in his big hands and gently pulled her arm toward him as he knelt closer to her thigh.
Henriks hands were warm, yet cooler than Jakobs, and big, though thinner than his brothers, too. The comparison came out of nowhere and made her acutely aware that two mentwo male vampireshad their hands on her bare skin.
He struck, his fangs sinking deep into her radial artery, opening it up, and letting her blood flow.
It was just as beforea flash of pain erased by the first caressing sucks of his mouth against her flesh. Kaira flinched and inhaled a sharp breath. Her eyes flew toward Jakob, who was studying her with unabashed interest. The heat of a blush bloomed over her cheeks. His nostrils flared. Her heart kicked up in her chest again. The air in the room heated by ten degrees, at least. His brow furrowed and he looked away, staring at her upturned wrist like he suddenly found it fascinating.
Henrik held her arm tighter and fed from her more urgently, his mouth pressing harder against her skin, his sucking draws coming faster. Appreciative grunts and half whimpers spilled from him, giving voice to his pleasure and satisfaction in her blood. He leaned some of his weight against her thigh, and the heat rolling off him threatened to sear her.
She unleashed a shuddering breath, and he moaned.
Breathe, breathe, just breathe, she chanted to herself. Because it was getting harder to do so.
Once again, her body was responding to his feedingto his mouth, his tongue, his hands. His need was so great it nearly coalesced into a physical presence in the room. And, God, she was so hot and wet for him she could barely sit still.
Kaira wanted Henrik. His big body climbing up hers, his weight holding her down, him claiming her in every way he could.
The high-pitched whimper escaped her unbidden.
Henriks drinking eased up.
She went to stroke his hair, to encourage and reassure him, and forgot Jakob held her other wrist.
His gaze cut to hers.
She tried tugging her hand out of his grasp.
Cocking an eyebrow, he released her. Her hand fell on the silkiness of Henriks hair just as Jakob knelt closer and pressed his fingers against the pulse in her throat. The heat of his big hand covered her skin from her throat to just above her breast.
Henrik growled and twisted without breaking contact to track the movement, his eyes slits of brilliant pale light.
Shh, she managed, petting his hair. His gaze shifted to her for a long moment and, apparently satisfied with what he saw, he returned all his attention to what was happening where his mouth met her arm.
Her arousal spiked. Everywhere she looked she saw big, muscled male bodies. Each inhalation of breath drew their tantalizing scents into her lungs. And the longer she stroked Henriks hair, the more passionately he threw himself into the feeding.
Each suck tugged at her nipples and pulled at her clit. She forced herself to sit still, to resist the growing need to clench her thighs or shift her hips or throw her head back on a long cry. Hand trembling now, she splayed her fingers through the side of his white hair once, twice, then tucked it behind his ear.
Which gave her a ready view of his red lips clamped to her wrist.
Her mouth fell open and she licked her tongue over her bottom lip. She was completely losing control of her body, her needs, her wants. Embarrassment heating her face, she chanced a glance at Jakob.
His expression absolutely dripped with arousalmouth opened, flashing eyes hooded, fangs stretched low.
For just an instant, she imagined leaning in and kissing him. The idea of kissing one vampire while the other fed from her, both of them holding her down, liquefied her insides and destroyed her effort to sit still. She squeezed her thighs together, offering the tiniest, tormenting relief to her immense need for friction.
She met Jakobs eyes. And knew it wouldnt be right.
Beautiful as he was, he wasnt the one her lips yearned to taste.
Henrik was. He might not have possessed his brothers physical perfection, but she wanted him. Simple as that. Impossible though it seemed, some sort of bond had formed between them in the short time since theyd met. Maybe it was the understanding their shared illnesses created. Or the fact that the aurora had captured both of their fascinations. Or that hed saved her life, and now she was saving his. Tingling erupted on her left hand again and she jerked. He drank deeper, held tighter, and wrapped himself around her calf and thigh more completely.
Something hard and long pressed urgently into her shin.
At the proof and feel and size of his desire for her, she couldnt hold back from moaning his name. Henrik.
Something hard and long pressed urgently into her shin.
At the proof and feel and size of his desire for her, she couldnt hold back from moaning his name. Henrik.
Jesus, Jakob groaned.
Henrik growled, and the vibration rocked through her arm and against her leg.
Hot pressure grew within her core. Without meaning to, her hand fisted hard in his hair. He rocked his hips, a sinuous writhing that painted pictures in her minds eye of what he would look like moving over her, in her.
She was going to come. She was going to come so hard. And she wanted him in her when she did.
Henrik, she whimpered. Words hung for a long moment on the tip of her tongue. And then she shoved the fear and uncertainty and debate away and gave them voice. I want you.
Chapter 10
It was only because he was so acutely aware of Kaira that he heard her speak over the roar of the white noise driving him to feed.
And then the words sank in. I want you.
The answering growl that rolled out of his chest was pure sexual instinct. And he was so fucking ready. From the moment his fangs had penetrated her flesh, hed been all sexed up.
But his physical hunger waged war against his sexual hunger. He couldnt stop drinking. He couldnt make himself pull away. The taste was too sweet, the relief too great, the fundamental satisfaction of nourishment too overwhelming. He told himself each swallow would be the last, but then he sucked again, and again.
Panic skittered down his spine. He was going to kill her. He was going to bleed her dry.
After a decade of virtual starvation, his body was trapped in the stranglehold of survival mode. He unleashed a desperate whimper stifled by a thick swallow of blood.
Tell him again, Jakob rasped. Again, Kaira.
I want you, Henrik, she whispered, a note of fear entwining with the arousal roughening her voice. Her fingers carded through his hair, her nails scratching his scalp. I want you.
It was more than hed hoped. Not just her acquiescence, but her desire. Not just her willingness, but her eagerness. Warm pressure filled his chest.
But he still couldnt stop.
Even now her blood was rebuilding and reawakening him. More, more, more was the constant mantra filling his head.
Its like before, Kaira, Jakob said, panic lancing into his voice. You have to convince him. You have to bring him back to you. Tell him.
Under his touch, she was shaking now. And the intense scent of adrenaline joined the sweet smell of her arousal.
Okay, okay. She slid her hand under his hair, massaged his neck, and leaned in as close as their position would allow. You can have more. Im not going anywhere. But right now, I need you. I want you, Henrik, so you have to stop.
His breathing and heart rate picked up their pace at the promise of her words.
Show him, Jakob urged.
She rained kisses down everywhere she could reach. His head, his temple, his shoulder. He clutched harder to her, the need for sex beginning to outweigh his need for blood. Grasping the hand pressing down on her forearm, she said, Let me. Tentatively, he gave in and allowed her to pull his right hand. He twisted just in time to see her kiss the backs of his fingers, the Magnusson crest ring.
Use your teeth, his brother said.
Henrik growled, a warning to Jakob, an encouragement to Kaira.
She heeded them both, sucking his middle finger into the wet heat of her mouth and lightly scraping her teeth against his flesh as she withdrew.
Harder, Jakob said, his voice heavy with arousal. Henrik was going to kill him, he was going to fucking
Kaira sucked his pointer and middle fingers in to the second knuckle. And then she sank the sharp edge of her teeth into his skin. She bit and nibbled at the fleshy pads of his fingers until Henrik was shaking and moaning and sweating.
Just stop. Just pull away. Just st
Jesus Christ, Henrik, this woman is fucking phenomenal. Either you take her or I will.
Henriks eyesight went red with rage. He extracted his teeth, licked her wound closed in a single swipe, and launched himself at his brother, taking them both to the ground in a tangle halfway across the room. Kaira shrieked as they rolled and fought to pin one another. Jakob was saying something Henrik couldnt hear over the angry static his brothers words had unleashed.