Page 42 of Taste of Death

Amy reached across her lap and placed her hand in mine. The small touch sent a fire blazing through me.

“Thanks for saying that. And you have me too, Novak.”

“Thank Temkra for that.” My thumb moved across her wrist, and it was only then I noticed that her veins felt more rigid and prominent than they should have. Almost like tendons instead of blood vessels. Her face looked fine, if a bit thinner than usual.

“Akra, when did you last feed?”

Amy lifted an eyebrow. “When I was last at your house. Why?”

Concern tightened my chest. “That was over a week ago. Why didn’t you take blood during the week?”

“I don’t know.” She pulled her hand from my lap, turning her gaze away.

“Aren’t you hungry? Your veins are stiff, have you not been feeling well? You should have told me.”

“It’s not a big deal,” she protested. “I’m a little hungry, sure. But I’ve felt okay all week.” Holding her wrist in her opposite hand, she mumbled something else under breath.

“What was that?”

“I just… I… ” She stopped and chewed her lip with her small fangs. “Never mind. It’s probably weird and childish.”

“Akra, tell me,” I urged. “You’re new to this; there’s no need to be embarrassed.” I reached for her hand again, just lightly brushing my knuckles against her fingers. “I would never ridicule you.”

Amy slowly opened her fingers, allowing my hand to rest in her palm. She spoke looking down at our hands, in a voice almost too quiet for me to hear.

“I don’t want blood from anyone but you.”

My chest tightened again, but for a different reason. Pride and affection threatened to burst through my ribcage. She wanted me, and only me. To her, it may have been childish, but to me it was everything.

“Let’s ride back,” I suggested. “We can stop at a restaurant for a glass, then find somewhere private for you to feed.”

Amy looked up briefly, then returned her gaze to our hands. She turned my hand over and gently stroked her thumb across my wrist as I had done to her. I heard the small hiss of breath as she touched my pulse, her fangs growing long and her pupils dilating.

“Can I try without the glass?” She was already lifting my wrist toward her mouth.

Please, yes,I begged inside my head.Put your lips on my skin. Taste me and take what you need.

“Are you sure?” I asked with a tight breath.

She unbuttoned my cuff and pushed my sleeve to my elbow. Just the light drag of her fingers on my forearm lit up my nerves like lightning in a storm. She could touch me anywhere and it would be bliss.

“I don’t want you using the knife,” she said. “I don’t like seeing you hurt yourself for me.”

“It’s not a problem. Don’t make yourself uncomfortable for my sake.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

Her lips touched the skin of my wrist in a moment of heightened anticipation before her fangs sank in. The sharp penetration was brief and little more than a scratch, and then her instincts took over. Amy’s lips sealed over the wound and she began to pull from my vein.

My eyes shunted closed at the sensations sweeping my body. It had been so long since I directly fed anyone, and I remembered it being pleasant.

But this... This was something else entirely.

Every draw of her mouth was like a caress on my erogenous zones. My neck, my groin, even my lips and ears. I shuddered with sensitivity, desire filling me with aching need. Why wasn’t she in my lap? The only thing better than her pulling on my vein would be if her ass pressed against my cock at the same time. Then I could bite the nape of her neck, tease between her legs with my free hand, anything to make her feel just as good as I did.

“Akra. Darling.” My fangs throbbed in time with the pulse in my cock, the need for her rendering my words as little more than growls.

Amy’s aroused scent bloomed in the air, tangy and floral. Her thighs pressed together, hips shifting in little squirming movements. My forearm pressed between her breasts as she sucked at my wrist. I used my free hand to push her hair from her neck, massaging and caressing her nape as I leaned in. Fuck, she smelled incredible. I hadn’t even tasted her yet and I was drunk on this woman. I wanted to drown in her.

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