Page 52 of Bloody Kingdom

She chokes on a sardonic laugh and shakes her head at him as he walks away.

No longer needing to hide my speed and strength from her, in one very fast, fluid movement, she’s swept up into my arms and cradled to my bare chest. She gasps and her arms loop around my neck to steady herself. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she mumbles, but she doesn’t fight me. A sense of calmness washes over me when she rests her head against my shoulder. “I have so many questions, Silas.”

My lips brush across her forehead before I answer. “I know and I’ll answer as many as I can, but first, I need to get you away from here.”

Idon’t put her down until we reach the bathroom in my apartment. The short ride home I held her in my lap and even though she argued with me, I carried her inside the building and the entire elevator ride up to the top floor of the building. I keep waiting for the reality of what just happened to crash through her stunned mind, but she’s yet to come unhinged. Quincey just stares up at me, like she’s still trying to come to terms with the fact that I’m real.

Learning about the existence of vampires is never an easy thing for a human to wrap their mind around. They’ve been told since birth that creatures like me are nothing but folklore and tales used to scare children, it’s hard to accept they’ve been wrong this whole time. She’s handling it better than most. Ira was the last person who handled it as well as her. He’d simply shrugged indifferently, telling me he’d known for years. When I’d questioned him on why he’d kept his mouth shut for so long, he’d simply stated that ‘it was none of his damn business’.

Somehow, Quincey knew as well.

I leave her on the bathroom counter so I can turn on the faucets of the large glassed-in shower behind me and grab some fresh towels from the cabinet. Without a word, I press one of the black towels into the wound on her neck.

“We need to get the bleeding under control.” My voice sounds pained, even to my own ears. The level of control I’m having to exercise now is agonizing. If it were anyone else’s blood, I would be able to remain composed, but Quincey’s blood appeals to the deepest, darkest parts of me.

Her hand covers mine over the towel “I’ve got it,” she tells me. “Don’t do this to yourself, I can see it hurts you.”

My head shakes stiffly as I refuse to move my hand. “What hurts me is you were injured because of me. I tried to keep you from my world—keep you at a safe distance—and yet, here you sit,bleeding.” I want to kill those fuckers all over again.

She ponders my words for a second before asking, “This is why then? You disappeared for weeks because you were afraid to hurt me? Because you’re a” —she struggles to say the word— “vampire?”

This is the first time she’s said it aloud. It’s almost as if saying it made it real for her.

“My level of restraint is something that has been revered by many for centuries. Self-control is something many like me struggle to ever learn, whereas it came naturally to me. There’s only been one instance in all my years alive that I lost control and it was a devastating event. When it was over, I vowed it would never happen again. For over three hundred years, I’ve not acted impulsively or rashly, everything I did was meticulously thought out. That all changed when you came along.” I haven’t been the same since I met her. “My first act of thoughtless behavior was the night I killed Gallo’s man. The scent of your blood and those terrified—beautiful—eyes of yours, made something in me snap. My fist was through his chest before I even noticed I had moved.”

Her eyes widen and recognition fills them. “That’s what happened to him? I knew you killed him. I just didn’t know how; it’d happened so fast. Which now makes sense, I guess.”

“It was hasty and unnecessary, but I couldn’t stop myself.” Duke had the situation under control, there had been no reason for me to linger around once he showed up, but I couldn’t walk away. “I was supposed to keep my distance from you, you were just there to do a job that I couldn’t do myself, but you found a way to sneak between the barricades I’d put up to keep you at bay. When I kissed you that night and you bled? It took every ounce of my crumbling control to not kill you right there. You have no idea what your blood does to me, Quincey. So yes, I kept my distance from you because I’m avampireand was a danger to your life—Istillam. I’m trying my best to hold on to the remaining threads of my resolve because the idea of causing you any more pain is an unbearable thought.”

Slowly, as if she’s still unsure of what boundaries still remain between us, Quincey places her warm hand over my chest. The contrast of our complexions is glaring, just like everything else, we are opposites in every sense. “You’ve given me a million reasons to be afraid of you but they’re not working. So, stop telling me about how you could kill me, because I don’t believe you will. I’ve been bleeding all over you tonight, if there ever was a time to lose control, it would be now, but you haven’t.”

In a second, I’ve torn my hand from her neck and moved feet away from her. “You have an aptitude for being able to see the good in everyone, you cling to it until the good is all you’re able to see in that person. It’s an admirable gift, but foolish at times, like now for instance. You think I’m a good man simply because I haven’t killed you yet? That doesn’t make me a good man, Quincey. You have no idea—”

“Don’t think for a second that I don’t know who you are, Silas.” Indifferent to my change in attitude and tone, she jumps from the counter, tossing the towel into the sink as she slowly closes the distance between us. “I know exactly who you are. I know that you are as cold and ruthless as you seem, if not more so. Just like I know you’re capable of doing truly monstrous things without so much as batting an eye. I’ve never for a second been in denial about that side of you. It’s been clear to me since the start.” She comes to a stop in front of me but makes no move to touch me. “But I also know there is a side of you that is still capable of caring. A side of you that is stillhuman. You’ve made this obvious to me by how you’ve gone through great extremes to care for Ira. If you didn’t give a shit about him, you would have gotten rid of him the second he was diagnosed. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have paid off averylarge debt and kidnapped someone to look after him.” If anyone else got in my face like she’s doing, I’d never tolerate it. Even though I don’t enjoy it, I allow it because there’s truth in her words. She’s wise beyond her short years. “You came for me tonight.” Her voice becomes less abrasive, softening as she scans my face with her gentle eyes. “I’ve caused you nothing but trouble since I arrived. It would have saved you the headache if you’d just left me out there, but instead you saved me. And I think you did because you care about me too.”

“Quincey,” I plead, swallowing hard. She’s dancing with the devil without knowing the choreography.

“You can be the heartless monster that makes people shake in fear to everyone else, but not me. I see past it.” Her blood-covered hand tenderly takes mine and I don’t stop her. “I see all the sides of you, Silas. Some of them I enjoy more than others, but Iacceptall of them. Granted, there will need to be a period of grace as I adjust to the whole—vampire thing—but even that…” She pauses and shakes her head in disbelief. “Even that I’ll be okay with because Icareabout you too, Silas.” Her chin lifts as she stands up straighter, as if bracing herself. “So, keep trying. Keep trying to scare me away. It’s not going to work, but I dare you to keep trying. I clearly don’t scare easy. If I’m standing in front of you now after you literally tore people to shreds in front of me, I’m not going—”

I move so fast she gasps into my mouth as I silence her with it. Her hands fly up in shock, but as my tongue brushes against the seam of her lips, they reach up to grab my bare shoulders. Quincey holds on to me so tight, it’s almost as if she’s afraid she’ll lose me if she doesn’t. I don’t have the words to tell her that she’s captured my heart—my soul—even when I wasn’t aware I still had one to give her. So, I show her instead.

My mouth shows her that I care with how I devour her with hungry kisses, my tongue caressing against hers when she finally parts her lips for me. My hands show her as they tenderly smooth over each one of her curves as they trail softly down her body. The heat of her sexy body and the soft moans that come from her as I worship her mouth makes my cock desperate for her warm touch.

Her mouth never leaves mine as I back her into the glass and black marble rain shower behind her. She squeals in delight, smiling against my mouth as the warm water washes over our partially dressed bodies. I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips. The last time I truly smiled is unknown to me, but I know I’ve been fighting them more frequently since she’s been here.

Quincey’s back collides with the cool stone of the shower and she makes a low grunting noise at the force of how hard I slam her against it. My shirt she still wears clings to her body. Water floods into our shoes, but we don’t stop. I don’t think we could stop if we had to. Weeks of pent-up emotions and feelings have brought us to this moment. The barricade built of secrets has been blown to pieces, leaving nothing but our clothes between us.

Her hands work frantically at the buttons of the shirt, but she’s not removing the ruined piece of clothing fast enough for my liking. Pulling away from her lips, I smirk as I tear the shirt from her body without remorse. The shredding fabric falls to the shower floor. She grins gleefully at me before pulling me back to her by my belt. With each lick into her mouth, my body relaxes. The tension I’ve been carrying around for hundreds of years melts off me. I can’t always let my defenses down like I am, but inside the four walls of this apartment—inside this shower—I can be the man that Quincey needs.

My fingers thread through hers at her sides before forcibly bringing them above her head, holding them hostage against the marble. With an annoyed snarl, she tries to pull her hands free, making me smirk. “The only way you’re getting free is if I allow it, and that is not happening. I have you exactly where I want you—completely at my mercy,” I tell her as I roll my hips against her, grinding my growing erection against her.

Her chest heaves as she pants. “I want to touch you.”

“Soon,” I promise, as I place kisses along her jaw. “When I’m done touching you.”

Her skin tastes of salt from the sweat that developed as she fled from her attackers, but despite that, she’s as sweet as ever.

As I kiss from her jaw down the beautiful column of her neck, Quincey’s breath hitches and her heart rate spikes. Just to test how fearless she is and how true her words are, I scrape my blunt teeth against the sensitive skin. My gums burn, my fangs threatening to descend at any second, but I hold them at bay for now. The water that streams down her chest runs red from the knife wounds. The whole steamy shower reeks of her blood, but I manage to stay in control.

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