Page 38 of Blood Bought

He shifted into a dark brown bat and disappeared out the window as everyone else sped out almost instantly, leaving just Kellian behind.

“Ris...”

“What?” I snapped, my chest rising and falling as I fought the urge to chase after Ciro and beat him to death with my bare hands. “I almost killed them both.”

Kellian eyed me warily. “I know that. And I’d have had your back if you did, but Ris... this can’t go on like this. Having her here marked but not mated – even the regular kind – is dangerous. Everyone knows she’s a weakness for you even if you don’t know it yourself. If you think what’s happening here in our own territory is bad, imagine what would happen if someone else got their hands on her.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to do, Kell?” I finally deflated and met his gaze, happy this room was bewitched so that no one could hear anything from it unless we wanted them to. “I can’t force her.”

“You can,” he said quietly. “But I know you won’t. I don’t see a clean way out of this for anyone, so I guess I’m not much help. I just have a feeling if she doesn’t let you in soon, it’s going to be bad. For everyone.”

“She will. She’s close, Kell. I can feel how close she is. She’s up there touching herself and moaning my name right now. Or she was, and now I fucking missed that chance because of this idiotic meeting.”

I kicked a chair across the room, which Kellian didn’t even flinch at. “How do you know you’ve missed it?”

“Well it’s quiet now, and the last thing I said to her was not to come. I thought I’d be right up. Kell, am I losing my mind? It feels like I am. I feel unraveled all the time. Could it be... the sickness?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again abruptly. “I’m sorry, you think she caused you to get Obsidian Sickness, the worst thing that can happen to a natural-born vampire, the disease that drives us mad and strips away all logic, reason, and empathy? You think she gave you that?” He stood, stepping into my space. “With all due respect to a fellow Heir, you’re a fucking idiot, Alaris. You’re acting like this because you’re horny and because she’s the only one in five hundred years to ever deny you. So go. Barge in there and make her come. None of this will end until you do.”

“I didn’t mean she caused it, I just meant... whatever. I’m not just horny, I’ve gotten off like fifty times this week.” I shifted my focus back on Adalind to see where she was, but heard nothing but small, quiet gasps.

“I don’t know how to help you then,” Kell cut in. “If you won’t take her yourself, I have no doubts that your father will give her to someone else just to punish you. Her stubbornness will be the end of you both.”

“Alaris...”

I was lying to him, lying to myself. It didn’t matter how many times I got off, that sated feeling I used to have was rare now, and when I got a glimpse it, it was gone the second I could smell her. “I need to go to her.”

I left the room and teleported straight to the edge of her bed, and what I saw there was the best thing I’d ever seen in my existence. She was laying naked with her legs spread and that vibrator pressed to her clit, sweating and twitching, barely shifting at all when she saw me.

“You f-fucking asshole,” she gasped out. “Why can’t I come?”

“Because it’smine.”I grabbed that vibrator and flung it at the wall, then climbed up between her legs for a better look at her shining pussy. Seeing it up close was better than ever seeing it through water, and that gorgeous, swollen bud peeking out through her folds made it nearly impossible not to suck it into my mouth. “Say yes. I’ll only use my hand.”

“Yes!” she screamed, rolling her hips up and scratching my neck, and I instantly pressed my fingers to her clit and started rubbing.

“Smell so fucking sweet, Sweets.” I growled. “Fuck, I want to lick every inch of your body.”

I gripped her slender neck and pressed at the sides, slowing the blood flow just enough to keep that desperate urge to bite at bay, and she melted below me.

“Alaris!”

“You want it, baby?” I whispered, ignoring the rock-hard mass tenting my jeans and focusing solely on her. It would have been so fucking easy to claim her, just inches away from sinking my teeth into her perfect skin but I couldn’t do it. Not until she wanted me. “Come for me.”

“T-Thank you!” Her heart skipped one beat, two, three as she stiffened and stopped breathing entirely.

The scent of her blood became so sweet, so enticing as she soaked my fingers that I couldn’t fight my fangs from slipping out or the growly ‘good girl’ that escaped my lips. “My sweet girl smells so good.”

I released her neck and sat up to suck my fingers clean, eyes locked on the beautiful mess below me, but the way her eyes widened at my bulge told me she wasn’t ready for that yet, not with the way I was feeling.

If I touched her now, I’d break her.

I was gone before I could, writhing from the need to tear her apart and put her back together into something that belonged to me. But even with as out of control as I felt, I wouldn’t do that to her.

I didn’t have the same reservations about Sloane, so I summoned her to my room so I could break something with my cock and not feel like shit about it. I just knew I couldn’t do it while looking at her face... she would never be my Adalind.

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