Page 41 of Blood Bought

Chapter Eighteen:

Alaris returned thenext morning, and the moment word reached my ears, I bathed with my heart in my throat. I scrubbed and shaved, braided my hair so it wouldn’t get in the way, and wondered if Nesrin had made me do this when I was baiting in case I changed my mind in the moment — I could only assume this was how Alaris preferred his partners, and I had nothing else to go on.

The moment I was ready, I snuck out of my room and ignored the rapid beating of my own heart as I approached his door. Without knowing where he’d been or why, I didn’t know what to expect from his mood or how willing he’d be to give me what I was about to ask for, but Tamsin didn’t have time for me to stall or try to figure it out before asking. I had to be sweet, enticing, believable, and hopefully I’d play my part well enough that it wouldn’t matter what mood he’d been in previously.

I needed him to take me.

“Heir Alaris?” I called, knocking gently and trying to keep all defiant tones from my voice. This wasn’t the time for me to fight him or be a brat. It was time to submit. “Are you busy, Sir?”

Kellian opened the door slowly, his eyebrows raised as he looked me over curiously and stepped aside. Inside, Alaris and Renzo were standing in the middle of his living room with glasses of whiskey, both of them silent and eyeing me like they’d never seen me before, and when I met Alaris’ gaze, I could tell he hadn’t properly fed in days. “Morning, Miss Silk. I like your hair.”

He had a new scar on his cheek below his left eye, one so thin most people might not even notice — but I saw it right away. “Thank you. Why are you all looking at me like that?” I asked, trying to read the room before I started begging for something impossible.

“You seem —” Alaris set his glass aside and moved closer to me, tilting my gaze up with his pointer finger to look into my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

It’s now or never. Don’t fuck this up.I swallowed, not moving a muscle. “I need your help. It’s Tamsin, the girl I brought here for Ciro. She... she’s not going to last and she doesn’t deserve this. We need to get her out of here.”

I couldn’t place his expression as he stared at me. “You come to me for help for the first time since your arrival, and it’s something not in my power to give you. I’m sorry.”

My heart sank, but I refused to give up. I owed her more than that. “Alaris, please,” I whispered, eyes dancing over his face to find any sign he’d relent. “Please, I—” I dropped to my knees, bowing my head and trying to keep my breathing steady. “I can’t let her die for me. I should’ve never told you no.”

“Adalind,” he whispered, shifting slightly with his hands tense at his sides. “He’s an Heir. We can’t take each other’s whores and he’s already told everyone not to touch her. He’s fixated on her taste.”

“Because he’s torturing her!” I rushed out, looking up at him from the ground. “Fuck,” I gasped, struggling to catch my breath as the gut-punch that I was probably too late sank in. “I’ll do anything, Sir. Anything.”

“Really inappropriate time to get a boner, Renzo,” Kellian snapped. “You’re making mine worse.”

“Goddamnit, you’re so beautiful.” Alaris cupped my face with a pained look in his eyes, his own boner tenting his pants. “I’ve wanted you on your knees for far too long, Sweets. I’m too hungry to think right now. I can’t focus. I’ll be back, okay?”

Sloane. Fucking Sloane, in my way and always getting what I wanted, what I needed. “No!” Jealousy rolled in my gut as I stood on shaky legs, grabbing his shirt so he wouldn’t leave. “Not her. Please... take mine.” I bared my neck, closing my eyes to brace myself for however it would feel, but he didn’t bite.

“Adalind. You’ve made it very clear you don’t want to be mine. One taste won’t be enough, I won’t be able to go back to not having your blood. Stop baring your neck until you’re truly ready to be mine.”

I blinked, not understanding how he didn’t know how ready I was — until the glint of candlelight off my bracelet caught my eye. I ripped it off, nicking my own skin in the process and throwing it aside. “Look, Alaris. See me. I’m not asking you to stop... and I know how this is, they get me too. It changes nothing.” I tilted my head again and whispered, “Please,” so quietly my lips barely moved. “Not her. Me.”

“Fuck,” he hissed, seconds before those fangs pierced my skin for the first time and his strong hands pulled me in by my ass so our bodies were pressed together.

The moan he released as he sucked my blood sent a chill down my spine that contrasted the heat coursing through me so starkly that it stole my breath. Brenna hadn’t been wrong — this was bliss, hazy, crazy, thigh-clenching, eye-rolling bliss, and the pain points where his teeth were digging into me only made it better.

“Oh, god,” I breathed, lashes fluttering as I struggled to stay on my feet. “Alaris...”

When my legs failed he was there to hold me up, his cock grinding against me as he took what he needed, and when he finally pulled back, he groaned like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted in his life. “Mine,” he growled, biting once again for more.

“Yours,” I whispered, exhaling a soft, quiet moan as I fully gave in.

He could’ve murdered me. Could’ve drained me dry, left me on his floor all discarded and used, and I wouldn’t have cared.

Not then.

“Alaris,” Kellian snapped, but he sounded far away. “Alaris!”

I could feel how hard it was for him to reluctantly let go, instantly licking up the mess he made on my skin and carrying me to his bed to lay me down. “Still with me, baby?”

---