Page 24 of Caution

I realized thatveryshortly after my declaration, right around the moment the sharp points pierced my skin.

Rash decisions had rarely yielded a positive result for me before, so I wasn't sure why I expected one now.

Except, the feeling of things in my neck wasn't exactly a negative. Notpurelynegative, rather. There was pain, terror, discomfort, all of that, all of the expected things. But then, under the surface and rising fast, the deeper those silver fangs sank, it was… profoundly… pleasurable?

Agonizing, but also blissful, bordering on the absurd.

This is absurd.

My lips parted, mouth in an open gape as I gasped, for… words?

Air?

Maybe both.

I wasn't sure.

But I was certainly beside myself with pleasure and another sensation I couldn't quite pinpoint as I grabbed Cassius by the shirt, using the solid pillar of his body to keep myself upright.

My knees buckled as I pressed against him, giving in.

Was I giving in?

I couldn't tell if he was giving or taking, couldn't find the mental clarity to focus on anything long enough to decipher what was happening. It was too much and not enough, and the duality of it was… dizzying.

Frightening.

I could feel my smallest, deepest parts, my cells and molecules, the things that made me… splitting apart then knitting themselves back together, making me into something that was still me, but… different.

It was excruciating.

And delectable.

Awareness flooded me—notnewburdens on my senses, just deeper ones.

The wild apples growing in groves around the property were more pungent, the roar of their rustling leaves almost deafening, the glare of the moon blinding.

I could taste the remnants of peppermint on my tongue from gum I’d chewed hours ago.

But it wastouchthat was most potent.

The feeling of Cassius’s hands on me, gripping my arms to keep me still. The heat from him searing through the lightweight fabric of my shirt, invitingly hot and drawing me closer.

It was crushing.

And his fangs… I was attuned to them now, him simultaneously drinking and feeding me.

I wanted him deeper.

Wanted more of him.

Wanted to give him more.

Wanted him to fully consume me, right here in the crisp chill of night, under the light of the moon.

“Told you.”

His fangs were still in my neck, but his voice was in my head, using my unhinged and uncurtailed desire as a taunt against me now that I was contradicting what I'd insisted upon just moments before.

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