Page 106 of Land of Shadow

I gasp when I feel a sharp sting, then moan when I see his fangs embedded shallowly in my breast, his lips sucking as his gaze meets mine.

Electricity crackles along my skin, every nerve ending firing, every single cell in my body focused on Valen. On his mouth, his hands, his cock. His bite, god, his fucking bite. I don’t know how, but it’s like a shot of dopamine that swims through every neural pathway, making me float, making me relentless in my pursuit of more.

Releasing my breast, he sits back and strips his clothes off so quickly he’s nothing more than a blur. Then he returns to me and peels my shorts and panties off, his low growl heightening every sensation that rolls through me.

When he presses his open mouth to my pussy, I arch, my pleasure a live thing that dances under my skin. His fingers dig into my thighs as he spreads me wide. He gives me no quarter, no escape from the lashing of his tongue, the grazing of his fangs.

My thighs shake, my hips rocking against his mouth. I chase my climax, reaching it as he slides two fingers inside me. I come hard, his name on my lips. The orgasm rolls through me again and again, clenching and releasing, unwinding the tension that coiled so deeply inside me.

When I’m in the aftershocks, he climbs up my body.

“Mine.” He strikes my neck as he presses his cock deep inside, his fangs a dark, sultry kiss that stoke my arousal, sending the inferno burning higher and higher. There is no gentleness in him. No easing of the delicate ache as he stretches me. Valen doesn’t hold back. He pulls out and starts a hard rhythm, fucking me as he drinks my blood. Fucking me as I cry out from the overwhelming sensations. Fucking me as I hold onto him, taking everything he gives me and begging for more.

“Mine. My Blood. My only.” He grates against my throat, then kisses my mouth, his tongue coppery and warm.

I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on as he takes my breath away. He changes his angle, hitting my clit with each stroke. Meeting him, I take my pleasure, every bit of friction like gasoline on an already-raging fire.

He rolls, perching me astride him. When I slide all the way down on his cock, I throw my head back, a moan in my throat as he cups my breasts.

“Take all of me. Make me yours.” He thrusts upwards, filling me.

I move on him, riding his cock as he pinches my nipples.

“God.” I exhale and put my hands in my hair, my fingers desperate for something to grab onto as I grind on him. Every nerve ending tingles, every part of me attuned to him, to the way he strokes me from the inside. Arching, I’m a slave to the sensation, to the pleasure that floods me.

“You’re the only god I worship.” He wraps his hand around my nape and pulls my mouth to his. His other hand goes to my ass, feeling each pulse as I rock against him. When he slides it lower, toying with my asshole, I jolt.

He laughs low and sexy against my lips. “I’ll have you here, my Blood. Soon.” He presses his fingertip inside, and I lose it at the overwhelming pleasure. I bear down, filled with his cock, my clit rubbing perfectly against him as he strokes and invades.

My hips move faster, my orgasm rushing through me as he plunges his finger deeper. He pulls my hair, arching me as I come, his mouth going to my breast, that sweet sting erupting again as he bites my nipple. I’m shuddering, moaning, lost in the carnal act, lost in him. It’s almost too big, too much—an entire world of desire and longing that exists only here, only between us.

He roars against my skin, his fangs embedded as his cock grows harder, his body like stone beneath me as he comes. I feel his hot spurts, the tension rolling through him as he gives me everything. I take it, just the thought of his come inside me sending another wave of heat cascading along my skin, my pussy contracting around him, the pleasure teasing and growing until I’m lost again.

My mind seems to fold in on itself, then bursts outward in a million sparks. Everything is alive. Everything pounds and rattles and screams to the sky. Or perhaps it’s just me, just my scream as I come so hard I feel like I might pass out.

Slowly, he lowers me to his chest, his hands roving my back, his lips against my forehead. He whispers something in the language I don’t understand, his words lost to me, but his meaning clear. It feels almost holy, the way he speaks to me. Almost like worship.

“What are you saying?” I murmur.

“You are not ready to hear it in your tongue.” He kisses my hair. “But one day, I will tell you.”

“How do you know I’m not ready?” I ask, my eyes closed, my body sated.

“My blood knows, as does yours.” He swipes his finger along the bite at my throat, then lifts me just enough to do the same to the bites at my breasts, his touch raising goosebumps along my skin.

“Healing?” I ask.

“My blood is yours,” he says. “Eternally.”

“Spoken like a truly ancient creep.”

His chest shakes with a stifled laugh as he wraps his arms around me. “Sleep now, my Blood. I will keep you safe.” Then he speaks quietly in the foreign language again, his voice soothing, his body warm.

In his arms. Safe.

27

I’m up early the next morning, my body achy from the night before, but my mind clear. Valen was long gone when I woke up, but I expected no different. He doesn’t keep human hours. In fact, he doesn’t keep vampire hours either.

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