Page 30 of The Coven

“Patience has nothing to do with us.”

She raised her hand at the same moment I did, touching the side of my neck with her open palm. The heat of her skin was like a brand, thriving andalivein ways that my Vessel had never been.

It had been an eternity since I’d felt that warmth inside of me, since the warmth of any bedmate seemed to penetrate the cold of my flesh.

Yet one touch from her and my eyes drifted closed.

She pursed her lips against mine, the lightest kiss I thought I’d ever received. I felt the touch down to my toes, as if she could breathe life into me, when the one who’d formed this body had been in charge of the dead.

If Charlotte Hecate was death itself, Willow Madizza felt like life.

She pulled back just enough, her point made when it felt like she’d turned me to Jell-O in her hands. My eyes fluttered open slowly, staring down into her eyes that I had the distinct feeling she’d never bothered to close.

“There is no us,” she said, her voice the softest of murmurs. Something cruel lived in that whisper, the harsh edges hinting at the rejection I’d given her earlier.

I thrust my hand into her hair, gripping it and tugging her head back as I bared my fangs at the sudden change in her expression.

“This feels like there is,” I growled, grinding forward until she could feel my cock straining against my slacks.

She shuddered, a ragged breath leaving her as she glared up at me.

“I am not a toy. Why would I settle for the scraps of your attention when I could have another on his knees and ready to give me anything I asked for with nothing more than a word?” she asked, but her body swayed forward, pushing into my touch rather than moving away from it.

“Then why are you here?” I asked, tugging her head to the side so that I could lean forward, dragging my lips over the side of her throat. She shuddered, and I smiled against the skin, letting her feel the press of my fangs.

“To show you exactly what he’ll have that you won’t. So that when you next come into my room while I’m sleeping, you might at least hesitate before you decide to pretend you do not want me the next day,” she said.

Every bone in my body stilled.

I pulled back, staring down at her in surprise. “You were asleep,” I said, not even bothering to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about. There was a confidence in her words and the way she spoke them, leaving me with the reality that she had no doubt I’d been there.

“I was,” she agreed, not offering any more information as I studied that guarded stare of hers. “That does not mean I could not smell you all over me when I woke. The roses confirmed what I already suspected.”

“The roses? They spoke to you?” I asked, wondering when the last time I’d heard of a Green communing with nature had been.

“They’ll speak to any Green. Most are just too ignorant to listen,” she said, twisting her head in my grip as if she could pull free, but I refused to release her. “I wonder what the Covenant would think if they were to discover you violated me in my sleep.”

“I did no such thing,” I argued.

“Right. Taking off my clothes while I slept was entirely innocent—”

“You looked uncomfortable, but I did not touch you beyond that. Make no mistake, I want you to scream my name the first time I fuck you, not sleep through it, Witchling,” I said with a snarl, dropping my head back to her neck. The need to feed on her was overwhelming, growing with each moment she spent pissing me off. I wanted to remind her what I was.

Who I was.

“If you ever touch me, I’ll be sure to think of anyone but you. I won’t be able to enjoy it otherwise,” she said, making me snap at her throat. She shuddered in my hold as my teeth grazed her skin, and a callous chuckle slipped free as I raised my mouth to her ear.

“Then be sure to scream his name for me. I’d like to know who I need to hunt down the next time I’m hungry,” I whispered, reveling in her shocked gasp as she shoved both her hands against my chest and pushed.

“Headmaster Thorne!” The cold voice came as a reprimand, striking across the space between us. I pulled my head back from the curtain of Willow’s hair, raising my glare to the door where the Covenant stood with an apple clutched in her bony hand. “Need I remind you that you are not to feed on the students outside of the Reaping?”

“She’s willing,” I said, turning my glare to the witchling held in my grasp.

She smirked, holding my stare and knowing she held the power in that moment. While Susannah couldn’t get rid of me, she could make my pursuit of Willow far more difficult.

“Is that true, Miss Madizza?” Susannah asked as Iban stepped around the corner. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. I wondered what he’d seen that had driven him to seek the help of the Covenant.

I hoped he’d seen Willow writhing against my cock with my mouth at her throat.

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