Page 43 of Fated In Ruin

I swallowed hard, already losing this battle.

“Please, Malachi. If I go back now, Blake will never let me out of his sight again. If you really mean to kill Ravok, we have to go to Sleepy Hollow tomorrow. I have to be the strongest I can be. This is the only way. Besides, it’s only…feeding.”

With Evangeline, there was no such thing. There was desire and fantasy and dreams of a future, but there was neverjustfeeding. But sheneededme, and the purely male part of mepurred. I could do this. Just enough to strengthen her. Nothing more.

I reached for her with careful hands, my fingers ghosting over the curve of her jaw before pulling her down into my lap, arranging her carefully, tilting my head just so. A slow, deliberate movement…giving her time to change her mind.

She didn’t.

Last time—the only time—she’d fed from my wrist, but this time, she’d be at my throat, as was proper. I wanted every inch of her curves pressed against me, wanted to savor, and remember, every last precious second of this experience.

Her lips brushed against my skin, and she exhaled a soft, shuddering breath, warmth washing over me, along with a wave of pure lust. The sound sent a sharp bolt of something dangerous through me.

A keenwantingI had no business feeling, the kind of raw, open emotion that scared the shit out of me, because I’d never felt so laid bare before anyone as I did right now. And I wanted so badly to feel this way again, over and over.

I ignored how eagerly my entire body responded to her closeness, how my cock throbbed, how fucking responsive she was in my hands, the feel of her lips pressed against my throat as she searched for the right spot.

“Take your time,” I urged, letting her explore, relishing the experience of her hands skating over my chest, her thighs parting over mine, until she fit so perfectly, those indecently soft curves pressed into every aching hollow.

“And bite down hard, don’t hesitate, you aren’t going to hurt me.”

Except break my goddamned heart when you leave.

She tensed, then melted against me, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt, her lips never leaving my skin and I rested my palm on the small of her back, not pulling her tighter, just…there, touching her, a point of contact between us that felt so right.

Then her fangs slid into me, penetrating my skin, then deeper, claiming my vein, those soft lips sealing around the bite so perfectly, all I could do was imagine them wrapped around my cock.

Her hand snuck around the back of my neck, fingers digging in to hold me in place and I shuddered, my other hand landing on her hip. Never had I allowed anyone to control me so thoroughly, but with Evangeline, this felt better than right.

This felt fucking inevitable. She was fire and light, her scent burning through me in a way nothing else ever had. She made me feel—alive.Made me feel?—

Like she belonged to me.

I pulled back from the reality I could never have. Evangeline was here, in my arms, under my roof, with her fangs in my throat. More than I deserved, and I should savor what I had right in front of me, not be my usual greedy self.

I let her drink her fill, guilt and regret tangling together when her fangs retracted, her tongue licking in long, wet strokes up my throat before she collapsed onto my chest, breathing heavily, her forehead against my shoulder. “Better?” I asked, my voice rougher than before.

She nodded, but didn't move away, fingers still gripping the nape of my neck. Neither did I. I let my hand drift, just once, down the curve of her back. A single stolen moment, allowing myself to think—maybe.

Maybe, when this was over, once Ravok was gone.

Maybe, just maybe—I could be happy.

With her, anything was possible, and maybe the prophecy wasn’t bullshit.

But for now, I simply closed my eyes and let myself hold her, for a little while longer.

19

EVANGELINE

My mouth was coated with cedar and ice.

I was soaring, standing on the highest mountaintop and looking out across the world.

Malachi’s blood crackled through my system like a raging storm, filling my veins with molten fire, turning my bones to steel, power racing through me in an endless, roaring loop.

“I should take you back to your room,” he murmured; my eyes so heavy I could barely open them, floating on this delicious after-feeding fog of leaden tranquility and rushing energy that kept expanding like a storm inside me.

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