Page 24 of Nearly Dead

I smell his desire.It swirls around us.His pulse quickens like drumbeats in my ears.

“Tamara, stop.You’re not in your right?—”

I silence him by dragging him to me.My fingers dig into his silky shirt, and I feel it rip under my extending claws.The destructive sound excites the emotions raging inside me.I like it so I rip more.

I don’t hesitate.

I don’t wait for permission.

I want this and I’m going to take it.

I press my mouth to his.My fangs nick his bottom lip, and the taste of his blood ignites something feral in me.I tear off his clothes, growling into our kiss.

He tries to pull away and presses his hands against my arms as if to calm me.“Tamara, wait?—”

“No.”I push him toward the bed, blocking his path to the door.The chains limit my movements but not my resolve.“I’m through waiting.”

I slide my tongue down his jaw and throat, over the exposed vampiric-pale skin beneath his tattered shirt.My teeth tease the skin over his collarbone, and I can’t resist pressing hard enough to leave marks.Drops of blood stain my hostile seduction.The monster inside me wants to claim him, to make him mine as thoroughly as his blood has made me his.I want to control him.

No.It’s more than that.I want to possess him.

“If you want me to stop,” I pant against his skin, “make me.”

He doesn’t even try to fight.

A groan escapes him, and suddenly, he’s matching my aggression.My cotton gown rips like tissue paper in his hands, leaving me exposed and trembling.He grips my hips, lifting me off the ground.The chains jingle and I feel the weight of them pulling at my suspended legs.There is something very seductive about being both powerful and vulnerable.

“Is this what you want?”he demands.

“More,” I answer, wrapping my legs around his waist.I claw his back, feeling the skin break under my touch.I want him to make me forget what I am.

The monster wants to tear him apart.

We fall onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and torn clothing.The chains rattle with each movement, a strange melody behind our growls.Our lovemaking is as much a battle as it is an embrace, and there’s nothing gentle about the desperate way we come together.

It takes little effort to tear the remaining tatters of his clothes from him.My claw marks heal on his flesh as soon as I make them.When he’s finally naked, I crawl over him, pinning him down with my newfound strength.I straddle him.

The vampire in me wants to consume.

The wolf wants to dominate and tear apart.

The woman doesn’t get a say.

“Tell me to stop.You’re not yourself.”His eyes are so red they almost look black.

“I’m exactly what you turned me into,” I snarl, bending to bite at his chest.

The last of his control snaps.With a ferocity that matches my own, he flips me onto my back and pins my wrists above my head.The sire bond rises between us, a living current of power I can’t resist.It makes me want to obey him.I feel his hunger resonating with mine, amplifying everything I have become.

The bed frame creaks under our supernatural strength.His eyes capture mine and force me to look at him.When he enters me, it’s not sweet and gentle.It’s war.

The force of our lovemaking would have damaged my mortal body, but I’m not human anymore.I meet his thrusts with my own, body arching off the bed, chains tangling our legs.A cry of half-pleasure, half-challenge escapes me.

The chains anchor my movements.I wrap my legs around his waist the best I can, forcing him deeper and harder.My nails score down his back, leaving bloody trails.

Through our bond, I feel flashes of his emotions.There’s guilt tangled with desire and fear mixed with pride over what I’ve become.The flow goes both ways.I know he senses my rage and confusion, and my desperate need to feel anything other than fear.

My hybrid monster howls for release.My body shifts subtly, fangs lengthening, muscles coiling with supernatural strength.Costin responds in kind, fully unleashing his own vampire nature.

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