Page 24 of Shadow Weaver
“Nonsense!” Henrich snapped. “We are shadow knights. We are one. And when it comes to blood, it is all the same.” He glared at me. “Get up and feed. I will not have my cadets weak and useless, and be honored your master has offered to feed you.”
Hyde locked gazes with me, his eyes glittering like gems. Was that amusement? Triumph? What was it?
I stood on shaky legs and followed him across the room and through the door Mal and Gimble had just taken.
Beyond the door was a long room with alcoves covered in thick velvet drapes. Feeding rooms. They had these at exclusive restaurants and venues where nightbloods hung out. My heart began to pound. I hadn’t fed from the vein since I’d killed the human, but for the first time since that night, it wasn’t fear of bloodlust that gripped me but fear of another kind of lust.
Hyde pushed back the drapes to the feeding room. There was a leather booth but no table to obstruct a feeding. Hyde took a seat, settling down, legs splayed.
He leaned his head to the side. “Feed.”
“Why are you doing this?” My voice trembled. Gums aching where my fangs begged to be free.
His blood was rushing through his veins, a tsunami on the inside, whereas he was calm and collected on the outside. He was afraid, excited, he wanted this. Wanted me.
“You need to feed,” he said, his voice husky.
But it was more than that.
Hewantedme to feed. I’d been overthinking this,us, for too long. But in that moment, I stopped listening to his words and listened only to his body. To the rush of blood and the hammer of his heart, to the hardness that strained the crotch of his pants.
There were so many ways to do this without invading his space, but where would the fun be in that?
I straddled him, lowering myself onto the bulge in his pants and reveling at the low hiss as he sucked in a breath.
“Fuck.”
I laved his neck with my tongue, tasting him, clean and salty and mine.
His breathing grew faster, shallower. Anticipation.
I leaned in and applied my mouth to his skin, creating the seal needed, and then I released my fangs. They slid out of my gums and straight into him.
He tensed, moving beneath me in shock as I began to draw from him. Oh, sweet God. Oh, fuck. He was nectar and honey and everything that glowed.
His blood filled me, completed me, hit my senses like a sledgehammer and knocked all control out of me. I gripped him tighter, reveling in his groan, and began to undulate my hips against him. His hands gripped my hips, and he angled himself up, grinding into me. I was wet and swollen and throbbing for him. Fuck this.
I withdrew my fangs, laving the spot to seal the wound, and then claimed his mouth. He opened for me, sucking on my tongue, tasting himself on me. We rocked together, moaning into each other’s mouths as the sensations built, as we ached to join for real.
“Archer?”
Hyde froze beneath me and then broke the hungry kiss, his eyes blazing like twin flames in his head as they raked over my face.
“One moment, Deana,” he called. He sounded cool and businesslike. Nothing like the wanton guy who’d been grinding beneath me a moment ago. “I’ll see you back upstairs.”
Upstairs. He was sharing a room with her. Of course he was.Shewas his lover. Not me.
A lump formed in my throat, and I slowly extricated myself from him and straightened my clothes. “Thank you for feeding me.”
“Indigo,” he said softly.
I closed my eyes as pain lanced through my chest at the sound of my name on his lips.
“Deana and I have history,” he continued. “She’s … She’s what I need.”
I looked down at him. “Then here’s a little tip. Don’t get hard-ons for other women. Don’t suck face with them. And definitely don’t dry hump them till you almost come.” I yanked back the drapes and strode out of the feeding room.
Fuck him and his complicated emotions. I was done.
