Page 13 of Insidious Monsters
“No, you don’t.” He sounded regretful.
He was right, of course. This was a different kind of hunger. One that stemmed from the heart, from my very soul. One that would only be satisfied when I looked in his eyes and saw my hunger reflected back at me.
I shifted, attempting to face him.
His grip on me tightened. “Don’t.”
Frustration writhed inside me. “Why not?”
“You know why not.”
“Tell me.” I needed to hear him say it. “Tell me why not.”
“Because if you do, then I’m afraid I may not be able to control myself from crossing the lines we’ve drawn.” His hold on me tightened even more, so that my ass was crushed to his groin, grinding against the hard evidence of what I did to him.
My heart lurched and beat faster and my core bloomed with slick heat.
He inhaled my arousal, tongue flicking out to taste my skin. I pushed my shoulder down, offering him better access.
He pulled away, cursing softly. “If I kiss you without your monstrous hunger like a beacon between us, then I won’t be able to stop.”
Tears of disappointment and annoyance leaked from my eyes. “Then kiss me to feed me. I just… I need you, Telarion.”
As if summoned by my wishes, the hunger flared inside me, despite the buffer, despite the fact he’d fed me five days ago. It raged through me now, giving me the excuse we needed to take this step.
“August, how…”
This time when I turned to him, he didn’t try to stop me. Instead he slipped beneath the sheets so that his body was hovering over mine, his forearms braced either side of my head, devouring me with his glowing emerald gaze that was filled with insatiable hunger.
Our chests heaved, desperately pulling oxygen into our lungs because the air was suddenly too thin.
My stomach cramped with need, and my mouth parted on a soft cry.
Telarion gently cupped my jaw and tilted my mouth up to deliver his life force in the technique he used to keep us focused, to give what I needed and no more, but I shook myself free. I wanted a kiss. A real kiss.
He growled. “August, no…”
“Yes, dammit. Yes.” I blinked back tears. “Please.”
His chest vibrated and then he dipped his head and brushed my mouth with his in a butterfly kiss that sent a lance of heat through me, setting my pulse hammering in my head as I chased his mouth for a second helping.
He delivered a longer contact this time, an imprint of his mouth on mine, searing me to the core and tearing a soft moan of impatience from me.
“Enough,” he said against my lips.
Even though it wasn’t a question, I answered it. “No.” I tipped my chin up and claimed his bottom lip, drawing it into my mouth and sucking on it.
He groaned, chest rattling. I wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing him to me and slipping past the barrier of his teeth to find his tongue.
His control snapped on a curse uttered into my mouth. His hands sank into my hair, talons scraping my scalp, but the pain was minor, nothing compared to the heat passing from his body to mine or the blood rushing to my head and down south to settle in a desperate throb.
“Touch me.” I licked his lips, nipping at them before claiming them again.
He didn’t fight me, allowing me to taste him, to touch, to run my hands over the hard muscles of his shoulders and then up to slide them into his silken locks. “Touch me.”
He snarled, tore his mouth free, and buried his face against my neck, pressing his lips to my jugular. “No more. My terms. My way.”
I waited for the pinch of his fangs, but it never came. Instead, he raised his head to spear me with his angry gaze, spawning confusion inside me.
