Page 63 of House of Crimson Kisses
“Octavia,” she says aghast, “fucking bite me.”
And once again, the dynamic shifts between us. Switch. Switch. Switch.
Calm, quiet, with all the power that I am and that I have, I respond. “No.”
She stops grinding against me, her eyes turning dark. “I said, bite me.” Her hands dig into my collarbone where she was using me as an anchor.
“No.”
She pulls me forward and shoves me back into the chair. “BITE ME.”
I pick her up, speed her across the room and back against the wall, slamming her back into the glass.
“No.”
She’s sobbing now, as I let her slide down the wall until she’s standing. I kneel, nudge her legs apart and draw my tongue down her slit.
“Please. Just bite me,” she pleads, the tears coming hard and fast now.
I slip two fingers inside her and curl my tongue around her clit. I won’t bite her because that’s not what she needs right now. What she needs is to come and to hate me and to let me fuck the orgasm out of her. So that is what I’ll give her.
I lap at her clit, flicking my tongue faster and faster. She’s close. It doesn’t take long until her pussy clenches against my fingers.
She’s gasping and still pleading with me and slapping at my shoulders, pulling at my hair, begging me to bite her.
But I don’t. I continue to worship her instead. I may have caused her heart to hurt, but I won’t do the same to her body. Not tonight, anyway.
Her pussy tightens. I curl my fingers up, slide deeper into her, and then she spills over.
Panting my name.
I pull out of her, and she sinks into my arms.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m so, so fucking sorry.”
She whimpers as I cradle her. We stay like that for a long, long time until she falls asleep, nestled safe against my heart.
Where she belongs.
Where she will always belong, no matter how much she hates me.
Chapter18
RED
Ileave Octavia at dawn. She took me back to Castle Beaumont before the sun rose, and then she disappeared to handle castle business. I snuck out, but I’m not running. I have something I need to do today.
Would Octavia kill me if she found out? Absolutely. Do I have to go, anyway? One hundred percent.
I’m getting weaker. I don’t understand it, but a lot of truths came out last night, especially after Amelia intimated that I’d have to drink human blood at some point. But I refuse. No matter how sick I get, I’m not doing it. I’m sure I can control the cravings if I just drink more vampire blood. My only concern is that as far as I can remember, the old dhampir’s didn’t actually drink blood, they just used it in spell work. And I don’t like what my gut is saying about that. No part of me wants to be a vampire and definitely not half of one.
Maybe Amelia will dig something up in her research. I sneak into the tunnels and find the carriage station under Octavia’s castle, then take the fastest carriage I can across the city and to the Hunter Academy.
I nap for most of the trip, but when we finally pull onto Academy grounds, it feels like a lifetime ago since I was here, when in reality it’s been barely two weeks. The carriage drops me off a little after lunch. I’m not fully nocturnal yet, despite keeping to Octavia’s schedule, which means there are still times I find myself awake at the wrong time or sleeping when I shouldn’t.
But today isn’t about that. Today is about doing the right thing. Doing the thing I’m paid to do; the thing I’ve trained most of my life for. I couldn’t let go of how genuine the Chief’s expression was when we were on the balcony. How much she wanted to protect us hunters.
And protecting the hunters, protecting the Academy, and being loyal to those who raised me—that’s ultimately why I agreed to enter the trials, right?
