Page 29 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
He growled low in his throat, a sound that vibrated through my entire body as he pressed his lips to the tender flesh of my thigh. His right hand slid higher, holding me exactly where he wanted me.
“I lied.”
My breath stuttered. His confession broke something inside me wide open. My body demanding more ofthis.
I barely felt his teeth as they pierced my skin. Nothing more than a prick of a thorn. But after a few seconds the pain melted into a sense of…release. Of…pleasure. Intense, unyielding pleasure snaked through me, seeking out new places to tantalize.
My skin pebbled with gooseflesh. My nipples peaked. One hand twisted in the bedsheets, the other tightened in his. Squeezing his fingers as my back arched off the mattress and a moan tore from my throat. His name trembled on my tongue, and I bit it back, terrified he’d hear the truth in it.
I shouldn’t be acting this way.Not at all.Bastien was drinking myblood. It was unnatural and disgusting, and I was a terrible person for even liking it.
As soon as the wordbloodentered my head, I had to remind myself to breathe as a wave of dizziness rolled through me. But just as I was feeling flush, Bastien’s teeth retracted, and he pulled back an inch, licking my thigh to catch the warm drips that rolled down my skin.
His tongue, so close to that sensitive place, made me shudder. Our eyes connected as he lifted his chin an inch, staring at me hungrily over the mound of my sex. The shadows aroundhis eyes had retreated, and he looked like the beautiful man I’d seen across the ballroom once more.
I’d done that for him. I’d helped him. No, I’d…satedhim.
Bastien dragged his tongue over his lower lip. “I’ve never tasted anything half as delicious as you.”
The compliment struck at some dark chord inside me. The part of me that wanted to be desired and devoured by this man. The part that wanted him to touch me. I shoved that feeling to the side once more. Attraction had nothing to do with reality. I was on a mission. Feeding him was the price I had to pay to collect information.
“And to think,” I said, trying to sound witty to cover up how needy I felt, “you almost died just to get out of this arrangement.”
He made an amused sound before removing my legs from his shoulders and pulling the hem of my shift down, covering me. “How are you feeling? Dizzy?”
The way he asked the question almost made me feel like he cared.Almost. But I knew better. Bastien could never care about me. Nor I him.
I was a spy. He was a killer.
Chapter 15
Demander
CLAIRE
After our feeding, I grew drowsy and fell into a fitful sleep that stretched well into the afternoon. My dreams were peppered with thoughts of my mission, Bastien, and this unsatisfied need he’d left me with.
When I awoke, my back and neck aching from lying in one place too long, my thoughts were a tangled mess. All night, I’d imagined a vampire kissing me. Touching me. Doing lurid things to my body that I should be ashamed of.
I lay in bed, staring at the wooden ceiling, trying to sort out my thoughts, and I kept coming back to one thing: I’d never felt desired. Not just from men. My family didn’t desire my presence and had deemed me unfit to be of any use to their war except as bait. All because I’d been born without a trace of magick. But Bastien desired me. Last night, he’d told me heneededme. Something dark unfurled inside me again.
My hand slid under the covers to my thigh, just above the place he’d bitten me. I found no wound, just some tenderness. All evidence that he’d fed from me was gone, but still, I was plagued with thoughts of the unsatisfied ache in my core.
An ache put there by him.
I blew out a long breath. I didn’t come here to be wooed. I came here to find out what he knew and help my family destroy the Dark Witch’s source of power. Last night, I’d failed to spy on him, but I had learned that there must be a relic under that bathhouse, its demonic power concealed from my eyes.
My family needed this information much more than some vampire needed my blood. I told myself, “I just need to stop thinking about him.” Yawning, I stretched and forced myself into a seated position, when suddenly I realized I wasn’t alone.
“Your Grace!” I yelped in surprise. Bastien was sitting in the same chair, cradling a book in his long fingers. A smirk twisting up his lips. My cheeks heated with embarrassment. This was worse than my moan of pleasure during our feeding. This was admitting that I couldn’t get him out of my head.
I wanted to bury myself under the covers, but pride and anger kept me sitting upright. Didn’t he have something better to do than watch me sleep? He was the Duke of Roselyn. Couldn’t he bother Lady Natalia or his guard with his frustrating presence?
He set the book down and rose from the chair, picking up his cane as he approached me. He’d changed into different clothes: a fitted black riding coat buttoned over a white frock shirt, his long legs clad in riding trousers and tall boots.
Had I not known Bastien to be one of the twelve vampire princes who held castles and ruled over this land, I wouldn’t have believed it. His attire was modest. No jewels or gold adorned his clothes. While there was nothing princely about his attire, I couldn’t deny there was a certain regal air about him. Blond hair fell around his face, framing a strong jaw and soft lips. I knew just how soft those lips were. Hours ago, they’d been on my skin. Pressed against my trembling thigh.
I swallowed hard, barely daring to breathe. I had to stop letting thoughts of him control me. He was nothing to me. Nothing but a means to an end. When Bastien stopped at my bedside, I leaned back against my pillow, gripping the sheets and lifting them to my chin.As if the vampire hadn’t seen more than his share of me last night.I wondered if he wanted another feeding. Why else would he linger?
