Page 53 of To Crave Madly
“Shush!”
Oh, crap. They knew I was there. I sauntered into the kitchen, trying my hardest to look like I hadn’t been eavesdropping, and looked them over. They stood toe-to-toe and it looked like they were on the verge of tearing each other to shreds. Jasper’s eyes were black, his fangs elongated, and Cassian’s eyes had taken on the reptilian slits that showed his dragon was seconds from breaching his skin. Shit was about to meet the fan.
Cassian snarled at Jasper, his lip curling and showing his pearly white teeth.
“Get out,” Jasper growled.
“Gladly.” Cassian shot me a venomous look as he strode passed me and out of the room.
Good riddance if you asked me.
Jasper turned his attention to me after Cassian’s departure and for the first time, I noticed how tired he looked. There were black circles under his eyes and his shoulders, which were usually strong and broad, were hunched like he had the weight of the world bearing down on him.
“Is everything okay?”
Jasper smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
I could tell he didn’t want me to press the issue, but I wasn’t going to let him off the hook for this one.
“Why aren’t you feeding?”
He scowled. “You shouldn’t be eavesdropping on a private conversation.”
I marched over to where he stood and pointed my finger at him. “Don’t try and deflect. Cassian’s right.” Whoa. I’d never thought I’d put those two words together in the same sentence. “You need to feed. Even I can see that something is wrong.”
“I’m fine.” He went to move around me, but I quickly stepped in his way.
“No, you’re not.”
“Get out of my way, Lori,” he growled through gritted teeth.
“Or what?” I could feel my heart start to race. He was clearly on edge and I had a rather self-destructive tendency to enjoy pushing his buttons when he got like this. In the back of my mind, I knew this little interlude was probably not going to end well but knowing that he could snap my neck in the blink of an eye had my pulse racing and my stomach doing little flip-flops. I was excited by the dangerous thrill that ran along the hairs at the back of my neck.
Jasper growled again and his eyes, that were still the black of the beast, narrowed as his gaze homed in on the rapid rush of blood pulsing through the vein in my neck.
Silence hung ominously in the air as Jasper stared at the column of my neck.
“Feed from me,” I whispered. I didn’t know where the thought came from, or what drove me to utter those words, but I knew, as sure as I knew the sun would shine, that I didn’t want Jasper to get his blood from anyone other than me. He was mine and from now on I was going to be responsible for providing him with blood.
My words broke the trance that Jasper seemed to be in, and horror crossed his features. Not quite the reaction I was hoping for.
“Lori, I can’t.”
“Why not? It’s not like you haven’t fed from me before.”
He winced as the memories of the last time he fed from me clearly crossed his mind. He’d drank too much and then tried to save me by giving me his blood, which nearly killed me. The time before that, I’d nearly killed him with some weird magic light show. Maybe feeding from me wasn’t a good idea after all? We didn’t exactly have a great track record.
“You’re a mage. It’s forbidden,” he breathed as his eyes found my neck again.
“And? I won’t tell if you won’t.” I stepped closer, crowding his personal space. I wanted him to drink my blood with a desperation that should have terrified me. But all I could think of were his lips on another woman’s neck, and that made me want to scream and stab that imaginary donor with something long and pointy.
He groaned. It was a sound of anguish and I knew he was trying to come up with another excuse why he shouldn’t feed from me. My hand cupped his jaw and I forced him to look at me. His eyes scanned my face, and I felt his hands settle low on my hips.
“I know why you aren’t feeding because it’s the same reason I want you to feed from me. The thought of you feeding from anyone else makes my stomach churn and my blood boil with rage. I don’t care if it’s forbidden, Jasper.” I traced his lips with the tips of my fingers. “I don’t want these lips touching anyone but me. They’re mine.”
I was prepared for his face to dip to the side and for the sting of his fangs against my skin. I was even prepared for my heart to thump and lurch in my chest as my body went into overdrive for him.
I was not prepared for the profane growl that left his lips, or how quickly he forced me backwards to the wall. And I was definitely not prepared for the way his mouth claimed mine.
