Page 42 of The Love Bitten Series: Vol 2

“Hey, Braeden,” Sheridan greeted me happily.

“Happy birthday, cousin,” I said, giving her a side hug and a kiss on the top of her head, which only came to my shoulder. I liked to tease her about being short, but in reality, the height discrepancy was because I was six-foot-six.

“Thanks!” She beamed up at me, then gestured to her friend. “This is Callidora—we call her Callie—Yellen. She lives a few blocks away from me.”

I inclined my head and smiled, “Very nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” Callie cocked her head to the side and smirked. “You got stuck with babysitting duty, huh?”

I laughed and shrugged, holding my hands out to the sides. “Guilty.”

She sighed dramatically. “Well, there went our plans to sneak out to a strip club.”

Sheridan snorted with laughter, and I shook my head with an amused smile. “And what exactly would be fun in that for you girls?”

“Shock value.” Her tone and expression were completely serious, and I wasn’t sure what to think until she winked.

I laughed and began to reply when suddenly, she pitched forward from someone bumping into her from behind. I reached out to catch her, but it turned out, she didn’t need any help. With an agile move of her body, she caught her balance and stayed upright. However, the cup she’d been holding had been crushed to her chest, and red liquid was splattered on the bodice of her dress.

“Oh, crap,” she sighed, looking at the blood rolling down the front of her clothes. “My mother is going to kill me. She loves this dress.”

“We can get the stain out if we take care of it right now,” Sheridan assured her and grabbed her hand, about to drag her off. “Braeden, will you take her drink, please?”

Callie smiled gratefully and held out the almost empty glass of chilled bagged blood. Daywalkers found the taste of warm human blood incredibly distasteful, especially when it was fresh. Most of us used a service that delivered bagged blood.

I reached for the glass, and our fingers brushed.

The cup dropped from my fingers and shattered on the hardwood floor. My body sprung to life, my blood turned hot, my pulse raced, and my cock hardened to steel.

Callie’s golden eyes had gone wide with shock as we stood there with our hands hovering between us, our fingers just barely touching.

“Oh, my gosh,” Sheridan cried out happily. “You guys are destined to be together!”

A wide grin split my face, but it faltered when Callie snatched her hand back, her expression one of...was that dread?What the fuck?No, I had to be reading her wrong. She was probably just nervous.

This was the moment most daywalkers lived for. At my age, I’d begun to wonder if it would ever happen. Now, I knew it was because Callie hadn’t been born yet. My eyes swept over her, and I silently patted fate on the back.Absolutely worth the wait.Not only was she stunning, but Sheridan didn’t have friends that weren’t on her level. So I already knew Callie would be kind and intelligent. And thinking about her earlier teasing, she had a great sense of humor.

We would be an excellent pair, and not just as friends. I had no doubt that we’d be just like my brothers and cousins. I could see myself falling for her in no time.

Unable to keep from touching her, I grabbed her hand back, then tugged her into my chest when I decided to move us somewhere more private. In a flash, we were in my—make that our—bedroom.

“Wait, I still need to take care of my dress,” she protested as she tried to wriggle out of my embrace.

“Forget the dress, beautiful. I’ll buy you as many as you want.” Slipping my hand into her hair, I cradled the back of her head to hold it where I wanted it. “Later.” Then I sealed my mouth over hers.

There was no other word to explain what happened when our lips touched than magic. Sparkly fireworks burst behind my eyelids, and I felt an enchanted wind whipping around the room. I could only imagine what would happen when we made love. Although, I doubted my imagination could conjure up anything to compare with what it would be like to be inside my consort.

I yanked her head back just a little, and she gasped—which had been my intention because it gave me the opening I needed to thrust my tongue inside. Almost immediately following her quick intake of air, she moaned and stepped closer to me, her arms curling around my neck as she went up on her tiptoes.

The party had been on the formal side, and Callie had dressed for summer in a spaghetti-strapped gown that left me plenty of skin to explore with my hands as I plundered her mouth. The bodice was covered in cream lace, leaving only peeks of the pale pink that matched her voluminous skirt and sash.

As she pressed closer, her nipples poked through the fabric, and my blood thundered in my ears when my hands encountered no sign of a bra. Easy access. I would definitely be buying Callie more of these.

With one hand, I began to lower her zipper while I dragged my mouth down her silky skin until my lips touched the spot on her neck where I planned to mark her as mine when I claimed her. “I can’t wait to taste you,” I growled. “I bet your tight, virgin pussy tastes just as sweet as your mouth.” I licked the two little circles and let one fang scrape across the skin without drawing blood. “I’m told the taste of your mate’s blood is like ambrosia. You smell so delicious, I have no doubt it’s true.”

Callie froze for a moment, then began pushing against my chest. “Please, let me go, Braeden. We need to talk, and I can’t think when you’re doing all this stuff to distract me.”

I grinned until I clocked the dead-serious expression on her face without the slightest glint of humor in her golden eyes. Reluctantly, I released her and let her take a few steps away. It took a minute for our bodies to cool off—but not completely because we would burn for each other until we completed the claiming—and our heart rates to slow to a mostly normal pace.

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