“Leah, your heart,” he warned.
“I can’t help it!” I burst out. “You even admitted you were hungry. What if you can’t stop!”
“I’ll stop.”
“What if you can’t?”
“Leah, I’ll stop.”
I shook my head and started to pull away but his hand slid down my hip, over my bottom again but this time to cup it and he pulled me closer, pressing my h*ps into his.
He was aroused too, very aroused, I felt it immediately. And his arousal made me even more aroused. It was insane but it was true.
Oh my God. What was wrong with me?
I stilled against his body and my eyes caught his in shock.
His face came close, his mouth barely a breath from mine before he promised, “I won’t hurt you.”
“You can’t help it.”
“I can.”
“Please don’t do this,” I whispered my plea.
He drew a breath in his nostrils and his black eyes, so close, lost focus.
“God, you smell sweet,” he murmured.
“Lucien.”
When I said his name, his eyes came back into focus and they were more intense than ever.
“You’ll like it,” he told me softly.
I shook my head. My panic was keeping pace with my arousal. He was turning me on and scaring me to death at the same time. How, I didn’t know, but he was doing it.
It was as if he sensed this and he liked it. He liked it too much, I could tell because his eyes started burning and that turned me on too.
“In a week, you’ll be begging me for it,” he said quietly.
My pulse spiked and my breath went ragged. His eyes flared.
“Calm, my pet,” he murmured, his hand pressing into my behind, his h*ps starting to grind against mine.
That felt good too.
My lips parted, my br**sts swelled and my ni**les went hard, all at the same time a rush of warmth flooded between my legs.
In a second I was going to kiss him. I had to. It wasn’t even my choice. I wasn’t in control of myself. This wasn’t mind games. This wasn’t even head games. This was all me.
My eyes dropped to his mouth.
“Leah,” he called but I couldn’t tear my eyes from his mouth and my h*ps started moving against his.
“Leah, stop, you’re making this harder on me,” he warned and his hand at my ass moved up my back.
But I couldn’t stop. I was driven, for some reason out-of-control.
It was then I made a near fatal mistake.
In an effort to get closer, I hooked my leg over his hip.
The instant I did, his head jerked down nearly colliding with mine and he glanced down between our bodies in the direction of my lap.
I heard him draw another breath through his nostrils. This one seemed urgent, primal, animal.
When his head shot back up, I saw his eyes were blazing.
Hungry.
Hungry.
Hungry.
Hunger was written all over his face.
“Fuck,” he growled, rolled over me, pinned my upper body with his colossal weight, one of his arms wrapped around me creating a warm, tight cage and two things happened at once.
The first, his mouth was at my throat. I felt excruciating pain there as his teeth tore through my flesh and my blood burst forth into his mouth.
The second, his other hand went between my legs, cupping me over my nightgown, my panties, superhumanly strong fingers pressed in, invading.
I gasped, grabbed his broad shoulders and pushed with everything I had.
He didn’t budge.
I lost track of what his hand was doing between my legs because the pain at my neck was agonizing, unbearable, my lifeblood rushing out of me in a warm, hideous flood.
“Lucien!” I cried, bucking, pushing, fighting.
He didn’t move, he just drank.
It hurt. Killer hurt.
Intolerable.
I felt the strength leave me as my blood poured out of me into his mouth, weakening me.
“Lucien,” I gasped, still pushing, blackness penetrating at the sides of my eyes. It was my body’s response either to the terrible pain or the loss of blood or both.
I welcomed the loss of consciousness. I could take no more.
My hands fell away from his shoulders as the blackness crept closer, my strength vanished and I lay limp in his arm.
Before the blackness permeated, I felt his head rear up away from my throat and the last thing I remembered was saying on a frail whimper, “You promised.”
Then there was nothing.
Chapter Four
The Day After
I opened my eyes and saw it was morning. The sun shone weak around the edges of the heavy, drawn curtains.
I felt a moment of confusion, not knowing where I was, my surroundings unfamiliar.
Then I remembered.
My body froze stiff.
There was movement behind me and before I could register this I was gently rolled to my back. Lucien fully visible but shadowed in the feeble light, was up on a forearm towering over me.
Stark terror surged through me. I tensed, preparing for escape.
The next second I was crushed in his arms, my face tucked in his throat, his big hand cupping the back of my head, one of his heavy thighs thrown over both of mine.
“Leah,” he whispered.
My name sounded tormented on his lips.
I didn’t care. He could feel as badly as he wanted. He could be tormented forever by his actions and forever was a freaking long time for a vampire.
Promising he wouldn’t hurt me and then inflicting the worst pain I’d ever felt.
Promising he’d stop and then nearly killing me.
I assessed my options.
I couldn’t fight him, I’d never win. Even if I did get away, he could control my mind, my movements.
Therefore, I had no options.
God, I really hated him.
“Please, let me go,” I demanded to his throat, my voice sounded raspy, brittle and that scared me too.
“Leah, you must listen to me.”
I shook my head. This didn’t hurt. I felt no pain at my throat where he’d torn my flesh apart, just an odd but profound numbness, like getting your gums shot with Novocain. I decided not to think about that bit of weirdness at that moment.
I decided to focus on something else.
“The contract didn’t say word one about me having to listen to you. You feeding on me, yes. You f**king me, yes. Me listening to you, no.”
His hand left my head and went to my jaw. His thumb under my chin he pressed up cautiously as he tilted his head down to look at me.
“I’ll explain,” he declared.
I had no idea this was a remarkable declaration. Since I’d been expelled from Vampire Studies, I had no idea vampires didn’t explain themselves. Even if I had an idea, I wouldn’t have cared about that either.