“Roksana,” he growled, ripping at his hair. “The pain.”
“It’s a headache, da? You want to check the medicine cabinet for some aspirin?” She continued backward until she hit a pillar, sidestepped it and kept going, deeper into the dark corridor. Doors lined the landing and she thought about ducking into one, finding a place to hide and catch Elias off-guard after he passed, but the lack of escape routes made her hesitant to enter any of the rooms. “I think we can eliminate heartburn.”
“Stop running from me. I hate it.”
Roksana bristled. “I don’t run. I gauge my opponent.”
“I am not your opponent,” Elias roared.
The hallway lit up with loud zapping sounds, sconces flickering and shooting off sparkles of light, before everything went black again. “You…are doing that. You manipulated the lights the night you found me, too. It was not a dream?”
In her awe, Roksana forgot to back away. Or maybe in her bones she never wanted to put distance between them to begin with. Whatever the reason, Elias drew closer, his fingers still sunk into his dark hair, the strands twisting between his fingers. “The pain,” he gritted.
“You have to tell me what hurts,” she whispered. “If it’s blood you need, I-I can’t—”
“It’s everything.” Elias fell to his knees in front of Roksana, walking forward and wrapping his huge arms around her middle, pulling her stomach flush to his face. “The pain of not having you as my own is excruciating. Don’t you understand?”
Her very being seized and shook, her lungs emptying of air.
She was the thing Elias wanted most in the world?
How could that be?
How dare that be true?
When she thought him an indifferent murderer with whom she shared an attraction, staying away had been easier. Now? Now her own attraction stole through every limb, free of her denial, loose to run amuck. Before Roksana was aware of her own actions, she’d slipped her fingers into his hair, lightly running her nails along his scalp. She trailed them down his neck and traced his earlobes, her eyelids fluttering when he sagged against her, groaning into her stomach.
“Your beauty eats me alive, Roksana.” He nipped at her belly button through the leather of her dress, turning her nipples to tight, little bullets. “Not having you is hell. I live in hell.”
“Stop,” she breathed, her heart missing beats all over the place. Worry for Elias battled with duty and the former was winning. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.”
“Give yourself to me.” His arms banded tighter, his mouth traveling up her stomach toward her breasts, those ink-black eyes intent on her cleavage. “I need to take you, Roksana. Hard and fast and completely. But I will drive the stake through my own heart before hurting you. Flesh or soul. So I’m begging you to give me your body. Freely.” He bit into the bodice of her dress and dragged it down, exposing her heaving breasts. “I’m begging for your blood.”
Roksana’s neck went instantly loose, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip to keep a moan from slipping out. She would deny fantasizing about Elias drinking from her until she breathed her last, but the truth was, sometimes late at night in the dark, she reached down beneath the covers and pet herself while imagining it. To be the woman sacrificing herself so that he might have strength—to calm his hunger—called to a deep, unexplainable part of her. She wanted to experience that piercing of skin, his desperate pulls of her neck. Even the vulnerability and helplessness appealed to her. Use me, savor me, own me.
Oh God, she couldn’t. She couldn’t give in. “It’s just the drink she gave you,” Roksana pushed through panting lips. “You’ve never been like this. Not since…” A pang stuck her at the reminder of Vegas. “It’s not real.”
Elias stilled, his genuinely confused eyes locking in on her, holding her captive. “I’m always this desperate for you. Every minute, every second, every day. The drink only took away my ability to hide it. Believe me, Roksana.”
His words stole her breath…and her final reservations began falling one by one.
What if she said yes?
Just this once?
Elias wouldn’t tell anyone. Her secret moment of weakness would be safe.
And when you kill him? It’ll be really safe then.
That thought almost spurred her into a panic, but the barest hint of Elias’s lip brushed the tip of Roksana’s nipple and she gasped, clenching her thighs together, her femininity growing weighty, wet. If she truly planned to kill him, didn’t she deserve to create this memory? Her need for fulfilment from Elias had been a constant curse, keeping her body yearning day and night for years, and here was the remedy. Him. No one would know if she took what he gave. Offered what he needed in return. No one would know, but she’d have the echo of this night to call forth in the dark forever. She couldn’t resist it. Couldn’t resist him.