Her beautiful, graceful form backed away, just a bit.
“Do not run from me, consort,” Dante warned. His fangs had popped out, filling his mouth and forcing him to speak around them. “I am only barely in control now. If you try to flee, I think I’ll lose it, and I’ll take you without any kindness. I don’t want that between us.”
Oh, but it was there. The desire to take her because she belonged to him was right there beneath the surface. His senses were filled with her. Her skin glowed, and he could smell the soft, musky scent of her desire. Her lips were full, swollen from the way he’d shoved his cock in between them. He’d shove his cock into her pussy, too. She was his. He’d bought her, fought for her. It was only right that he take her.
Kaja swallowed and got to her knees. “I do not want that between us, either.”
It was the gentle hitch in her voice that pulled him from the edge. She’d seen so much violence, known so little kindness. He’d closed that odd connection between them before he’d seen too much, but he’d caught the edge of Kaja’s reality. The last thing he wanted was to be just another person who used her.
But that’s what you’re doing. That voice in his head didn’t seem to care about his hunger. He wasn’t using her. He was saving her. If he hadn’t bought her, Beck would have been forced to kill her, or she would have spent a lifetime alone, wandering the forests. He’d done her a favor. And when she’d paid him back by convincing his father he had set
tled down, Dante would find her a nice home. She would have luxury like she’d never imagined.
“What should I do?” Kaja asked.
He could think of a million things she should do. She should run because he wasn’t worthy of her. He was a selfish bastard, and he always would be. He couldn’t commit. It was simply impossible. This raging passion he felt for her would fade. It was inevitable, so if he had a heart in his body, he would save her the pain.
“Come to me.” He held out his hand and indicated that she should sit on his lap.
Kaja got to her feet and stepped forward. She placed herself on his lap, the soft flesh of her ass kissing his thighs. The minute her skin touched his, he felt something ease deep inside him. That nagging beast that raged below the surface let up the tiniest bit.
“Put your arms around me.” Dante let his hands drift to her waist as he breathed her in. Her hair was mostly dry, and it bloomed around her delicate face like a halo of softness. He let his nose run through it. Kaja’s hands found their way around his neck, and he could hear the way her heart sped up. She might be frightened, but there was obviously a part of her that wanted, too. Kaja knew what Dante was going to do, and yet she wrapped her body around his, allowing him to fill his every sense with her.
Dante’s heart began to pound in time to the rhythm he heard. Kaja’s chest thudded as he ran his nose along the line of her neck. He could hear the blood running through her body like a river of life. His fangs scraped her skin, and she trembled.
“Don’t be afraid.” He couldn’t stand the thought now. Her arms were around him, circling him in her light. Her very touch had softened his predatory instincts and brought out a need to please her. A consort had her power, too.
“Will it hurt?” The words came out on a breathless whisper.
He kept his mouth close to her neck. He couldn’t seem to move it. It was far too tempting. But he soothed a hand down her back. “I don’t know, love. I don’t think so. Consorts seem to love the bite, and it’s always followed by some righteously nasty sex.”
He felt her chuckle, and something eased inside him. “You sound like Dante again.”
He felt more in control. Her very nearness allowed him to push the beast back. It was still there, simmering below the surface, but Dante felt more like himself.
And he was hungry. So fucking hungry.
It gnawed at his gut, but it was so much more than physical. He hungered for her. If someone had offered him a pill at that moment, he would have smacked them down. He didn’t need fucking nutrition. He needed her.
But there was a process. Every royal knew it. Every royal was forced to study it right along with an embarrassing course in sex education. Dante had laughed his way through it, from the talk on safe feeding to the teaching plastic model every student had been forced to “feed” from to prove he wouldn’t rip its throat out. Delicacy was given high marks. If he simply bit down, she would be in agony. Persuasion was the key.
“Look at me, Kaja.” Dante forced his head up. He looked into her eyes, not allowing himself a moment to blink.
“They’re so beautiful. So green. Like the forest in high summer before the winter takes everything away.” Kaja stared at his eyes, not fighting him at all. Her mouth was slightly open. This was what the class had talked about. Persuasion. It felt good to pull her in and know she was his for the taking. She wouldn’t feel the pain of his fangs penetrating that smooth, white neck. All she would feel would be pleasure with every drag he took from her.
“You’re the beautiful one, Kaj.” He smoothed back her hair. Her crystal-blue eyes were a little cloudy, but he couldn’t mistake the affection there. She was fully in the moment with him.
And this was more than a feed. Dante pulled her close, her nipples brushing against his chest. They were hard little points. He could feel her wet little pussy rubbing against his thigh. Kaja was ready for a long, hard fucking, and he would give it to her. After.
Instinct led him. He forgot about the class and everything he’d ever heard about this act. This was between him and Kaja, and no one else in all the planes of existence could know what it felt like. The world had narrowed down, and Kaja filled it. There was only the scent of her, and the pearly glow of her skin, and the sound of her heart.
Dante gently grabbed a handful of silky hair and pulled her head back, exposing the long line of her neck. A single vein seemed to pulse and tempt him. He licked from her collarbone to just below her earlobe, following that sweet river that would feed his hunger.
“Please, Dante.” She squirmed just a little.
Dante chuckled. There was no fear in her voice now. She wanted it. She was ready to beg for it. And Dante was done playing. His cock ached and every muscle in his body screamed to take her.
“Yes. Yes, it’s time.” It was time to join with her. The phrase stuck in his head like a song he couldn’t get rid of. Joining. Being. Kaja.