This wasn’t Kellan’s fault. Or even hers, not really. Emily had brought the change upon herself, and Lucas would just have to come to terms with that.
The blinding white flash of fangs in the darkness shocked her into stillness. Somehow he’d pinned Kellan, who’d ceased fighting and now lay prone on the floor with fangs at his neck. Why wasn’t he fighting him anymore? He was incredibly strong, but he didn’t move from his supine position. Instead, he stared up at Lucas, his skin pale, his features drawn tight, as if all the fight had drained out of him.
Did he actually want to die?
Terror bubbled in her stomach as she quelled the urge to rush forward. He couldn’t kill him. They were both vampires. And Kellan was Lucas’s best friend—
Sydney stepped forward, but Lucas’s hiss in her direction nearly sent her to her knees. The absolute destruction in his eyes—eyes that blazed as scarlet as the blood that still clung to Emily’s lips—blasted through her.
She took his look for what it was. A warning. Stay back, or you’ll be next.
But when he again lowered his fangs to Kellan’s neck, she didn’t think. She reacted. Springing into a leap, she landed on Lucas’s back. He attempted to buck her off, as she’d known he would. But panic and love and fear had given her strength, and he couldn’t knock her free. And she sank the fangs she’d readied for Kellan deep into Lucas’s artery.
Chapter Thirteen
The dark greeted Lucas as he climbed toward consciousness, but it wasn’t the cold bleakness he’d come to associate with a million other mornings. Because this morning, he didn’t
wake alone.
Warm lips slid over his thigh, her kiss more a brand than a lover’s caress. Even without opening his eyes to see who had him, he knew.
Finally, she had come to him.
A slice of teeth, the flick of tongue. Both aroused and soothed simultaneously. Everything inside him reached out to her, his hips lifting off the mattress even as he fought the last vestiges of sleep.
Her mouth claimed him in one satiny stroke, and his hands clawed at the sweaty sheets pooled under his body. She lapped at him, bringing him from the unfeeling dark to the pinnacle of orgasm in mere moments.
Sweet hell, she knew how to suck cock.
She’d obviously done this before, and here he’d believed his woman was a virgin. Though he could hardly mind the experiences that had given her such incredible oral talents when he was on the receiving end of her expertise.
Groan after groan ripped from his throat at the masterful force of her suction. And then, just as his balls tightened in frantic expectation, she tore her mouth away.
He waited, not moving, hoping she just needed a breather. His body shook like a man caught in withdrawal and his dick ached so badly he feared he might combust, whether or not she finished him off. She’d been that good. But then the one thing occurred that could bring him back from the brink.
She started to cry.
Lucas’s eyes flew open. His curtains were drawn and only a single candle illuminated the room, but the murky light didn’t hamper his vision. He zeroed in on the woman balled up in the corner of his bed. Her dark hair shielded her face as she rocked back and forth, and what had been tears were now sobs.
“Hey, hey.” He started to sit up and jolted at the pull in his wrists. Heat arced between his shoulder blades as he yanked at his arms.
Fury burned through him like an inferno. Goddammit, they’d chained him to his own bed like some kind of animal.
Not her. She hadn’t restrained him. She wouldn’t. But them—his supposed best friend and his damn tramp—they would do anything, obviously. With or without his consent.
When Emily lifted her head and her swollen lips fell open, he saw a hint of sharp white teeth. His rage at Kellan’s betrayal sang through him anew.
He’d made her a vampire. Why, he had no clue. It made no sense. Kellan didn’t have designs on Emily, at least none he’d ever revealed. But Lucas had seen the three of them together—
He hauled in a breath. Okay, he’d seen Syd and Kellan together. Emily hadn’t exactly been participating, but she’d certainly looked engaged by what was going on. She’d brought herself to orgasm while he’d watched, and her mouth had glistened from her fresh feed.
Never had he felt an anger so hot and pure explode inside him. He could’ve killed Kellan. Would have, if Syd hadn’t stopped him with her sure-didn’t-feel-like-a-fledgling’s fangs.
Without thinking, he tried to touch the wound he knew had already healed on his throat. But the cuffs held fast and he let out a furious growl.
Emily’s tears slowed and she stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. Her eyes were red and bleary, but her silver irises appeared as smoky as mist over the moors.
“It’s for your own good,” she said in a hollow voice.