Six
Jasper
I can't stop the pain that tears through me at the realization that Brenna was really going to stick me with a thorn bush. True, it wouldn't have killed me, but did she know that? And even if she did know, the fact that she would hurt me like that…
It's really no matter. I'd be healed in less than twenty-four hours, but it's the principle of the matter. I would never harm a hair on her head, but she would do that to me. She's that desperate to get away from me.
More so than the thought that she would hurt me physically is the realization that she abhors me that much. The irony of it is not lost on me. I have a mate who wants nothing to do with me.
I've been patient and kind and as indulgent of her as I can be all things considered. Every day, it takes every ounce of control I have to not claim her. It's killing me being so near her and denying myself. I have a perpetual case of blue balls because I wanted to give her time to want me of her own accord.
And this is how she repays me.
It takes more control than it took for me to not kill everyone in sight and drink every amount of blood I could find when I was a freshly changed vampire to keep from taking her innocence every time I'm around her. That's how hard it is to fight this when every instinct inside of me is screaming at me to make her mine in every way.
I'm suddenly tired of being patient with her. I'm tired of being the good guy. Hell, I'm a vampire. I'm a villain, a monster, and it's obvious that's all she'll ever see me as, so I might as well live up to my name.
She's going to be my mate whether she likes it or not.
My mind is trying to reason with me, telling me that she hesitated. I saw the tremble in her hands. I felt her fear. I knew something was up the moment she wanted to pluck the rose.
The knowledge still stings, though. My heart is hurt because I'm completely and irrevocably in love with this little human, my little bird, my little Brenna.
And I know that she desires me physically as well whether she'll admit it or not. I feel the way her heartbeat ticks up whenever I touch her. I feel the shiver that passes through her at my touch, the way she trembles in my arms.
It's time to claim what's mine.
She must see the intent on my face because she tries to apologize. "Jasper, I'm so sorry." Her voice is quaking as she tries to step away from me. "I didn't mean it. I wouldn't have done it."
I silence her by smashing my lips down on hers, kissing her deeply, possessively. This kiss isn't tender like so many of mine have been since I brought her here. I'm not trying to coax her.
No, this kiss is that of a monster unleashed. This is the kiss of a man who's at the end of his rope. It's a kiss of fire and passion, of frustration and anger.
As she always does, she melts against me, her body going limp in my arms. I wrap my arms around her triumphantly, holding her up so she doesn't fall to the floor at my feet, though my cock gives a little jerk at the thought of her on her knees in front of me.
"Lie to me! Lie to me and tell me you don't want this, little bird," I rasp against her lips, daring her to deny it.
She swallows and shakes her head.
"Say it!" I growl at her. "I want to hear the words. I want to hear you reject me again."
She looks up at me and presses her lips together, the look in her eyes torn. She wants to say it, but she can't, and damn if that doesn't make my cock a fucking rod of steel in my pants.
I knew it. She wants this. It's her mind that's fighting against her. She's probably telling herself all the reasons why this can't work—chief among them being that I'm a vampire and I've kidnapped her. She's painted me as the villain in her mind, but I don't really give a fuck now because this connection we have goes deeper than that, and I know once I get inside her she'll see that.
"Exactly, Brenna, you can't say it because you know it's true."
She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out, and I can't resist. With a groan, I kiss her again, delving my tongue into her hot heat as I begin to hump her sweet little mound through our clothing. I'm losing control. My hands are shaking, and the friction of my cock against her even through our clothing is enough to drive me mad with lust.
I've never expressly asked her before, but I already know she's a virgin. Virgins have a certain smell to their blood. The smell drives vampires crazy, and it's only amplified a thousand fold since she's my mate.
I smell her arousal and know even before I even slip my hand under her dress and beneath the panties she wears that I'll find her soaking wet.
My nostrils flare when my fingers meet the swollen flesh of her little pussy. I feel her pearly nub swollen and aching and flick my fingers across it.
She lets out a moan, her head falling back, exposing her neck to me.
I feel my fangs pressing against my gum line, threatening to descend, but I hold back. I'm not ready for that. Not yet. I want to taste the sweetness between her thighs first.