Chasing Shadows(22)
With a groan that spoke clearly of his exasperation, Mark turned to me. “Saphrona, stop it. You did not betray me, okay? So you bit me in the heat of the moment, so what? Stop beating yourself up for doing something that’s only in your nature to do.”
“But what if that nature leads me to kill you someday? I could not go on living if I ever lost you.”
He reached for me and I went willingly into his arms, wrapping my own tightly around his waist. “I don’t believe you would do that. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. I also know that you love me, and your love for me would never let you go that far. At least you didn’t turn me, right? I’m not in the midst of becoming a vampire, though at least if I were I’d be assured of being able to love you forever.”
“You won’t turn, Mark, hybrids don’t…” I looked up, startled. “Did…did you just say you love me?”
Mark smiled. “I guess I did. And I mean it, too. The rational part of my mind can’t help wondering how it’s possible when we’ve only just met, but it’s something else that I just know is true. Like how I know that if you ever bite me again, you’ll stop before you go too far.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And you’re okay with that? That I could bite you again and drink your blood?”
He shrugged. “If it makes you happy, or it’s something you need…”
His voice trailed off, and I felt his eyes on me. I knew it was because heat had flushed my cheeks, for I had recalled just how happy drinking his blood as I came had made me, having given me the most mind-blowing orgasm I’d ever had. I hadn’t wanted to dwell on that as I kicked myself all night because of how much I hated the fact that I’d bitten him in the first place.
“What is it?” he asked.
I shook my head, not wanting to answer, but Mark took my chin in his hand and turned my head so that I had no choice but to look at him. “Tell me what you’re thinking, love.”
“Nothing. It’s just… Biting you when I did, at that precise moment…”
A sly, sexy grin spread across his face as realization dawned. “You liked it,” he concluded. “Not just because you were drinking my blood, but because you came harder than you’ve ever come before. I like that.”
And then his mouth came down on mine. My lips parted to allow his tongue entrance, and mine tangled with it as our mouths fused and our hands roamed over each other. Mark pushed my robe aside and fondled my breasts, while I splayed my hands across the planes of his tight, muscled chest. In the next moment I was being lifted so that my rear was on the edge of the sink. I reached down and pushed the sweatpants he had donned down his hips, pleased to see that he wore nothing else underneath, and that he was once again as ready for me as I was for him.
I spread my legs and he stepped into them, entering my quivering folds as I braced my feet against the door of the cabinet under the sink. He kissed and licked his way from my mouth and down my throat, until he had the hard pebble of my right nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking until I gasped. He switched his attention to my left breast, his hips thrusting in a gentle rhythm as I rocked on the edge of the marble countertop, one of my hands grasping his firm, perfect rear, the other fisting in his hair.
Incrementally Mark increased his pace, and I knew that he was coming close to his climax, just as I was mine. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes, which were languorously heavy-lidded.
“Bite me,” he whispered huskily.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to risk it,” I replied, my own voice breathy as I came ever closer to release.
He lifted the wrist I had bitten the night before and held it in front of my face. “You want to, Saphrona—I know you do. And I want to give you that pleasure again. Let me do this for you.”
He was right, I did want to. I wanted the taste of his blood in my mouth as the feel of him pushing inside me sent me over the edge; I wanted those two pleasures to combine as they had the night before so that I would feel that same mind-blowing ecstasy.
I moaned as his thrusts continued to push me toward orgasm. I started to gasp again. “Mark, you don’t…you don’t get anything out of it. Why would you…?”
He leaned closer and flicked his tongue across my lips. “On the contrary, love. Giving you pleasure is what gives me pleasure.”
With his eyes on me, I let go of his head and took hold of his wrist, bringing it to my mouth as my canines dropped and biting down…and then my world exploded.
Mark cried out his own release as I began to drink, and I closed my eyes as I fed, my hips jerking against his as we carried each other over into that place of mindless oblivion. The taste of him was heaven; my body felt warm and alive and powerful, and I never wanted it to end.
But somehow I remembered that it had to. I had to stop or I would do irreparable harm to Mark—if I didn’t stop drinking his blood he could die, and that was something I couldn’t live with. As I reluctantly lowered his arm I opened my eyes to find him staring at me with a glassy, far off look in his. Concern flooded my veins and I grabbed his head in my hands.
“Mark?! Talk to me. Please say something,” I pleaded.
Mark sagged against me, laying his head on my shoulder. “Wow,” he whispered, his breathing labored.
I raised an eyebrow. “Wow?” I queried.
“That was incredible.”
“What do you mean?” I pressed. “I thought you didn’t…”
Slowly, carefully, he leaned back, holding himself up by bracing his hands on the edge of the sink on either side of me. “I don’t know if what I felt is what you felt. I just know that seeing that look of pure bliss on your face as you fed and climaxed at the same time made me feel like the most powerful man in the world. Definitely rocked my world, that’s for sure—I’ve never come so hard in my life.”
I smiled slowly, then picked up the hand I had fed from. Once again the wounds were already closed, but there was still blood there, and so I brought the wrist to my lips and licked, cleaning it away. I felt Mark tremble, felt the residual waves of my own orgasm flutter through me, and abruptly laughed.
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Eight
Because we were already in the bathroom, Mark and I took a shower together, which led to other fun pursuits, and by the time we were through he had a second bite mark on his shoulder. Although he admitted to feeling woozy, he said he was otherwise fine and feeling great.
Still, I was concerned. “I shouldn’t do that every time we make love, it makes you too weak,” I said as we dressed. “And you may want to start taking an iron supplement as well, and some B-12, to avoid becoming anemic.”
He stopped buttoning his shirt and stood at attention, saluting smartly. “Yes ma’am,” he said with a grin.
“And protein,” I went on, pulling on socks and slipping my sneakers on my feet. “You may want to add more protein to your diet—eggs and red meat, that sort of thing.”
“Well, I have recently moved to a farm where there are hens that lay eggs every day. And my girlfriend makes a mean omelet,” Mark told me lightly.
I had to grin at that. I liked that he had called me his girlfriend, and I liked the sudden feeling that I was loved unconditionally.
“Not that I’m complaining or anything,” Mark said, drawing me back to the here and now, “but are you as curious as I am about the fact that we’ve had so much sex?”
Unprepared for such a question, I froze when I stood. Cocking my head to the side as I considered it, I realized he was right—six times in less than 24 hours did seem a bit excessive.
“It’s the bond,” I explained after another moment’s thought. “I might not know everything I should know about being a vampire, but I do know that pair-bonding amplifies things.”
“Like what?” he queried.
I led us out of the bedroom and started downstairs. “Well, our emotions for one thing—our feelings for each other. Our concern for each other’s safety is another. We’ll be even more aware of each other’s presence. Also, my drinking your blood means I can find you anywhere, for as long as the blood is in my system.”
Mark’s expression showed his interest. “And the sex thing?”
I smiled. “Our bond also increases our desire for one another and subconsciously drives us to mate, though the intensity of our need is supposed to abate after some time. Shapeshifters must go through the same thing, because even Juliette knew we’d have a hard time keeping our hands off of each other.”
I paused as I was pouring a cup of food into Moe and Cissy’s bowl, which the two little dogs dove at immediately. Standing, I turned to Mark, who was pulling the basket of eggs from yesterday out of the refrigerator. “Speaking of your sister, where is she? What, um, what happened last night after I stormed out of here?”