Blonde & Blue (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #4)(94)

With a hungry fervor he consumed both my blood and my pleasure. Arys eagerly fed from my lusty energy and the blood that flowed from his bite. I found myself spiraling into that wonderful state of bliss where both mind and body was his to command. I writhed on the bed as he brought me to a glorious climax.

It did nothing to sate my desire for him. I was just getting started. Impatience gripped me when Arys paused to remove the last of his clothing. I couldn’t calm the beast inside me that, when paired with the hungers of the vampire, knew no restraint.

I was sticky with blood. It decorated me in splashes of scarlet, like crude body art. The scent of it was heavy on the air. I reached for Arys with the intent to spill his, too. I wanted to bask in every part of him.

Capturing one of my bloodstained hands in his, he turned me around and forced me up on my knees. I was pressed against the headboard so my back was to him. Lifting my skirt so it bunched up around my waist, he held firmly to my hips and entered me from behind.

I cried out as he thrust roughly into me. Every stroke was ecstasy. I hated that I couldn’t look into his eyes, but I loved the raw, carnal way in which he took me. I braced myself against the wall above the headboard, my fingers slipping to leave bloody handprints.

Our lovemaking grew into a high-paced, tense fervor. The metaphysical power we created broke free of our hold. It seemed to feed upon the both of us. The lights dimmed to almost complete darkness before surging again. I felt the effect ripple throughout the entire hotel.

I waited until I was sure Arys was close to the peak of pleasure, and then I turned slightly so I could shove him off me. I forced him down on the bed, straddling him but careful not to give him what he wanted. Not just yet.

Raking my claws down his chest, I delighted in the red ribbons that blossomed in my wake. I dipped my head to glide my tongue along a fresh scratch as I rubbed my groin against his. Tauntingly slow, I took him inside me just enough to make him groan before releasing him from the warmth of my body.

He grabbed my hair in a grip that was excitingly painful and threw me down so that I was beneath him. “You little tease.”

I laughed, a throaty sound that was laced with a growl. Forcing my legs apart, Arys took me again. Buried deep inside me, he unleashed any hold he might have maintained on rationale and control. With eyes flashing dangerously, he bit deep into my neck, hard enough to make me shriek.

I felt the telltale warmth of blood trickling down my shoulder to the bed below. I held tight to Arys, blood pooling beneath my nails as we moved together as one. The power we commanded was like a steadily growing wind whipping through the room. In the distance, I heard thunder, and I wondered if we’d somehow caused it.

The bed was a mess of blood. When at last we lay entangled among the blankets, exhausted and fulfilled, I groaned as the euphoria ebbed and the pain set in. My head spun, and my mouth was thick with the taste of blood. Nobody had ever loved me the wild, crazed way that Arys did. I adored every moment of it.

I lay curled in Arys’ warm embrace, basking in the afterglow. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to bring it up, but I wanted to take advantage of having him in a position where he couldn’t dodge my questions.

“So now seems like a good time for you to shed a little light on what Maxwell said. I think I deserve to know, Arys.”

“Really?” He groaned and rolled his eyes. “You want to do this now?”

“I do. Start talking. No lies and no avoidance. Tell me what he meant when he said that I was the one you’d been waiting for.”

“It’s a long story. Too long to go into right now.”

I fixed him with a fierce stare. I was not going to let up on this. “Scratch the surface.”

Arys forced a dramatic, exasperated sigh and propped himself up on one arm. “Here’s the quick version. A little more than a century ago, I was told by a witch that she could see my other half. She could see you, the one who would complete me. Lena was right when she told you we were two souls cut from the same magical cloth. We were always meant to be one. I didn’t believe it until I met you. Actually, I didn’t even let myself believe it then, not until it became impossible to deny.”

“And, you never thought to tell me this? There has to be more to it. Keep talking.”

“It’s rare for a connection like ours to actually be made. If I’d lived and died as human, we never would have met. Most people bound the way we are never meet.” His expression grew dark, and I got the feeling he would have done anything to avoid having this conversation. “Yin and yang. You know how that works? Well, that’s us. Two sides of the same coin but neither alike. Together we create something new, something powerful.”

My thoughts raced as I tried to piece it together. “Alright. That fits with a lot of what Lena said. But still … what does it really mean? And, why didn’t you want to tell me?”

Arys reached to take my hand with his free one. “That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. I don’t know what it means. All I know is that I am the dark and you are the light. And, it’s only a matter of time until my darkness consumes you. When it does, we both die.”

“No way.” I sat up quickly, tossing the bloodstained blanket aside. “There has to be more to it than that. There has to be a reason for it all.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I could see in Arys’ eyes that he really believed what he’d said, which explained why he’d been unwilling to share it earlier. Still, something didn’t add up. It didn’t entirely make sense.