Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)(26)

Engulfed in passion, I stripped off my own clothes. His hands caressed every piece of skin that I revealed. I couldn’t recall if he’d rid himself of his clothing or if I had done it in my frenzy. I had no semblance of rational thought left at the forefront of my brain.

With dark, potent need, I clung to Arys. He picked me up and slammed me against the wall with a satisfying bang. Braced against the wall, I growled with hunger, ready for him.

As Arys slid deep inside me, a wave of power crashed over us. With our bodies joined, the power seemed to weld us together in our union. It was like that last puzzle piece finding its place.

I flashed back to Lena’s battery metaphor, and a glimmer of fear crept in, but it was too late. I was in his mind, just as he was in mine. Images flashed through my brain like a strobe light. Arys’s memories flooded me with too much information. I wished to close my eyes against the onslaught, but it ran deeper than vision.

I saw blood and pain in his memory, much that he’d taken and more that he’d given. And heartbreak. I was intrigued by the heartbreak. I’d never looked at him that way, like someone who had feelings beyond blood thirst. I had only seen the vampire, not the man.

I experienced the sensation of what he felt when he killed, the ecstasy that he felt each and every time. I saw Arys walk away from a kill with renewal and a grin, but I also saw the blood tears and the regret. The shame that he’d once again fallen into the trap of temptation.

Sweat dripped down the side of my face, and my hair was damp with it. I could feel him in my mind. I couldn’t have shut him out if I had tried. Despite all of it, he didn’t slow his pace as he thrust into me with a sense of desperation.

My fingertips were sticky with his blood. My claws had bit through his flesh as I held him to me. If it pained him, he gave no sign. I cried out as we spiraled toward climax. Our crescendo of buzzing power neared the breaking point.

I was painfully aware of the overflow of energy. It seeped into the objects in the room, as it sought a place to expend. A clock radio on the nightstand turned itself on at full volume and quickly fizzled out, fried. The ceiling light turned on before exploding, sending thousands of tiny shards onto the carpet. I gave a small yelp as one struck my foot. The lights down the hallway followed suit, and I could hear the TV in the living room turn on full blast and then a loud pop.

“Alexa, can I…?” Arys’s breath was hot against my ear as he whispered my name urgently. His pace quickened, and I felt myself hurtling fast towards that ultimate finish.

When it hit, I climaxed with the greatest intensity that I’d ever experienced. It smashed into me with the heaviest metaphysical weight that I’d encountered during a physical act. The strangest sensation accompanied it, something that hurt deep inside my mind as it stripped away any barrier left between the vampire and I.

I heard the howl that tore out of my throat but didn’t identify it as me. In the same breath, Arys sank his fangs deep into that soft hollow above my collarbone. I arched my back, and as the howl died out, it turned to cries of sheer joy. A sound low in his throat echoed me as he sucked and licked at the bloody wound. It hurt so badly but it felt so good.

I wrapped my legs tightly around him as he carried me to the fluffy bed, careful to check for glass before setting me down.

Everything in Arys’s house that had run on power of any kind had been blown far past capacity. We had completely lost control. The disastrous potential of that much power alarmed me.

With our nagging metaphysical energy spent, we were left with the hum of residual power in the room and the continued sexual enticement of the moon, which I gladly gave into. Arys was more than happy to quench that thirst as well. We remained entangled in one another until just before dawn, when finally we lay exhausted.

I lay there amidst the down blankets and the satin sheets, breathless. My mind scrambled to make sense of everything that I’d seen and felt. I had been unprepared for the experience. A complete bearing of souls was not what I’d had in mind. Arys broke the silence first.

“That was a trip.” He gave my hand a squeeze.

I lay, collapsed on the bed beside him, staring up at the ceiling. The blood still roared through my ears, and I shook slightly, whether from a chill or from aftershocks, I wasn’t sure.

“Really Arys, what the hell was that? That was so far from normal.”

“Why, thank you. You were damn incredible yourself.” He laughed, and I gave his arm a halfhearted slap. With all that had just taken place, I was surprised that the atmosphere was so comfortable.

I knew the things that Arys had seen inside my mind. He knew my secrets, my hopes and fears. I said a silent prayer that I could trust him with that.

“Seriously though, did you know it would be like that? A complete sharing. I can’t imagine how that could happen.” I was insistent despite the fangs that now nipped playfully at my throat. When he bit at my br**sts, I pushed him back to force him to reply to me, despite the tingle that grew low inside me again.

“No. I never would have guessed it would be something that I couldn’t block. When our powers joined, it tore away any mental barriers between us. I’m not sure I can say I would have done it had I known we would share everything.” He pushed my hands down and pinned them against the bed. “But now that it’s too late, we might as well make the most of it.”

Arys’s lips made their way to one of my br**sts. His tongue traced circles around my nipple as he chuckled wickedly. His eyes met mine, and he asked, “Can I taste you again?”