Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(73)

My insides clenched. “Uncaged.”

His cheek slowly climbed up on one side. “And that scares you?”

“Yes.”

“Because you like it,” he realized.

“Yes.” I felt naked and completely exposed. I bit down on my lip to keep from crying.

His gaze dropped down to my mouth as a low-sounding growl escaped his throat. “Then why do you deny yourself of it? Why do you deny me?”

That answer was easy. “Because I love Trace. Because it kills me to think of hurting him.”

His expression hardened as annoyance flashed through his eyes. “Yes, unfortunately, I’m well aware of that. The bloodbond goes both ways,” he reminded, his tone flat and resentful. “And that leaves me with a direct funnel to your stifled desires and ceaseless anxiety over Romeo’s feelings.”

“Oh, you poor baby,” I bit back, glaring at him. “Maybe you should have thought of that before you tricked me into a permanent bloodbond.”

His fangs clicked out like a warning and my breath hitched.

“Dominic…” I wanted to shake my head, to reach out and calm him before he did something he would regret, but my body was as useless as a marble statue.

“Yes, angel?” His tone was innocent, but his eyes were anything but. He licked his lips purposefully, drawing my attention down to his mouth.

Flashes of his euphoric bite invaded my mind and my knees immediately weakened. My heart didn’t want any part of this, but my body—my body was betraying me entirely as it did exactly what the bloodbond intended it to do. And he knew it too. He knew my body and my mind craved him like an addict craved their drug.

“Please.” I wasn’t sure if I was begging him not to bite me, or begging him to do it.

His hand moved down to my neck, fingers trailing against my pulsing veins as his eyes darkened with desire. “I’ll tell you what, angel.” His sultry voice sent a shiver down my back. “If you truly want me to stop—if you aren’t craving me the way I am you, then all you have to do is tell me so. Tell me you don’t want this and I will let you go.”

My mind was screaming at me to say the damn words, but my mouth refused to tell the lie. My body wanted him the way the desert wanted rain, the way a lonely heart ached for love. Every inch of me hungered for him to devour me.

“I didn’t think so.” He smiled victoriously.

“I hate you right now.”

“And soon you will love me again.” His fingers weaved into my hair, cupping the back of my head as he lowered his mouth to my neck and parted his lips against my skin.

My breathing staled as I basked in the sensation of his teeth grazing against the sensitive spot below my ear.

The minute his fangs broke through, my body clenched up and then released like a burning comet exploding in the sky. Ecstasy surged through my blood as pangs of need hit me, each wave begging and crying out for more. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in closer to me so that he couldn’t stop—to make sure he never stopped, but I was unable to move an inch, even in the direction that my body ached to go.

Panting and breathless, I cried out as my body grew slack in his arms.

He tightened his hold on me and my eyes rolled back in my head. There was no more worry in my mind, no fear plaguing my heart. Nothing existed and nobody mattered. It was just me and Dominic and the impenetrable bliss that had taken over my body—my entire existence.

The more blood he drew, the less aware of reality I became until I had detached from myself entirely. My legs weakened beneath me until I could barely stand, and when they finally gave out on me, Dominic held me steady in his arms before gently folding to the ground with me.

My lids fluttered as I struggled to keep them open. I wanted to tell him that I was fine—that he could take more, but my tongue was sealed to the roof of my mouth.

He picked up my chin and pulled my face up so that I was looking at him. Remnants of blood colored the corner of his lips as my eyes slowly crawled from his mouth to his eyes.

“My…blood,” I sputtered unevenly, unable to say any of the words I wanted to say.

He wiped the corner of his mouth and his expression fell. There was something pushing through his hooded eyes, something revealing I’d never seen in him before. It looked so much like remorse, but I was too out of it to be sure.

I closed my eyes, ready for the darkness to take me in its arms.

“Look at me, angel” he said as he ran his thumb across my cheeks. He wasn’t done with me.

Forcing my eyes open, I looked back at him.

“You were right the first time.”

I tried to focus on his eyes, on his words, but I couldn’t steady the room or clear the happy fog from my brain.

“I am a monster first and foremost, and that will never change” He bit down on his wrist and pierced a small hole. Blood bloomed from his snowy skin as he brought it to my lips.

I drew in his healing blood without further prompt.

“I have never had any qualms about what I am, about taking what I wanted and leaving nothing but devastation in my wake. And I must say, I rather enjoyed it.” His eyes were focused on my lips pressed against his wrist, but they were distant; here, yet someplace else. “But I find myself conflicted when it comes to you.”

In the thin veil of my awareness, his words registered. I didn’t know what to do with them or how to process them, but they felt important somehow—sacred. He carefully drew his wrist from my mouth and then wiped the smear of blood from my lips with his thumb.