Blood Entangled

by Amber Belldene

  The sound of rustling fabric hinted he was undressing. She swallowed and clenched her fists, summoning a hefty dose of will power to keep from turning around. He stepped against her, and all at once, his hands were lightly gripping her shoulders, his erection bumped against the small of her back, and he ran his lips along the nape of her neck. In her haste, she’d left her hair up, and now she was glad.

  With one arm around her waist, he pulled her flush against him and whispered. “I promise to savor you slowly, even if it takes every ounce of self control I possess. I’ll do this right.”

  Kos was going bite her and make love to her. It was really happening—after all those years of longing.

  She turned and laced her arms around his neck, pressing her body into him. He sucked in his breath and she seized the moment to kiss him, trying to communicate her gratitude and her desire.

  Then the urge to see him won, and she broke the kiss, stepping back. He grunted at the separation. The sound gave her goose bumps. To be wanted—even if only for a little while—meant everything.

  Smiling, she straightened her spine. “I’m going to look at you now.”

  He clasped his hands behind his back and flashed her a wicked smile.

  Her gaze moved down his body quickly. His erect penis jumped like it could feel her gaze, and she laughed. She’d never seen anything like that. More slowly, she took in his appearance from the bottom up. Muscular calves and thighs, dusted with dark gold hair. That impressive erection centered between lean hips. His abdomen was a feast of rippling muscle, and without thinking she reached out to feather her fingers along his stomach.

  “You look like you do sit-ups all night instead of reading.”

  He turned his palms up. “It’s the Blood Vine. It’s turning me into a beefcake.”

  “You weren’t exactly chopped liver before,” she scolded.

  “I’m lucky that being a vampire makes it easy for bookworms to maintain our muscle tone.”

  “Uh huh, and the work you do in the vineyards has nothing to do with it?”

  He shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with the praise.

  What could a woman say to admire a man as beautiful as him? She would have to show him instead. Her fingers itched to touch, so she placed her palms open on his chest and drew her hips against him. She kissed his collarbone and when she darted her tongue out to trail it along his skin, his cock leaped again where it was pressed between them.

  It demanded attention, and she giggled, reaching for it. When she took him in her hand, she tilted her face to find him watching her with a curious expression. “What?”

  “Sweetheart, you know how to make a man feel special.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He hooked a finger under her chin. “It’s hard to describe…but there’s something innocent about you. You make me feel like it’s my first time.”

  From her cheeks to the tips of her breasts, she heated, blushing at the compliment. But it was a little too close to home. She had to act quickly. “Kos, will you bite me?”

  Kos’s fangs responded to her request, dropping rapidly. Damn, she was killing him with her wide eyes and giggles.

  Some animal voice inside him said, Oh yeah, give her what she wants.

  Her vulnerability spoke directly to that hungry animal, and the way she’d put herself in his hands stirred his primal instincts. He wanted to growl out a promise to protect her and please her.

  Under the fair skin of her neck, a blue vein pulsed. Saliva filled his mouth, and he imagined biting her. Her first time sharing her blood during sex—he felt like he was claiming her, marking her as his. Of course, he wasn’t and he couldn’t. But his fangs were ready to go.

  Oh fuck. His fangs.

  Was he hungry for her? He knew the smell of her blood, if not the taste. Was this desire intense enough to bind her to him? He ran his tongue over his long canines, smelling the salt of her blood and the honey of her arousal.

  It was a heady scent, but it wasn’t making him hungry for her blood so much as her body. At least he didn’t think so. He wanted to be certain, so he bought himself some time.

  “No biting yet, sweetheart. I’m just getting started.”

  He lowered his head to her chest. When her robe fell open, he knew that he’d never seen a more beautiful pair of breasts in all one hundred and eighty years of his life, but to say so would have been…well, she wouldn’t have believed him. He determined to show her instead. Lightly, he licked every inch of her, tasting the shape of her curves.

  She shivered. “Kos, stop, that tickles.”

  Then he suckled at her breasts, drawing hard on them like a hungry baby. She moaned and pushed her hips toward him.

  “Like that, do you?”

  She whimpered. “More.”

  He’d never heard a sweeter word, and a laugh welled up in his gut. “Gladly.” First he picked her up and laid her down on the bed. Stretching himself alongside her, he returned his attention to her other breast, mouth open wide, his fangs grazing her nipple. No urge to bite—good, he wouldn’t bond to her.

  He slipped his open palm down her belly, and her legs fell open at the barest hint of a caress. He ignored the hint and, teasing her, stroked up from her knee. Her thighs were slick with arousal, and she squirmed, trying to find more contact. What had he done to deserve her desire? She was more than any male could ask for. He ran his fingers through her slick folds.

  “Remember, no fingers inside me. I want all of you at once.”

  Krist. She was wanton and wide-eyed at the same time—one of a kind. “Then let me bite you, get you good and ready.”

  What position would she like best? He could kneel over her, spoon behind her. But he was nervous to push into her without testing the waters. Usually, his lovers appreciated his efforts to get them open and ready. Since she didn’t want that, he would give her all the control.

  “Lena, climb on top of me.” He rolled onto his back and pulled one of her legs over him. “Like this.”

  She followed his instructions, straddling his torso, her core hot and wet against his belly. He closed his eyes, savoring the contact, then gazed at her. She’d been watching him with a sad look, but smiled when he caught her.

  “Hey. What’s the matter?”

  “I was just thinking this is our good-bye.”

  The words reached right into his lungs and stole his breath. Without thinking, he said, “I’ll miss you.”

  Tears shimmered in her eyes.

  Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? He didn’t want her asking to stay again. Not now, when he might just decide to keep her.

  But she didn’t. She simply smiled at him with a heartbreaking mixture of affection and longing. He should have known; she’d done her begging already. She wouldn’t humiliate herself again. Especially not now.

  “Lena, I want you on top of me like this. So when you’re ready, you can control things—how fast, how hard, how deep.”

  She nodded, cupping his face with her palm. The tenderness pierced him, and he had to look away.

  He ran his hands up her arms and pulled her shoulders close to him so they were nearly chest to chest. On the side of her neck, he found that small blue vein under her skin. To drag things out for her pleasure, he didn’t need a main line but a low flow he could sip from for hours. He licked and then sucked her skin into his mouth, drawing the vein closer to the surface and finding its exact location with his tongue. Carefully, his aim true, he slid his fangs through her flesh into the narrow vein.

  He took a pull of her blood. Warm, metallic, salty, and underneath all that, the sweet honey taste that was just her. He groaned.

  She released the breath she’d been holding and arched her back up. Then she inhaled deeply and rubbed her whole body against him. He thought of a kitten burrowing for warmth. She braced her arms alongside his head, supporting her weight as she leaned forward to give him access to her neck. The weight of her breasts, the silk of her skin—she surrounded him,
flooding his senses. If only it could last forever. He reined in that emotion before he reached to find her wet center, making circles around her opening with his fingertips.

  Her throaty whisper tickled his ear. “Give me your fingers to suck.” She bit down gently and ran her tongue along the tips over and over again. “This is so different than with Andre,” she murmured breathily.

  He didn’t break his suction on her vein, but his chest vibrated with a silent laugh.

  “Skin against skin, and the way you’re…” she panted “…touching me. I feel everything a thousand times more…”

  He took it as an invitation, remembering exactly where she was most sensitive. After another draw of her blood, he found the bud with his fingers and gently circled.

  It was her turn to groan. “Oh my God.”

  Somehow he knew if he could see her face her eyes would not be closed, but wide with pleasure. She lifted her hips and trapped his cock between them, slipping and sliding along his length, torturing them both.

  The feeling of her, so soft and slick, up and down his length—it was too much. He broke the suction and licked her wounds closed. He whispered against her neck. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”

  She raised herself to look at him. “I’m ready.”

  His cock pointed straight up, desperate for her. Very slowly, she lowered herself onto him. Amazing. The softest, tightest thing he had ever felt. Did she know she felt so good?

  She studied his face intently. For what?

  And then everything happened too fast. He bumped against the unexpected barrier. She slammed herself down, forcing him through it. Lena let out a cry, and her muscles clenched, trying to push him out.

  Slow motion. His body frozen, his mind racing. Everything suddenly made sense, and nothing made sense at all. Her innocence wasn’t an act—

  She had given herself to him without any expectations.

  What a gift. If she had offered, he would have refused. But this was right—better him than Mason.

  He shook his head, coming back to the moment. Above him was an angel desperately in need of his love.

  Her tears, which had only just shimmered, now spilled. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Her voice was a reedy sob, and he knew she was in pain.

  “Shh, shh.” He wiped her tears. “How bad are you hurting?”

  “Not too bad.”

  “If I bite you again, it will help you relax, help you feel good again.”

  “I don’t think I need that. It’s getting better already.”

  He looked down at where they were joined, the lips of her sex spread around him, a rusty hint of blood ringing the base of his cock. His primal need to possess and please was awakened again. She’d made herself his.

  Of the thousands of women he had taken to bed, none had ever mattered as much as her.

  “Let me touch you.” He reached again for the sensitive spot above where they were joined and stroked her, watching her face and gauging the tension of the muscles wrapped around him. At first she was very still, then she wriggled, little by little. Slowly, the vise around him eased. He almost missed the tightness, but it would return when he built her up again for a climax.

  As he caressed her, Lena began to rock, finding the spots inside herself that pleased her. He gazed at her face as the new sensations played through her body. Too beautiful. It almost hurt to look at her.

  Then she let out a frustrated sigh.

  “All right, sweetheart?”

  Eyes squeezed shut, she put her hand on his, trying to show him how she wanted him to stroke her.

  He could admit it. “Lena, sweetheart, you can do it better yourself.”

  Her eyes flew open and flashed dark with desire—he’d shocked her. He gritted his teeth to keep his control.

  “Let me watch you,” he growled.

  Obeying, she found a rhythm to her grind. She bloomed around him, opening, moistening, slipping down his cock further until he was all the way inside her. Her walls pulsed around him, and she opened her eyes in a question.

  “Yes, now you’re ready.”

  He rolled her so fast the bed creaked. She pressed her palm to her forehead, disoriented, her eyes heavy lidded. She kept getting more and more beautiful. Finally, she smiled. “Are you going to make love to me now?”

  “What did you think I was doing before?”

  Her grin widened. “I was doing all the work.”

  “So you were. Yes, it’s my turn now.”

  He slid into her easily, though she was still tight and new and so fucking soft. She found the angle she wanted and matched his thrusts. Her pure, raw passion…he’d never experienced anything like it, like being inside her as she learned her own pleasure, never seen anything as beautiful as the wonder that played over her face again and again. Finally, it all got to him—the taste of her blood on his tongue, the feel of her untouched body around him.

  “Lena, you feel too good, I can’t hold back anymore. I know you’re not finished. I promise we’ll keep going.”

  She opened her eyes and gave him a look of unbridled love. Krist. No one had ever looked at him like that. Ever. He exploded inside her.

  “Oh my God,” she said and wrapped her legs around his hips, drawing him even closer. Then she spasmed around him, ready after all.

  Her breaths were staccato, and he continued to move rhythmically as she came, slamming her against the mattress over and over again. She remained quiet as her orgasm unfolded, the powerful contractions milking his last drops of pleasure. He hoped she was satisfied when, with her hands on his shoulders, she stilled him. And then she laughed, a deep, musical laugh he’d never heard from her before.

  The sound of her contentment. He could listen to it all night.

  Seconds or hours later, she spoke. “Kos, how can I ever thank you?”

  Balanced on his elbows, he looked down at her. “I’m the one who will do the thanking.”

  She placed her palm flat over his heart. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I hated being sneaky.”

  “Shh. No apologies. Let me hold you.” Within minutes she was asleep in his arms.

  Chapter 16

  THE PLEASURE THAT HAD ROCKED Lucas when Pedro’s fangs had first slipped into his neck—it had been a shock, an earth-quaking, life-altering shock. A week later, he still hadn’t quite made sense of it. Hunters didn’t know about the ecstasy of a vampire’s bite, and they didn’t understand why humans submitted to it so greedily.

  Pedro’s bite was officially better than a blowjob, but a bite-plus-blowjob was the very best. Naked on his bed, Lucas lay back against the headboard and stared at a blank stretch of wall. Pedro cupped his balls and ran his thumb up the underside of his cock as he drew blood from an artery in Lucas’s thigh.

  Lucas sucked on a piece of sour lemon candy because the vampire bite made him desperate for something in his mouth to lick and taste, like the old days when he’d enjoyed taking Ecstasy. Earlier, Pedro had looked at him under heavy lids, sheepishly placing the offering of the candy in his palm. Now its sweet tartness was an ecstasy in and of itself. Lucas’s skin was on fire, and the ceiling fan blew cool air all over him like a cute cabana boy with a palm frond.

  Pedro took a deep pull of blood, and Lucas’s skin tingled along its path. All the way from his fingers and toes, the tingle headed toward his cock, which twitched. Pedro sucked again, probably trying to get the same reaction. He did. With his tongue, Lucas flattened the candy to the roof of his mouth and smiled at the ceiling. The vampire groaned into his thigh—a deep, sexy sound. Then Pedro’s tongue circled the puncture wounds and swept over them to seal them.

  Fucking vampire super speed—before he knew it, Pedro had taken his cock deep into his throat, sucking it up and down with the same powerful draw he had used to swallow the blood.

  Damn. If there could be no fucking, a hoover job like this was an excellent consolation prize. Pedro found a sensitive spot behind his cock and pressed it rhythmically. The tension bui
lt and built—it was in his balls, and higher, deeper, more intense. Pedro kept up the sucking and the pressing.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” Lucas said, and then he came, shuddering. Pedro drew every last drop from him. His mind blurred until all thoughts disappeared, and there was only the sound of rapid breaths—his or Pedro’s, he wasn’t sure.

  After some timeless stretch, Pedro released Lucas’s cock and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  Suddenly, Lucas worried for him. “It’s not blood. Will it make you sick?”

  “Don’t know.” Pedro pushed his hair out of his face and grimaced. “I’ll find out soon enough. Besides, I’m not about to ask the Maras boys.”

  “Oh they have to know. In their long lives, surely some lady vamp has…swallowed.” Lucas took Pedro’s hand. “God knows I’d do either one of them.”

  Pedro laughed. “All three you mean. Yeah, they are very doable, but don’t let Kos hear you talk like that. He gets squirrelly at the thought of a dude admiring his ass.”

  Lucas looked down at Pedro’s cock, firm and proud, but not frighteningly tumescent the way it had been. It was a nice cock, and he wanted to suck it again. He reached for Pedro and kissed him, tasting himself in the other man’s mouth. He had always loved that—but the dark taste of both blood and cum was somehow even more erotic.

  “Your turn.” He wrapped his hand around Pedro’s erection and shifted lower to face his groin.

  “How about a hand job, instead?”

  Lucas withdrew quickly. “Really?”

  “Yeah, tell me a dirty story while you touch me. Tell me about the first time you fucked a guy.”

  Lucas laughed, but Pedro was serious. “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I want to see your face. I want to know more about you.”

  Lucas’s heart thudded. Crap.

  It was really, really not good to get all sentimental with his vampire almost-fuck-buddy. Sex and friendship were the most he could afford, and probably not even those. Pedro placed his hand on Lucas’s chest, must have heard the flutter there. His yellow gaze locked onto Lucas.