Blood Flows Deep in the Empire

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  “I’m serious. What’s wrong?” she asked again, fighting the urge to reach out to him.

  “Ismini . . .”

  Ismini had been told that beings like him couldn’t get sick. But at that particular moment, she was doubting that with every fiber of her being, and the mere thought of something happening to him made her want to die.

  She wasn’t being melodramatic, either. Vedlyl had explained that if Dyletri did somehow die, Ismini was going with him, no matter what.

  A mated being couldn’t live without their mate, plain and simple.

  “Please. Please tell me what’s wrong.” She continued her advance, not even realizing how odd it was that he was walking backward.

  That he seemed to be fleeing from her.

  Dyletri’s back met the end of the balcony, where the wall was. “I need you to stay back,” he said, his tone menacing.

  Ismini couldn’t see his face. But she could still see those damned tremors. She couldn’t have forced herself to walk away even if she had wanted to.

  Dyletri shook his head and stepped away from her. “No. I need you to stay back.”

  Huh?

  “I’m serious, Ismini. Stay back!”

  She was a mere three feet away from him and couldn’t stop. His energy had leaked into the air and was throbbing around her, vibrating and hypnotizing her and drawing her closer.

  “There’s something wrong with you. You’ve been looking sick for days!”

  Please, just tell me you’re okay. I’ll force myself to leave somehow . . . just say you’re all right.

  Ismini stopped in front of him. Past the point of rational thought, she raised her hand and placed it on his shoulder.

  She had thought he’d done all he would do to imprint himself on her mind and body.

  Ismini had been so wrong.

  Moving at top speed, Dyletri grabbed her and turned them both. He pressed her front against the wall he’d just been backed up against. Ismini almost died. The very air she breathed became molten inside her.

  He was close to her back. Too fucking close. So close Ismini just wanted to whimper and press herself against him. She wanted to rotate her hips and beg him to do something about the ache inside her.

  Exhaling shakily, she wished there was a way she could dig her nails into something. Anything.

  The same way his hand was digging into the stone next to her head.

  Dyletri leaned closer, his face nuzzling her hair. Ismini swore that the strands had developed nerve endings all of a sudden. She felt his touch shooting through them. Up into her scalp. Down into the fabric of her skin.

  Lower.

  A gasp left her. She was barely holding on to her sanity. “Dyletri.”

  His hand, the one that that had been digging into the stone, disappeared. It came back, slamming so hard into the wall that Ismini jumped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cracks spreading out from where his fingers were.

  Ismini shouldn’t have been able to see those details in the dark, but Dyletri’s skin was glowing again. His veins were lighting up in the same way they had in the alley back on Earth. No, wait, it was more than that. Every individual vein on the back of his hand glowed.

  Then Dyletri murmured her name. “Ismini . . .”

  She shuddered and almost came right there. His voice was seductive against her ear. Her entire uterus throbbed and threatened to leave her body, and the resulting gush was embarrassing. She shook as she fought the urge to force herself on him.

  There was no way she could ever overpower him, but she wanted to. God, did she want to.

  Ismini heard the stone on the side of her head crack some more. Heard the stone railing to her left fracturing as well. She should have been frightened by how powerful Dyletri was, but instead, she felt something inside her snap loose. Felt whatever control she had over the mating turn to ash that was swept away and consumed by a tornado of need. She was defenseless.

  “Ismini . . . stop me. Tell me to stop.”

  His voice slid into her. There was something in his tone that her body instinctively recognized. Something her body bowed to, but her will refused to obey.

  “No,” she whispered. “No, I don’t think I want to.”

  Chapter 11

  Ismini expected to be filled with embarrassment, but it never came. The air around her grew harsh with heat, and all she could hear were Dyletri’s desperate breaths. When he broke the tense silence, there was an obvious split in his voice, an echo that sounded more dangerous than he did.

  “What did you just say?”

  She had never heard so much power within a being’s voice before. She peeked at his hand. His whole arm trembled, his muscles bulging. Each vein appeared enlarged and pulsed with that white glow. It had to be his blood, if the way the light circulated in his veins was any indication. Ismini bit down on her lip, shaking and feeling a violent kind of energy overcome her.

  “I don’t want you to stop,” she whispered, giving in and shifting her body. She gasped under her breath when her back came in contact with his chest. An alarming amount of heat radiated from him. Her flesh should have been burning right off.

  Then again, given the way Ismini was feeling right then, that might’ve not been too far from happening.

  His chest vibrated, and she quivered in response. His growl was loud, vibrant, powerful, and the sound was almost enough to make her eyes roll into the back of her head.

  Ismini looked over at his arm again, and before she realized what she was doing, she had leaned over just enough to run her nose up the expanse of his arm. She inhaled his scent, felt his blood pounding under his skin.

  “Fuck,” he said, that odd echo multiplying behind his voice.

  “I’m going to die anyway,” Ismini murmured, replacing her nose with her lips.

  Dyletri jerked but didn’t pull back. “Shit. Ismini . . .”

  His skin lit up even more as she brushed kisses across his arm. The light was hypnotizing.

  “Show me what it’s like. Just once. I want to know.” She pressed her lips against one of his more prominent veins. Her eyes slid shut, and she moaned as her tongue slithered out and tasted him.

  He flipped them around so fast that Ismini was left pouting. She was so fucking hungry, and the way her tongue tingled with the energy and taste of him?

  Sweet baby Jesus.

  She lifted her eyes to his, running her tongue across lips. Lips he watched with the intensity of a predator. His gaze had gone white again. Ismini knew it was from the energy coursing through him. She licked her lips again, dying to feel him. Any part of him.

  She got her fucking wish in a way that she’d never expected.

  One of Dyletri’s large hands wrapped around her leg and lifted her onto the tips of her toes. He slid her body up the wall to press against him. Ismini’s head fell back, a moan ripping out of her throat when she felt him.

  And oh God, the man was fucking huge.

  “You have no idea what you are asking of me.” Dyletri was panting as he lowered his head. His nose skimmed her jaw, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “Fuck. The way you smell . . . it’s been killing me, girl.”

  Ismini clawed at his shoulders, grabbing on to his shirt until the material was dangerously close to giving beneath her fingers. He skimmed his nose across her jaw a few more times before he decided to pay her back for her earlier stunt.

  The moment his lips touched her jaw, Ismini was catapulted into a riot of sensations the likes of which she’d never imagined.

  Her eyes closed, and all she could feel was how soft Dyletri’s lips were. How full. How wet and fucking succulent they were.

  He stayed like that, his breath harsh and quick as he seemed to be trying to breathe her in. Ismini wanted him to taste her already. She wanted him to take everything. She tightened her leg around his waist and used the hold to grind her body into him. Once. Twice.

  “By the Gods, yes!” His body pressed harder against hers. His tongue was sud
denly everywhere, licking from her jaw to her ear, threatening to send her into the most powerful orgasm she’d ever had.

  “Dyletri, pleas—” She didn’t get to finish, and next thing she knew, Dyletri dematerialized them.

  Ismini gasped as they reappeared in an unknown room. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and his throbbing cock pressed hard against her. She wondered idly why she didn’t feel sick the way she had the last time he did that to her, but considering the way his body felt beneath hers, it kind of made sense. She was too focused on him to think about anything else.

  Dyletri trembled as he held her. He sniffed her skin and licked another fiery path up her jaw.

  Oh, yeah . . .

  It was too much of a sensation overload for her body to pull away from. When his tongue slid into her ear, Ismini’s legs became an instant vise around him.

  His breath sent shivers down her spine. Combined with the wetness of his tongue, it was too much. Ismini was on the verge of coming, her lower body throbbing so hard she was losing her touch with reality.

  She managed to lower her head and bit down onto almost unbreakable flesh. Power and taste exploded inside her mouth again.

  It was an orgasmic mouth fuck.

  She moaned and sucked, not knowing what she was trying to do, just running on pure instinct. She held his flesh between her teeth and flicked it with her tongue.

  Dyletri retaliated, his teeth pulling softly at her ear. His hands grew rough against her ass, holding her still as his hips rocked into her.

  Ismini was sure he was holding back, yet it was enough to push her over the edge.

  All of a sudden, she was right there.

  She moaned brokenly, feeling her thighs shaking around him. “Dyletri.”

  “No. Not yet,” he said, his voice forceful and rough. And most definitely split in two now.

  Lifting Ismini right off him, he flashed before the huge bed and flung her onto the cloudlike mattress.

  Ismini wanted to whimper and growl in frustration, but she was frozen in place as she watched him stand before the bed, his chest heaving with each breath.

  Dyletri ripped off his shirt. For the first time in her short life, Ismini was rendered speechless. She had known he was built, but the definition of his muscles was awe-inspiring. She almost came at the sight of him.

  The dips. The curves. The grooves and valleys of those pecs and the abs, and—

  Holy shit, merciful gods of body art . . . the tattoo.

  That fucking tattoo. The one that covered his entire left shoulder and swirled down toward his elbow. It was an intricate, black tribal design that looked like it had been lovingly carved into his skin.

  It was beautiful. He was beautiful. Too beautiful. Too much to take in and his pants weren’t even off yet. Even worse, glancing down, Ismini could see how hard he was, how the poor material of his jeans seemed like it was hanging on for dear life as his cock throbbed behind it.

  Oh Jesus.

  Dyletri slowly crawled onto the bed, his pupils the only spot of color in his now white eyes. A strand of his hair fell over his brow again, making the dangerous-looking god somehow seem boyish. Ismini bit her lip, shaking so hard she was almost embarrassed. He came closer still, his shoulders tensing and releasing as he moved toward her.

  “Come here.” Dyletri growled, his hands latching on to the waistband of her pants.

  Ismini’s head fell back as he dragged her body down the bed and pulled her under him. Her legs opened instinctively, making room for him. Dyletri stopped all movement as soon as he had her where he wanted her. He cupped her face, his gaze locked on hers.

  “You’re so beautiful, girl. Just looking at you drives me wild.”

  That new, demonic half of his voice had to be the sexiest thing she had ever heard.

  His words were even more so.

  Dyletri’s expression made her arch into him, made her want to believe him. His thumb caressed her lips, and before Ismini realized it, she was once again moving on instinct. She opened her mouth and tilted her head, sucking the digit right in. A shock of power shot into her mouth, almost as if she’d put her tongue into an electrical socket.

  Ismini loved every bit of it. She sighed around his thumb, sucking it deeper.

  Dyletri moaned, baring his teeth. She bit down on his flesh, her stare locked on his large canines.

  She had no right to his blood, but Ismini wanted it inside her. That should have scared her. In reality, Ismini was too far gone for that shit. Fear had no place inside her. Only need and hunger.

  And insanity.

  Because that’s what he brought out in her.

  His thumb slipped out of her mouth, and she pouted, a hungry mewl leaving her. Dyletri cupped her face, lifting her head and lowering himself onto her.

  His lips stopped a mere breath away from hers, his exhalations leaking in between her lips and sliding over her tongue. Ismini froze, realizing what he intended. And knowing damned well that she had no experience when it came to kissing.

  Dyletri sensed her hesitation, and he stopped, as well. Every inch of that big, hard body was touching her. He was breathing hard, and his brow furrowed as he stared at her. She could see that he was confused, that he was wondering why she’d stopped.

  In that moment she wanted to kick herself for being such an idiot. She was afraid that what she was about to say would turn him off.

  “I—I’ve never . . . I don’t know how,” she whispered, dropping her gaze to his lips. She couldn’t stand to see the reality seep back into his face.

  But Dyletri surprised her. As he lowered his head, he held hers still, and he placed a gentle but intensity-filled kiss to her cheek. A spark of energy pulsed through every cell of her skin.

  “I know,” he murmured, placing another kiss closer to her mouth. And another. And yet another. “I’m dying to be the first one to show you . . . dying to be the first one to taste you. To take you.”

  He thrust against her as he spoke, licking the corner of her lips when he talked about tasting her.

  Her mouth fell open, and she moaned. “Dyletri.”

  His lips landed on hers, and a groan escaped him, the sound hitting her straight on. She wasn’t sure who opened first, but it was definitely she who sucked in his bottom lip, pulling it between her teeth. With heavy-lidded eyes, she watched his lip curl. Another growl left him, and his incisors grew even longer.

  Then his fingers on her jaw became almost brutal, forcing her open, holding her still even though all she wanted to do was attack him. The urge grew when his tongue slid in, moving against hers. It was hotter than any other part of him. Sinuous and sinful in every way.

  All lingering uncertainty flew right out the window. Their breaths and moans mixed as her tongue connected with his.

  Amazing. He was fucking amazing, and the way his tongue tasted was nothing short of sexual. She’d never had sex, of course, but her body knew that was what he tasted like. Ismini swirled her tongue around his, opening her mouth further for him and tilting her head.

  Dyletri thrust against her, over and over, his dick pressed right where she needed it. His tongue mimicked the movement of his hips, making her tighten her legs around him and pull him close.

  Every moan out of his mouth was like a bolt straight between her legs. Every rock of his hips was answered by one of her own. Her hands traced every muscle on his back, fondled every ridge.

  So much power.

  She could feel him holding back. She knew it was probably because she was human and he had the power to break her and yet, she wanted him to. She needed him to. She was dying for him to just slam into her with everything he had until there was nothing left of her.

  Dyletri pulled his head back, one elongated tooth stinging Ismini’s lower lip as he gave her a gentle bite. She cried out, the thought of him tasting her blood sending her into a frenzy.

  It was an instant deluge. She began thrusting against him, her nails digging into unyielding flesh. Her moans esc
alated. Her orgasm was right there and already washing over her.

  Until he pulled away. Again.

  A growl rumbled behind her words, warping her voice. “Dyletri.” He laughed darkly, looking way too amused for her liking. “I swear to fucking God—”

  He grabbed on to the waistband of her pants, his fingers harsh. “I am your fucking god!” Oh . . . oh my . . .

  “You’re not coming until I let you to, got it?”

  Ismini all but saluted him, nodding as her pussy threatened complete and utter anarchy. Her neck burned like Lucifer’s hell, but she ignored it, not wanting anything to ruin the moment. She used what little concentration she had to stop the mark from showing.

  Then her pants were gone. Just gone.

  Her boots, too.

  All she was left with were her tank top, bra, and pink lace boy shorts. And the dangerous, grunting beast on top of her. He was staring at the spot right between her legs, his fists hard against the mattress, his nostrils flaring with each inhalation.

  Chapter 12

  Ismini was going to die. There was no way she would survive him touching her. She felt how wet she was, how needy. How much wetter she was getting from simply staring at him. She slid her arms from his back to his biceps, grabbing on and thrusting up toward him as she felt another gush of wetness leak out of her.

  Dyletri moaned, rising up on his knees. “The way you smell is unbelievable.”

  Ismini almost launched herself after him. But she didn’t have a chance. His fingers circled around her thighs, his grip harsh. She knew she’d be bruised in the morning, and she loved it. Her head fell back at the thought of him leaving marks on every inch of her body.

  Jesus, Ismini had no idea what was happening to her. She couldn’t believe the brutality of the thoughts going through her head. She needed to find a way to make him understand that if he didn’t touch her between her legs soon, she was going to come anyway just from tasting his scent and feeling him in the air.