Claim Read online

I followed him move for move. If he was doing it, then it had to be the correct way. I refused to believe he was bad at anything he did. He was sure and confident, so relaxed with everything that was swirling around us. I allowed myself to relax into him, as well.

  He moved and his hips pressed into mine, making me hiss in pleasure. Chills tumbled across my skin, dotting my arms and making the hairs stand on end. It was the strangest thing. My body was hot all over and his body pressing against me cooled me.

  Hot and cold.

  Hard and soft.

  Fast and slow.

  “I need to feel you against me,” he whispered against my lips.

  Reaching down, he pulled his shirt up and broke the kiss to pull it over his head. I looked down at his perfectly sculpted chest as I ran my fingers across his shoulders.

  He was pale perfection.

  Tiny bits of ink were etched into his chest and over his shoulder and I let my fingers follow the inked paths eliciting a quiet growl of pleasure from the back of this throat.

  He was cold to the touch, but warm—warmth that was one-hundred percent mental— a warmth that spread from his mind to mine and drew me out of hiding and into his dark shadows.

  His kisses got deeper as he pressed my frame into the couch. I was a tall girl, but he was so much larger than me—so much more powerful. And while I should have been afraid for my life with a starving vampire ravishing me, I wasn’t. I could feel his restraint in his arms and back muscles. He was keeping me safe from himself, and I trusted that.

  I trusted him.

  Tiny thoughts dipped into my mind.

  I wondered how my family would feel if they knew I was fraternizing with the enemy.

  But James didn’t feel like the enemy. He felt different from the rest of them. I couldn’t help but wonder if there were more out there like him.

  I knew there was a good share of bad vampires, but what if there were more like James?

  It wasn’t like I’d sat around and gotten to know a vampire before.

  Maybe they weren’t all bad.

  Maybe they were civil beings just trying to survive like me.

  My stomach sucked in and my abs flexed at his touch when he ran his hand down my side and gripped the back of my thigh. His frigid fingertips dipped into the crease of my leg and the warm part of me that was throbbing for his touch. He pulled my leg up onto his hip and adjusted himself between my legs. The pressure of his body against mine felt amazing.

  Again, a noise I’d never made slipped from my throat. He softly hummed against my lips as if he liked it.

  Pulling back, he looked down at me as his hips pumped against my center in a slow steady rhythm. My breath came in soft pants and I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t seem to get a deep enough breath. I tried, and every time the air was sucked from my lungs.

  Something was stirring inside of me—something violent and beautiful—something that I wanted to grab a hold to and never let go of.

  Something that I knew would push me to continue to survive my life.

  “James,” I whispered his name.

  There was so much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t seem to form any words. I wanted him to delve into my brain and thought processes and know everything there was to know about me. I wanted him to know what he was making me feel.

  What started out as an innocent kiss was turning into something much more.

  It was personal.

  It was private.

  I didn’t know if I wanted to keep going or stop immediately before something inside me broke and spilled over. I was drowning in him, dying a pleasurable death every second he kissed and touched me.

  “Harley,” he whispered my name against my mouth as he went in for more. “Please tell me to stop.”

  I didn’t.

  The last thing I wanted him to do was stop.

  Instead, I clung to him as if he weren’t the bringer of death—as if he were my savior.

  Whatever was climbing inside of me moved higher and higher every time he pressed his body against mine. I felt something hard rub against me and it felt positively sinful and perfect.

  The thin barrier of clothing between us needed to disappear.

  I wanted it gone.

  I wanted to feel him.

  The cotton shorts I was wearing were warm and wet. The wetness had never happened before, but James seemed to like it as he reached down and slipped a finger in the leg of my shorts.

  His finger brushed my secret place, moving against me and pulling strangled sounds from within me. I whined like I was in pain, but it wasn’t pain. It was so much more than hurt. It was an ache that was continuing to claw its way up my body.

  My hips lifted from the couch as my body took control. My mind no longer made decisions. It shut down and enjoyed the freedom that I was able to give it.

  James continued to kiss me—his kisses growing stronger with each movement. My panting became heated breaths against his mouth. I felt like I was about to slip over the edge and into a sea of amazement.

  Instead, I felt a sharp pain against my lips.

  The sting was so abrupt I shrieked. James moved away from me so fast I didn’t see him again until he was standing against the wall across the room from me.

  All the warm and achy sensations were gone away just that fast.

  I sat up quickly and the room spun.

  Reaching for my mouth, I pressed my fingers against my lips. When I looked down at my fingers they were covered in blood. The acrid taste of my own blood and the sweetness of James’ kisses filled my mouth at the same time.

  It took me a second to realize what happened.

  I had been bitten.

  James showed me freedom, and then he bit me.

  When I looked at him again, he looked different. His confidence had disappeared and in its stead was fear. The only things that didn’t look scared and uncertain were his eyes. They were no longer soft in ecstasy, they were red and glowing.

  Fangs pressed into his bottom lip, my blood dripped down his chin—the deep red standing out against his pale skin.

  And then he was gone.

  The slamming of his bedroom door echoed throughout the cabin.

  I’d been kissed and bitten at the same time and instead of being disgusted like I was sure I should have been, the moisture between my legs thickened and the throbbing I had felt earlier was back. And not only was it back, it had intensified.

  I wanted more.

  8

  JAMES

  I had lost control completely.

  I abandoned everything I valued about myself and dived headfirst into all things Harley.

  And then my natural instincts kicked in and I bit her.

  Once I was in my room, I pressed my back against the door feeling real fear for her life. Her flavor warmed my mouth, the taste so pure and delicious that I had the urge to go back to the living room and rip her beautiful throat out with one bite.

  Covering my face with my palms, the scent of her arousal on my fingers sent another wave of longing over me.

  Her blood.

  Her arousal.

  I wanted to feast on all of it at the same time.

  I couldn’t deny it any longer.

  I wanted Harley and I wasn’t going to fight myself anymore.

  The walls were closing in on me and I needed to get out. Leaving the room, I started through the kitchen hoping that I was moving fast enough to miss her completely. Unfortunately for me, she was standing in front of the kitchen table in the center of the room.

  “Don’t leave,” she said, stopping me as I pulled on the doorknob.

  I paused.

  “I need to say something,” she muttered, moving closer to me and testing every bit of my control.

  “Stay back, Harley, I don’t trust myself with you.”

  My voice was filled with anguish with a tiny mix of desire and need blended in.

  One thing was for sure, before I turned her over to Rhys or before I accidental
ly killed her, I wanted to feel her.

  Deep.

  Hard.

  Perfect.

  I would feel her from the inside.

  The little bit of petting we had done on the couch was better than all the sex with all the vamp tramps I could pay.

  She moved closer even though I told her to stay back, showing me how much she trusted me with her life. I only hoped I didn’t break that trust.

  “You bit me, James.”

  Her words worked themselves across the room and smacked me in the face.

  Just like that everything stopped.

  She wasn’t going to ignore it.

  She was acknowledging it.

  I had been under the assumption that if I didn’t mention it, then neither would she. I was embarrassed by my loss of control with her. I felt like a joke of a man since my raw vampire instincts were able to get the best of me. It was as if I had thought I was too strong to lose control and I had been proven wrong.

  My mouth felt dry, and the burn of hunger in the back of my throat didn’t seem to be helping much.

  “I’m sorry about that,” I said as I looked down.

  “Don’t be. I liked it.”

  I jerked my head up to look at her as if I had heard her incorrectly.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  Her cheeks burned and she looked away.

  She couldn’t look me in the eye.

  “I said I liked it,” she repeated.

  I was definitely going to explode in my pants if she kept talking like that.

  Her saying things of that nature to me was the most innocently erotic thing I had ever heard in all my years of life.

  “Is that so?” I swallowed my desire and stepped away from the door, moving closer to her.

  I could hear her heartbeat loudly as it banged and echoed throughout the room around me.

  “Yes. Did you like it? I mean… did I taste good?” she asked hesitantly.

  Did she taste good?

  She’d been an explosion of many flavors in my mouth.

  Innocence.

  Determination.

  Strength.

  Survival.

  Everything inside of her had coated my tongue and left me craving more. She was a unique flavor completely made up of all things Harley.

  “You tasted amazing.”

  Venom had already begun to drip from my fangs with just the thought of how delicious she had tasted. It was just a tiny taste, but it was like nothing I had ever eaten.

  “Would you like to taste me again?”

  She was playing with fire.

  If she continued to push me I was either going to fuck her to death or suck her dry.

  Maybe I would do both at the same time.

  My cock was throbbing with a heartbeat I no longer had and my hunger burned so badly I wanted to cry like an inexperienced boy.

  There was nothing I could do about it. I craved Harley in more ways than one and I couldn’t take it anymore. A man could only handle so much before he snapped, and I was snapping.

  “I want to taste all of you.”

  She stepped back, sliding back onto the kitchen table in front of me and then she shocked me when she spread her legs settling her feet on the edge of the table.

  She was breathing heavy and when she spread her legs the smell of her arousal reached me, sending me tumbling over the edge.

  Stepping forward until I was standing between her legs, I bent down and breathed her in. My eyes rolled back in my head as her stimulating aroma filled me.

  She smelled amazing.

  I stood quickly and pulled her against my hardness. Leaning over her, I grabbed her by the back of her hair and pulled her closer to me so I could kiss her. She melted against me and grabbed my ass pulling me against her like a seasoned woman who had done it all before.

  Harley was an innocent.

  I could smell it in her blood.

  The virginity.

  The sweet innocence of her.

  I left her lips and licked the side of her neck. I could taste her blood through her skin. Pale blue lines of vein taunted me from her shoulder.

  I had to take things slow.

  If I didn’t I would fuck up and kill her.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked, making sure she was positive she knew was she was doing.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Taste me, please.”

  Instead of using my teeth, I reached up and used my nail to puncture the side of her neck.

  She gasped and pressed her hips against me harder. She was enjoying what I was doing to her and that intensified my need.

  I tiny droplet of blood escaped her neck and I leaned down and licked it. The sweet metallic flavor of her blood filled my mouth as I sucked a little on the tiny wound.

  “You taste amazing, Harley,” I said as I sealed her wound with my venom.

  “You feel amazing,” she breathed into my ear.

  When I pulled back, I reached down and peeled her tank top off. I stared down at her pink flesh. Her rosy nipples stood at attention and begged to be kissed and I wanted to give them what they wanted, but everything about her was so pretty and warm.

  I couldn’t look away.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  She glowed under my compliment and a smile spread across her lips.

  “So are you.”

  No.

  I was a monster.

  But I wasn’t going to let that stop me when it came to Harley.

  Not anymore.

  I let my thumbs glide over her nipples and she gasped at the pleasure, letting her head fall back on the table.

  Bending over, I took a nipple between my lips and teased the tip with my tongue making her growl.

  She leaned up and pulled my face away from her breast and kissed me again.

  I worked my mouth down her chin and neck until I was kissing the soft skin above her breasts. Placing her palms on the table behind her, she gave me free reign to taste her as I pleased. I could hardly believe how easily she trusted a murderer, but her giving—her trusting me so easily—it made me more aware of how badly I didn’t want to break her trust.

  She sucked in a breath as I punctured the skin on her cleavage with my nail. A dribble of blood seeped out and I growled in appreciation. Using a flat tongue, I licked the drop of blood from her body before sucking a hard nipple into my mouth again. I could feel my strength returning with just the little tastes of blood I was getting, but somehow, giving her pleasure was more important than the burn of hunger

  Again, I used my venom on her wound and it healed right away.

  I didn’t want to hurt her, but my desires were getting the best of me. It was like nothing I had ever felt. Making love to a woman and sating my hunger for her at the same time.

  It was beautiful.

  It was brutal.

  Pleasure.

  Pain.

  Perfection.

  She was delicious by all accounts and I knew that I had to have all of her.

  I needed more.

  “I want to taste you. All of you.”

  She nodded, her mouth open as she breathed deep and hard.

  “Then do it. I want your mouth all over me.”

  She sounded desperate with want and desire, and luckily for her, I knew exactly what she needed.

  There would be no more holding back.

  I was going to give her all the pleasure she could stand, and then I was going to take.

  Pulling the cotton shorts from her body, I sat on a kitchen chair and pulled her ass to the edge of the table. Breathing in her scent, I felt feral yet tamed.

  I wanted her so badly in so many ways.

  Pleasure and pain all wrapped into one.

  It had been years since I had feasted at a kitchen table, but I was about to do just that with Harley.

  I leaned down and sucked her hard clit into my mouth. It was hot and pulsed with her heartbeat against my lips. I could practically taste the heavy blood that h
ad rushed to her womanhood through the thin layer of slick skin.

  She cried out in pleasure and I decided at that moment that a woman’s cries of pleasure were so much better than their cries of pain.

  I couldn’t help myself. I released her clit and sank my tongue into her. Her hips lifted from the desk and she moaned in pleasure. She was so responsive—so ready and trusting of me. It was like a drug and I was higher than I’d ever been.

  Slowly, I let my fangs puncture her and she gasped. I thought for a second that I’d gone too far, but then I felt her hands in my hair pressing me closer and I knew I could continue.

  Rich heady blood filled my mouth as I pleasured her with my tongue. She hissed in pain before releasing soft sighs of heaven.

  “Don’t stop,” she begged.

  Her fingers dug deeper into my hair, pulling and pressing my face deeper into her.

  She was fucking amazing.

  I’d never known a human like her.

  She was innocent, so her responses were real.

  She knew what she wanted, what felt good and she was going to get it from me any way she could.

  I could tell by her smell and the loud beating of her heart that she was close to an orgasm. I could hardly wait for it. I continued to slowly drink from her and pleasure her at the same time.

  Her hips lifted from the table and she cried out loudly, her body quaking with an orgasm.

  I opened my mouth, licking her orgasm mixed with blood, and it coated my tongue with a sweet tangy flavor that exploded against my taste buds. I sucked it all up, holding her hips to the table as she bucked for freedom. Her legs began to shake as I continue to lick up her fluids, tasting them as if they were better than any blood I had ever tasted.

  When she stilled I healed her wounds before standing.

  She clawed at my belt and I helped her, and once my cock sprang free she reached for it. Her hot hands circled me and shards of white-hot pleasure cut through my insides. My arms and legs tensed against the consumption and vampire James went away leaving only the man I used to be in his place.

  She sat up, kissing me and pressing her wetness against me. I didn’t waste any time as I pressed myself into her opening and quickly filled her. She gasped at the first initial entering, but after a few quick thrusts, she was begging me for more.

  “Yes. Don’t stop, James. You feel so good inside of me,” she cried out.