“You need my rough hands all over your body. You need me to fuck you hard and fast, own you in every way possible, so when you go back home, you’ll never forget me.”
I’m dripping. “I could never forget you.”
Something flashes in his eyes at my words, and I’m so turned on, but the crowd is now silent, waiting for him to address them. As he speaks, I fixate on his every movement, memorizing every curve of his lips. Every sound he makes.
“I’m glad you were all able to make it here tonight,” he says, turning his attention to the crowd before him. “I hope you’re enjoying yourselves. I know there’s been chaos and confusion for many years. An unrest between the clans. I want to end all of that tonight. I want to start a governing body, a council, to help keep peace and order within the vampire community.”
The crowd erupts into cheers again.
I bite my lower lip, wondering if Bogdan will appear at the mention of the council he so desperately doesn’t want. He wants to remain savage in his ways, disrupting the perfect order of the vampires. He doesn’t like rules, and this much is obvious, he doesn’t like me. I’m a threat to his way of life. To his rule.
“What about the other clans?” a man near the front of the stage asks.
“Well,” Draven says, “I’d like to unite all the clans and, for the first time in our history, have peace and harmony.” Draven takes the microphone from the stand and carries it across the stage to a man standing there. “Does everyone know Grander?”
A few people nod and murmur their affirmations.
“Grander put a lot of worry on the community by killing a mortal. We need laws in place. We can’t go around killing mortals and drawing attention to ourselves. The police say the killing is unlike anything they’ve seen before, and they’ve enlisted the help of the FBI… which is bad for us.”
You could hear a pin drop as he continues speaking.
“Imagine if the mortals found out about us? They’d start small, kidnapping us to test in labs. Then, when they’ve tested all they could, they’d probably wipe the world of us. Who wants that?”
The crowd is right there with him, shouting and agreeing with every word that falls from his lips.
He explains a few more specifics of the council, like voting rights and other logistics, as I watch the crowd.
“Please, enjoy the rest of the ball, and we’ll continue this discussion soon. Just know that the council is now in order, and I’m its sole leader until I find others to rule with me.”
I step away from the crowd as Draven finishes his speech. I’m so unsure of everything right now, not wanting to return home to Portland. God. I don’t want to see my parents' disapproval once again.
I wander around aimlessly, ending up back in the house, drifting like a tumbleweed through the rooms, just wanting to escape the eyes on me. In the hallway, Draven’s voice sounds behind me. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” I stop in my tracks. He saunters toward me like a black panther and brings my hand to his lips, speaking over my knuckles. “I’m here to give you what you need.”
There’s zero question about what he means.
He’s here for one last fucking.
The final fuck. And now my body isn’t sure it can handle it. Or if it even wants to.
Because I don’t want some final farewell fuck with Draven.
No, I want him to have and to hold me forever, like our vows promised.
“I don’t want to go home,” I tell him, hoping it’s the last time I say it. “This is my home.”
He takes a hand through his dark tresses. “Allison, this is no life for you.”
“Says you.”
He pulls me into a bathroom and locks the door behind him.
The party roars a few feet from where we are, and Draven closes in on me, eliminating all the air from the tiny room. I can’t breathe when he stares at me like I’m prey to ravage.
“If you’re going to treat me like a whore and throw me away, then I want you to fuck me like one,” I say.
“Allison.” A muscle ticks in his jaw and then he moves in, lifting me onto the marble counter. His hands roam everywhere underneath the slit of my dress, pushing my thighs apart. “You want me to fuck you like a dirty girl?”
I meet his hungry gaze. “Yes.”