The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

“Feed,” I begged. “Please.”

And then his head snapped down.

His fangs grazed my skin as his mouth closed over the wound. I could’ve shouted with joy as I felt his mouth pulling at my skin. He drank deeply.

“That’s it,” Kieran said, his voice low as he smoothed limp strands of hair back from Casteel’s face. “That’s good.”

I scuttled closer, my leg tangling with his as I carefully touched his cheek. My senses brushed against the whirling, crimson-tainted darkness that seemed to fill every part of him. I searched the stark hunger there, finding wisps of tangy anguish as I smoothed my fingers over the rough bristle on his cheeks. I tasted the pain—icy and bone-deep as I kept touching his cheek. His jaw. The kind of mental hurt that cut so much deeper than any physical pain. I closed my eyes, channeling some relief into him as I’d done before—

Casteel moved without warning, tearing his mouth from my arm, faster than any of us thought him capable of. None of us had a chance to react. The chains clattered across the floor as he came at me. Grabbing hold of my hip, he dragged me under him as his body came over mine.

Kieran shouted. “Cas—”

The cold, uneven surface of the wood floor dug into my back. My heart gave a startled lurch as he gripped where the cloak was clasped. Buttons flew, pinging off the floor. His head streaked down. The fiery pain of his fangs piercing the skin of my throat was sharp and sudden, briefly robbing me of breath. I bit down on my lip as he fed hard and deep, his mouth moving fiercely against my throat.

“Nope.” Kieran loomed over us, forcing his forearm under Casteel’s chin. “That’s a nope.”

A violent growl rumbled through Casteel. His right hand sank into my hair, jerking my head back as he worked an arm under me. Trapping my arms between us, he pulled me as close to him as he could.

“I know you don’t like it, but you’re going to like it a lot less if you hurt her,” Kieran warned, grasping a fistful of Casteel’s hair.

The rippling snarl from Casteel came from the very depths of his being. I could taste the keening sense of rising desperation. It was so potent, I almost heard his words. Not enough, not enough. If we stopped him now…

We’d lose him again.

Searching for Kieran’s eyes, I found them and forced a smile. “It’s okay.”

“Bullshit,” Kieran growled.

“It is,” I insisted. And it was. The sting of pain was more of a burn now, but it was fading. This wasn’t a clean strike like the times before, but it was nothing like when an Ascended fed. I didn’t feel as if I were being ripped apart from the inside, and that could only mean that more than just a fragmented piece of Casteel remained. There were several more. We just needed to give him time to piece them together. “He needs more. I can feel that.”

I managed to work one of my arms free, and Casteel made a desperate sort of sound as the faint, bitter taste of fear reached me. Did he think I was going to push him away? Stop him?

Never.

Smoothing my hand across his bristly cheek, I felt the muscles in his jaw working as he swallowed. I threaded my fingers through his hair, curling them around the back of his head, holding him there.

“I don’t like this,” Kieran said.

“If Cas stops before he gets enough, it’ll be worse,” Malik warned from somewhere in the chamber. “You know that.”

Kieran held my gaze and then cursed, his head bowing. He slid his arm out from under Casteel’s neck, but he didn’t go far. He crouched close.

Casteel didn’t like any of that. His body twisted away from Kieran, tucking me almost completely under him and against the solid wood at the foot of the bed.

His mouth didn’t leave my throat, didn’t stop sucking, and I felt each dragging pull. Every swallow. The staggering tugs against my skin were almost too intense, causing my breath to catch repeatedly.

But the red haze of clouds inside him wasn’t nearly as thick. It was scattering. The anguish and sense of desperation still whirled through him, but there was more now. He took harder pulls, deeper, wringing a gasp from my tightly pressed lips.

Kieran shifted closer, but Casteel’s bite no longer hurt. It simply burned with a different kind of heat, one that was wholly inappropriate given the situation.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on his emotions and what I tasted from him. There was a tang of sorrow, but the icy pain was fading. And under all of it, beneath the storm, was something sweet and warm…

Chocolate.

Berries.

Love.

The rumble Casteel made was softer, rougher. His mouth slowed, and the draws became languid but still deep. The hand in my hair loosened enough that the tension went out of my neck, but I didn’t move. The smoky, spicy flavor filling my throat invaded my blood. He made that sound again, the thick, humming rumble, and my entire body shuddered. He twisted over me, his body heating against mine. I tried to ignore the storm building inside me, but those lips at my throat, the steady and deep pull of my blood flowing from me and into him, made it hard to focus on anything but how his body felt against mine. An aching pressure settled in my breasts and lower, between my thighs, where I felt him thickening and hardening.