I growl with pleasure as Cole comes quickly as well, pulling my hips back onto him. The need to feed is clawing at me and I move away, turning towards him, fangs already down. I pounce on him, grabbing a fistful of his hair to yank his head roughly to the side. I bite him viciously as I scrape my claws up his arms to his shoulders. He grunts, caught in the war between pleasure and pain. He rakes claws down my sides, my thighs, all the way to my knees.
Taking my fill of his blood, I rear back, his blood dripping down my chin from such a barbaric bite to him. The Power that has been building up inside me takes over as I grab him by the throat and slam him back to the bed, forcing him to submit to my strength.
His eyes flash in protest, but in contrast his hands move to my hips, lifting me up and over him. My claws are digging into the skin of his throat and his blood is flowing freely as I prevent him from healing. He writhes under my cruel touch as I ruthlessly take him to no place he has ever been before. I fuck him violently as he is pinned under me. I come quickly with a flash of black, glowing fog pouring out of my hands and swirling around us in a vortex of pure Power. My eyes are blazing. I can see the fiery depths reflected in his. I get completely lost in him. He howls my name when he comes, the orb of Power engulfing us.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
A blistering pain burns across my back. I let go of my grip on his throat. My eyes return to normal, my fangs and claws retract, as I grab at my back, screaming in agony.
Coming out of the trance-like state, Cole’s eyes focus as he sees the torment on my face.
“Liv!” he shouts as he grabs me.
Breathing sharply, I focus my blurry gaze on his. “My back…”
He moves to take a look. “Holy crap,” he breathes, just as there’s a pounding on the door followed by Devon bursting in.
“Lizzie!” Devon shouts. He rushes to my side, reaching me about a second before Constantine pops in out of nowhere.
“What the fuck just happened?” he demands, his face furious.
“Fuck’s sake! Do you mind? A bit of privacy, please!” Cole shouts in frustration.
CK snorts and says, “Please, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”
Devon has the grace to hand me my robe, while Cole pulls the coverlet over us, glaring at CK that he has been so blatant. Although, I’m pretty sure he was trying to cover up his own modesty as opposed to mine, seeing as the coverlet is barely concealing me at all.
“Tell me what happened,” CK demands again.
“Before I try to explain, tell me what you felt that brought you here,” I pant breathlessly.
Devon speaks first, “A tremor went through the house, like an earthquake, but it was followed by that smoky black swirl of yours. Then I heard you screaming.”
I look expectantly at CK who answers. “I felt your pain. Really felt it this time, not just sensed it, and then I heard you screaming in my head,” he replies uncomfortably.
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.
Taking a deep breath as the fire subsides, I turn to Cole over my shoulder. “And you?”
He shrugs. “I don’t really know; I was caught up in the moment. I saw the whirlwind, I guess, of black and felt a massive blast of Power course through me. It’s kind of hazy though. I came to when you started screaming.”
“And my back?” I ask.
“You need to see it for yourself,” he says.
I get up, letting the robe drop to the floor. As I walk past CK and Devon, I see their mouths drop open. I take in a breath and turn around in front of the mirror. Looking back over my shoulder, ignoring what a fright I look in my just-fucked state and covered in blood, I see the marking. It now stretches across the expanse of my narrow back in four, bloody, jagged slashes that appear to be made by some sort of large claw or talon even.
“Hm,” I say distractedly. “Why is it not healing?” I ask. I turn back to face the three Vampires standing in front of me, all staring at me in various shades of horror. Cole, who has now pulled his pants on, crosses over to me, my robe in his hand. My back screams in protest as I shuffle into it, but I know he needs me to be covered up now in front of the other two, which is fair enough under the serious circumstances.
CK clears his throat and croaks, “Well, certainly, we don’t need to ask what you were doing to cause this, but why such a significant change?”
Cole shrugs partly embarrassed at everyone knowing our business.
They all turn to me as if I know the answer, but it’s my turn to shrug and then I wince. “We set our wedding date for tomorrow, at City Hall,” I say, starting at the beginning. “This is going to sound crazy, but it’s almost like the Power approved. It’s like it is a separate entity and I am just the vessel. It wants this union to be…” I trail off, not able to find the right word.
There’s silence.
I glance up from my musings to find CK and Devon looking pained.