"Do it," she whispered, and brought him to her.
Pressed his lips forcibly against her neck.
She held him there for an anguished eternity. Then again, maybe it took only a slim fraction of a second for the hook to set. Lucan couldn't be sure. All he knew was the warm crush of her skin against his tongue, the beat of her heart, the rapid panting of her breath. All he knew was the longing he felt for her.
No more denial.
He wanted her - all of her - and the beast was too far gone to be merciful now.
He opened his mouth... and sank his fangs into the yielding flesh of her throat.
She gasped at the sudden penetration of his bite, but she didn't release her hold on him, not even when he gulped in the first greedy pull from her open vein.
Blood rushed into his mouth, hot and earthy-sweet, exquisite. Beyond anything he could ever have imagined.
After nine hundred years of living, he was finally tasting heaven.
He drank urgently, deeply, need overwhelming him as Gabrielle's quenching blood surged down his throat, into flesh and bone and cell. His pulse hammered with renewal, pumping blood into fatigued limbs and healing his recent wounds.
His sex had come alive with the first taste; now it throbbed heavy and hard between his legs. Demanding even more possession.
Gabrielle was stroking his hair, holding him close as he drank from her. She moaned with each hard tug of his mouth, her body melting, her scent going dark and humid with desire.
"Lucan," she gasped, shuddering around him. "Oh, God..."
With a wordless snarl, he pressed her down beneath him on the floor. He drank deeper, losing himself to the erotic heat of the moment and to a frantic desperation that terrified him.
Mine, he thought, selfish and utterly savage with the idea.
It was too late to stop now.
This kiss had damned them both.
While the initial bite had been a shock, the sharp nick of pain had quickly dissipated into something lush and intoxicating. Pleasure bloomed all over her body from the inside out, as if each long pull of Lucan's mouth at her neck sent a shaft of warm light back into her, reaching down through her core to stroke her soul.
He covered her with his naked weight, their robes askew as he took her to the floor with him. His hands were rough as they sank into her hair, holding her head to the side as he drank from her. Heedless of any pain his injuries might be causing him, he pressed his bare chest against her breasts. His lips never broke contact with her neck even for a second. She could feel the intensity of his need in every hard draw.
But she felt his strength, too. It was coming back, bit by bit, renewing because of her.
"Don't stop," she murmured, speech slowed for the mounting ecstasy that was building in her with each pulsating movement of his mouth. "You won't hurt me, Lucan. I trust you."
The wet, succulent sounds of his hunger was the most erotic thing she'd ever heard. She loved the heat of his lips on her skin. The ungentle graze of his fangs as he drew her blood into his mouth was a sensation that was both dangerous and exciting.
She was already soaring toward a splintering orgasm when she felt the thick head of Lucan's erection nudging against her sex. She was wet, aching for him. He drove in deep with one thrust, filling her completely with rigid, volcanic heat. Detonating her in an instant. Gabrielle cried out as he plunged hard and fast, his arms like a cage around her, clutching her tightly. He was mindless in his rhythm, a force of raw, magnificent desire.
And still he remained fastened at her neck, pulling her into a blissful, creamy darkness.
She closed her eyes and let herself float away, toward a beautiful obsidian fog.
From someplace distant, she felt Lucan buck and pound above her, his strokes urgent, his large body vibrating with the power of his own release. He shouted something harsh and went completely still.
The delicious pressure at her neck abruptly eased, then vanished, leaving coldness in its wake.
Still drifting, still awash in the heady feel of Lucan sheathed inside her, Gabrielle lifted her heavy lids. Lucan was poised over her on his knees, staring down at her as though frozen. His lips were bright red, his hair wild around his head. His feral eyes were throwing off amber sparks, they were so bright. His skin color was healthier, the network of markings on his shoulders and torso glowing a deep crimson-black.
"What is it?" she asked him, worried. "Are you okay?"
He didn't speak for a long moment.