Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“The day Juliet asks you for help with her sacred geometry homework is the day you’re officially screwed,” Eliza says to Lucas. His normal reaction would be to glower at her, or roll his eyes even. This time, the mention of his daughter and being able to do something as simple as help her with her homework—even if it’s magic he doesn’t understand—makes him smile.

“I wasn’t the best at it,” I admit. “All those calculations are time-consuming, and if you get something wrong, you can mess things up big time.”

“Don’t mess this up.” Eliza pulls a bag of carrots out of the fridge to give to her guinea pigs. “No pressure or anything.” She winks a perfectly lined eye at me and takes the back stairs to her room. I hang out in the kitchen with Lucas while he makes my grilled cheese.

He heats up bagged blood and puts it in my favorite coffee mug. I look at him, eye twitching, but don’t say anything. I’ll just bleach it later when he’s not around.

“I can add just a few drops of my blood to that,” I offer, seeing him grimace. “If that helps.”

“I don’t know how to make a comparison to something you’d eat, but it won’t help. Thank you, though. You know I’m not going to take a single drop of your blood until after you’ve healed from giving birth, and then when you are breastfeeding, I’ll have to limit how much.”

The subject of breastfeeding is a bit touchy. Lucas, having read about how beneficial it is to nurse a baby, thinks I should do it for at least two years. The thought of nursing a baby with teeth freaks me out. And unlike Lucas, instead of just reading about the benefits, I read about the struggles other moms went through on a few pregnancy chat boards. Being half angel has made my body excel in athletic ability and not getting sick, but this much humanity has made me sick—literally. There’s no promise nursing will come easily for me. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now…I just need to concentrate on stopping the Horsemen so our daughter has a world to live in.

“I should have taken a study break hours ago.” I let out a satisfied sigh, hand feebly landing on Lucas’s thigh. We’re both naked in bed after just having sex.

“You can take another anytime you want.” He moves onto his side and hooks his leg around me. Closing my eyes, I tell myself I’m going to get up in a minute to use the bathroom. I’m comfy, content, and could easily fall asleep right now.

“I’ll definitely need a nap first.”

“Take one.” Lucas runs his hand up my thigh and over to my stomach. “You have a few hours until your friends come over.”

“True. I’m so freaking tired.”

“You were restless last night,” he notes.

“I couldn’t get comfortable.”

“Let me help you now. I can rub your back until you fall asleep.”

I look back at him, heart melting all over again. “I’m going to owe you so many back rubs when I’m not pregnant anymore.”

He chuckles and pushes his hand down between my legs, fingers sweeping over my sensitive clit. It makes a rush go through me, and even though I just came three times, I want him to fuck me all over again. I widen my legs, welcoming his hand in between.

“I think I’ll take that other study break now,” I groan, and he moves two fingers in a circular motion over my clit. Pleasure builds inside me at a dizzying rate, and my body selfishly craves more. Lucas takes his hand from between my legs so he can move me against him, cock pressed against my ass. Fangs grazing against my neck, he works his deft fingers like magic, and I come for the fourth time, body shuddering and pussy spasming against his hand. “Thank you, hormones,” I huff, heart still racing.

“That wasn’t hormones,” Lucas retorts, kissing my neck. “That was all me.”

“Mhhh.” I bring my hand up, palm landing on his cheek. “You are very good at, well, everything in bed.” He kisses me again and then helps heft my pregnant ass out of bed so I can use the bathroom and get a big glass of water to drink. We lie down together, and Lucas runs his fingers up and down my back. It doesn’t take long to fall asleep, and this past week I feel like no matter how much sleep I’ve gotten, I’m still tired.

Lucas insisted we watch all the Star Wars movies in order again, since the last time we tried, we got interrupted and “too much time passed in between for me to really get the whole story.” I make it maybe twenty minutes in and I’m asleep, no matter what time of day it is.