Crimson Kiss (Onyx Assassins 5)

“That’s because your body craves my blood,” I whispered in her ear.

A shiver made its way down her body.

“Admit it.” She was always so preoccupied with my health, my needs. When was she going to admit that she had a few of those, too? Maybe she did. Maybe her thoughts were filled with me the way mine were consumed by her. But I selfishly wanted the words.

“I crave your blood,” she whispered, her eyes sliding shut.

My cock stiffened.

Not that you could feed her right now. You’re barely keeping yourself alive.

“Exactly.” I ghosted my finger down the back of her neck, leaving barely a centimeter between my skin and hers. “And if you feel that little sting of nausea, how do you think it would feel to try and sink your fangs into someone if you knew I was right behind you? Feet away? Blood rushing through my veins? My pulse beating faster and faster the closer you got to the human?”

She swallowed hard, her heartbeat fluttering. “I would have turned around and tackled you to the ground. Gown and everything.”

Her unexpected answer made me chuckle.

“Seriously.” She cocked her head slightly and locked gazes with me, hers lighting with mischief. “My skirts would have gone flying, buttons would have burst on your shirt, and I would have taken you to the marble floor in front of every vampire and human in that suite. It would have all been so…” The corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk.

Hot?

Fucking amazing?

“...Undignified,” she finally answered with a not-so-innocent batting of her lashes.

Heat gathered between us as we stared at each other, the need and desire so thick I could have gathered it in my hands.

“And that is why I couldn’t so much as score that woman’s wrist.” I backed away a step at a time until the backs of my thighs bumped into one of the large research desks. “I honestly don’t know how I made it past you without…” I shook my head.

I needed control, and I needed it now.

“Without taking what I keep clearly offering you?” she challenged.

“It’s pretty fucking boring to keep arguing about the same thing, don’t you think, Avi?” I put on my best bored face and ignored the hunger twisting in my stomach.

“You’re slow.” Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry?”

She shrugged. “You’re. Slow.”

My eyes widened.

“I felt it on the mat.” Another fucking shrug. “I mean, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. You can hardly expect to be at your best when you haven’t fully fed since God-knows-when.” She cocked her head to the side.

My gaze lowered to the pounding pulse in her throat. She wasn’t as unaffected as she pretended to be, but then again, neither was I. My fangs ached in sharp, agonizing throbs. Three steps and my fangs would be in her throat. Her blood in my mouth.

“And I felt some of your hits.”

“I pulled my punches on you.”

“You’re losing strength because you won’t feed.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Are you calling me weak?” I braced my hands on the desk and curled my fingers around the edges. There was no greater insult except maybe traitor.

Avianna shrugged again.

Fucking shrugged.

“I’m just saying, I know that your first priority is always the safety of the house, the royal family…” She drifted off while skimming a gloved finger across her collarbone. There were no jewels around her neck, nothing to remind me that the female before me was one of the wealthiest in the world. There was only smooth, unblemished skin and a scent that screamed to my body that she was mine. “...which means me, right?” She moved closer, stopping when the tips of her breasts grazed my chest. “What would you do if someone burst through those doors, intent on killing me?”

“I locked the fucking door,” I growled, refusing to lose my logic to her scenario.

She rolled her eyes.

“I would die before anyone put their hands on you,” I snapped. “If I’d been there that night, the twins never would have taken you. They wouldn't have gotten within a hundred yards of you.”

Her shoulders fell. “Oh, Hawthorne. I’ve never blamed you. That’s not what I meant.”

“I would have sensed their fear of failure regarding their mission, intercepted them and killed them both with my bare hands.” I’d given it way too much thought over the last couple of months. “And you can do your damnedest to taunt me into feeding from you, Avi, but we both know I’m withholding for your own damn good. You’ve never fed anyone—”

“Neither have you!” she snapped.

A slow smile curved my lips. “Please, do tell me more about my history of feeding, especially when it comes to females.” She was right. I’d never offered my blood to any vampire, but I sure as hell wasn’t letting her know that.

“Have you?” Her eyes glittered with an emotion I was all-too familiar with—jealousy. “Fed other females?”