Crimson Kiss (Onyx Assassins 5)

You walked right into that one.

“This conversation is over.” I stood, forcing her back a few paces. I needed to get the hell out of this room and away from her. I needed to go straight to Gabriel to see if he could Frankenstein some kind of feeding solution. I needed—

Avi marched forward and slipped her hand up my thigh.

I froze.

She locked gazes with me as she palmed the handle of one of my daggers.

Three inches to the right and she’d be palming something else hard.

“Avianna,” I warned.

She slipped the dagger free and disappeared.

“Fuck.” I’d never been disarmed by an opponent in my life, but then again, I’d never let someone take my blades, either. I scanned the archives room and its rows of research desks, sensing her fleeing into the stacks.

I followed her, my temper and hunger worsening with every step I took. “Running away from me is a bad idea,” I called down the row of bookshelves, the neatly lined scrolls and books doing nothing to disguise Avi’s presence from me. “You know it’s just going to trigger my predatory instincts.”

Claim her. Taste her. Take her.

And there they were again.

Avi materialized in the middle of the aisle, my dagger in her hand. “Maybe you need to be triggered.”

I growled.

“If I’m the only person whose blood your body will accept, then you do need to give in, Hawke. Even if you don’t claim the bond.” She lifted her chin at me. So fucking stubborn. “Or you can reject it. Right here. Right now. Reject the bond and go feed from the next human that walks by.”

My jaw flexed. “I can’t reject it. Not with your betrothal lurking over our heads.” It was the only trump card I had to keep her safe from Samuel, and I wasn’t willing to give it up. Not yet. Not until she walked down that fucking aisle. My stomach dropped into the basement at the thought, but I’d never force Avi. Ever.

She gripped the knife by its tip.

“Damn it, Avi. Be careful with that.” Those daggers were sharp as hell, and she’d lose a finger if she wasn’t cautious.

She flipped it in the air once and caught it by the handle with a little giggle.

My heart thundered, my adrenaline rising.

“I can see why you do that all the time. It’s kind of fun to tempt fate against your own skill, isn’t it?”

I locked my jaw, taking a step before she flicked it into the air again.

“It would be a shame if I slipped and cut myself, wouldn’t it?” She plucked the dagger out of the air.

Fuck this. She was going to break me down one inch at a time if I stayed in this room one second longer. I turned away from her and headed for the center aisle.

I felt the breeze as she whipped around me, blocking my exit, but it was the way she held the sharp point of the dagger at her throat that stopped me in my tracks.

“Avi,” I warned with a low growl.

“You won’t feed from me to assuage your own hunger,” she whispered. “But it kept me awake all yesterday, Hawke.” She arched her neck. “I can feel it beating at you, burning my chest like a wall of flames that I can’t put out. It hurts.”

My vision betrayed me, going thermal as I slid into predator mode.

My mouth watered.

Not Avianna, I begged myself. Get some control.

“Make it stop hurting.” The scent of her blood slammed into me, the tiny scarlet droplet a neon color in my vision as it slid down her throat.

I broke.

My fangs sank into her neck as I lifted her by her ass, pinning her against the bookshelves.

I groaned. Thick, rich wine slid over my tongue and down my throat, sweet like honey with a fresh tang of lemongrass. Avianna. The second swallow was even better than the first. Power rushed into my veins, bringing me back to full strength with the first sips, she was that potent. Because her blood is royal.

She gasped, her fingers tunneling through my hair, holding my head to her like I’d try to run.

I should have run, but the taste of her quenched the fire that had burned me alive for the last couple of months. There was nothing else in the world to compare to her. I was an addict from the first hit. Of course, it was perfect. She was perfect.

You dishonor her.

I moved to lift my head, but Avianna had somehow wound her leg around my hip, and she locked me down. “Take more,” she ordered.

My skirts would have gone flying.

She moaned as I sank back into the feeding, and another scent besides her blood filled my lungs. Desire. Her need rose swift and strong, calling my own like a siren’s song.

My cock pulsed, pushing against my leathers, and still I drank from her throat in long, hard pulls, my vision slowly making the switch between thermal and normal.