His Ruthless Bite | Historical Paranormal Romance: Vampires (Scandals With Bite Book 4) (28 page)

He sat on the bed and patted the place on the mattress beside him. “Come here.”

As Lenore met his gaze, she realized two things. Firstly, despite his firm voice and stern expression, there was a hollow grief in his eyes stating that he clearly didn’t want to do this, for fear of hurting her, no matter his talk of this being less severe.

Secondly, she’d often imagined what it would be like to have his mouth on her neck, his fangs piercing her flesh. Perhaps it was a morbid desire. His words about the reasoning behind vampires feeding on each other gave credence to that question, but Lenore could not help desiring his bite all the same.

However, she could not reveal her happiness that what was to be a punishment was a reward in her eyes.

Yet she still wanted to assure him that this would not make her fear or loathe him.

Looking down at her feet to hide the myriad expressions playing across her face, she slowly approached the bed. She didn’t have to fake the quaver in her voice. “I understand that I have done wrong and I will accept the consequences.”

Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and met his gaze.

The admiration in his black eyes made her belly flutter. “I am proud of your dignity and responsibility.” His hand slid up her back, as if in a soothing caress, before his fingers grasped her shoulder, turning to face him. Gently, he brushed her loose strands of hair away from her exposed neck. His touch made goose bumps rise on her flesh. “Tilt your head.” His voice came in a husky rasp and his eyes glowed with unholy hunger.

Rather than fear at the sight of his savage thirst, her belly quivered with warmth. Heart pounding, she obeyed.

“I will try to make it as quick and painless as possible,” he whispered before his arm locked around her, pulling her close.

Contrary to his words, he did not strike immediately. Instead, his head dipped down and his warm breath grazed lightly across her skin, making her shiver, though not from cold. Then his silken lips pressed against her neck in a kiss that should have been chaste, yet was not.

Unbidden, her arms slipped around his powerful frame, drawing him closer. When his fangs pierced her flesh, she bit back a cry. Yes, there was pain, but there was also an electric jolt of wicked pleasure arcing a direct path from her throat to the tender place between her thighs.

The pleasure increased with the pulling pressure against her skin as he drank from her, ecstatic heat pulsing within her core with every swallow. Lenore clasped him tighter, unable to hold back her moans. As if they had a mind of their own, her hips undulated towards him, seeking relief from the ache he’d caused.

Just when a wave of dizziness made her grip on him weaken, Gavin withdrew his fangs and gently lowered her until her head rested against the pillows.

Nourished from her blood, weak as it was, it was still more potent than a human’s, and Gavin blazed with life and power. His face glowed with vitality, his eyes glittered with untold power. He looked so beautiful that she momentarily lost the ability to breathe.

With a tentative hand, he lightly brushed her hair from her face, worry creasing his brow. “Did I hurt you too much?”

“No,” she whispered, blinking as a fresh wave of dizziness made the room tilt.

Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “Damn it, I knew I took too much. You tasted so good, it was hard to stop. I am sorry.”

“No, it was my punishment. I deserved far worse. In fact,” Shame coursed through her veins as she confessed the truth. “I enjoyed it.”

He chucked her under the chin. “You should not have admitted that to me. All the same, I fear I must reduce your penance even further.”

She couldn’t hold back a half-smile. “What do you mean?”

He lay down beside her, gathered her in his arms and rolled until she lay atop him. “As I said, I took too much. Now I must give some back.”

Instead of offering his wrist, Gavin brushed his long dark curls to the side, baring his neck. Lenore sucked in a breath as feral hunger engulfed her… along with a pang of desire.

Tentatively, she lowered her head and brushed her lips across his pulsing vein, taking forbidden satisfaction at his quick intake of breath. Gently, her fangs pierced his neck. His hips arched upward, his hardness pressing against her sensitive core.

When his potent blood flowed into her mouth, Lenore growled with uncontrollable bliss. Her hips rode him, seeking release from the ache between her thighs, her hunger feeding into lust as his power renewed her and awoke every inch of her body.

“Enough,” he rasped, rolling them both until she was pinned and forced to withdraw.

A whimper tore from her at the sudden break from the source of such intoxicating nourishment. Unable to help herself, her tongue darted up and licked his wound.

“I should punish you for that as well,” he chided, though eyes were heavy-lidded with satiation.

She closed her eyes, unable to muster remorse. “Yes, you probably should,” she admitted.

Gavin sighed and released her, flopping on his back. “Why do you have to make this so difficult? I know I told you not to grovel, but that does not mean I want you to be so shameless either.”

“I know.” Her sigh echoed his. “But I could not pretend to dislike your feeding from me. I-I am done with pretending.”

He leaned up on his elbow. “What do you mean?”

Maybe it was the mercy he’d shown tonight, or the fact that he was the one who’d helped her stop being ashamed, but the confession bubbled to the surface. “When I was imprisoned by Clayton’s vampires, I ah, pretended to enjoy their attentions to lure them close enough to give me the opportunity to escape.” She closed her eyes as humiliation burned her face. “And I hate myself for it.”

“Why?” he asked quietly.

“Because it’s disgusting and shameful.” She continued to avoid meeting his eyes. “I invited him to touch me. I touched him back. And when my fangs sank into his neck, I
did
enjoy the taste.”

“Lenore.” His voice rang with abject command, and when he placed his hand on her shoulder, only then did she realize that she was shaking again. Only when she stilled did he continue. “There is no shame in any of that. You did what you had to do to survive and escape.”

The utter confidence in his words made her turn her head to face him. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’ve had to do my own pretending.” Self-revulsion and vulnerability slashed across his normally confident face.

“What do you mean?” she prodded carefully.

“When I was a boy training for the clergy, there was a priest who… well, had a taste for such boys.” He closed his eyes, cringing with pain.

Lenore shuddered as she grasped the implication of his words. “My God, do you mean he—”

Gavin nodded. “Every night after the midnight prayers, he’d stop me on my way back to my room and take me to his chambers in the cloisters. He told me I should be honored by his attentions to be so chosen by one of God’s ordained messengers… that it was a secret and I’d be cast out if I told anyone.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “That he’d beat me if I did not let him touch me… or touch him back.”

The painful horror of his words rendered her speechless. All Lenore could do was slip her hand into his and squeeze.

He took another breath and continued in a flat, detached voice that belied the agony in his gaze. “Eventually he was transferred to another parish, promoted to a bishop. He’d grown tired of me anyway as I’d become a man, but that didn’t stop me from thanking Christ that he was gone. It also didn’t stop me from tracking him down and showing him my fangs. Then I drained him dry after he pissed himself.” Cold satisfaction blazed through his words. “That was back when we were permitted to kill mortals.”

“Good,” Lenore said harshly. Then the pain and horror of what he’d suffered clenched her heart like a fist. Slowly, she reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That was why you understood what I’d been through. You’d suffered even worse.”

“I would not call it worse,” Gavin said with a dismissive shrug. “More enduring, certainly, but it does not negate the savagery inflicted on you.”

His understanding made a lump rise in her throat. “That is how you knew what my attackers had stolen from me even when I didn’t.” She couldn’t withhold her awe. “How did you manage to…” she swallowed, searching for the right words… “To find pleasure after what happened to you?”

“The vampire who’d made me. She’d been a slave before she was Changed. She taught me how to take control over my body, to give myself pleasure and bestow it upon others.” His lip curved up in another bitter smile. “Though I suppose it was easier for me, given that my sensual attention is inclined to females. And despite the fact that she only wanted me to be her slave, I remain grateful to her for that at least.” His expression sobered. “To be honest, I wasn’t certain I’d be able to give you any pleasure. I was afraid I’d frighten or hurt you.” He met her gaze and stroked her hair. “I still am,” he said quietly.

Lenore’s chest tightened at his profound regard for her feelings. “You’ve given me more pleasure than I could ever fathom. And I trust you to give me more.” She closed her eyes shyly, before opening them again to face him. “That is, if you still want me.”

“I think I’ve wanted you from the moment you first awoke in my bed.” The blazing hunger in his onyx eyes made her heart skip a beat.

“I meant,” she struggled to speak, “that after talking of such painful memories, you might not want—”

“Oh, I do want.” He rolled on top of her, lifting up on his elbows before lowering his face inches above hers. “Very much.”

Then his lips came down on hers, the kiss deep and searching. Hot desire flared in her belly as she melted under his weight, tangling her hands in his silken hair to bring him closer, entreating him for more.

He kissed her until she was dizzy, tasting her mouth and tongue as if he couldn’t get enough. When his mouth at last drew away from hers, Lenore was gasping with need. He then trailed his mouth down her jaw and to her neck, scraping her skin with his fangs, before soothing the grazes with light flicks of his tongue.

Before he could move down further, Lenore grasped his jacket and tugged on it with a pleading murmur. The moment Gavin shrugged out the garment and tossed it over the bed, she tore the buttons of his waistcoat, needing to see and feel his bare flesh.

Gavin laughed and chucked her under the chin. “I do hope you’ll mend that.”

“Of course,” she said with a smile. “I’ll mend this too.” And she ripped his shirt open, scattering buttons all over the bed.

Then her hands spread across the breadth of his bare chest, savoring the heat and firmness of his muscles.

Suddenly, he drew back and rolled her over onto her stomach. “Now it is my turn.”

Lenore sucked in a breath and braced herself for him to tear off her dress, but instead he unbuttoned the gown with torturous slowness. She shivered at each light touch of his fingers along her spine and sighed in anticipation as he slowly slid her gown down her body and tossed it aside. Then he lowered his head and unlaced her stays with his teeth.

By the time he’d undressed her, she was writhing with the need to touch him, to feel all of him. She started to roll over, but Gavin pinned her down, his thighs pressing against her bare legs. Brushing her hair to the side, he covered her body with whisper soft kisses, from the back of her neck all the way down to her ankles. Lenore couldn’t hold back small sounds of surprised delight at the feel of his lips grazing her back, her thighs, and even her rear.

At last, he allowed her to turn over while he removed his trousers. Lenore lay back on the pillows and drank in the sight of his beautiful, powerful body. She didn’t care if it was improper to stare, she wanted to savor every detail of his bare muscled chest, the ridged planes of his stomach, his corded thighs, and the length of his cock.

She blushed at the sight of it, remembering how he felt in her hand, its curves and ridges, the surprisingly soft head, the way it spasmed when she’d stroked him. She then remembered how he’d kissed and licked her female center and wondered what it would be like to lick and kiss him. She almost rose up to offer, but then Gavin climbed back onto the bed and covered her lips with his.

Lenore marveled at the magic of it all. Ever since she’d confessed to enjoying his kisses, Gavin had made sure to do it often and in ways she’d never dreamed of. Her thoughts fled as he once more kissed the spot on her neck that made her toes curl.

Then just as he’d lavished attention on her back, he proceeded to kiss every inch of her exposed flesh, even her hands.

She suddenly remembered his wedding vow.
With my body, I thee worship
.

Was this what those words meant? She certainly felt cherished. Her fingers caressed his back and shoulders before tangling in his hair. Oh, how she loved his hair.

Then his fingers explored that hot, aching place between her thighs. Lenore arched her back with a moan. When his thumb lightly circled her sensitive bud, she couldn’t help crying out and wiggling her hips for more.

Just when the pleasure began to peak to an unbearable level, Lenore reached for him. “Please, take me.”

With a low growl, he covered her body with his. She gasped at the delicious weight of him. “
Please.
”