Chapter 48 48. Chapter
Elijah
The air in the room suddenly grew heavier than the blood we had spilled outside. We stood within the ancient walls of Blackwood Manor, lit by the dying glow of the embers in the hearth, and the silence was broken only by Aurora’s ragged, shuddering breaths. Through the bond I felt the storm tearing through her: fear of what she was becoming, fury at the lies of her Clan, and above all a choking, elemental hunger that now outweighed everything else.
“Drink,” I said again, my voice deeper than it had ever been.
I saw the struggle in her eyes. The last, dying restraints of her human conscience, fighting to hold her back. Then something snapped. Aurora took a step toward me, her hands pressing against my chest. Her fingers clenched in my shirt, the clean white fabric smeared with the Hunters’ blood still drying on her skin.
When her mouth finally touched my neck, an electric shock tore down my spine.
It was nothing like when I drank from her. When she sank her teeth into my artery, it did not feel like the bite of an animal, but like the claim of a hungry, demanding goddess. The pain was sharp, then instantly drowned by a wave of intoxication so intense that even as a Sovereign I had never known its like. My blood, my ancient and dark blood, flowed into her, and the bond that had once been a thin chain between us burst into flame.
Aurora did not hold back. She clung to me as if her life depended on it. I heard a deep, satisfied growl rise in her throat as my strength poured into her.
And then hell broke loose.
The predator inside me, who had watched her with patience until now, answered the call. I could no longer remain passive. My hand tangled in the back of her neck, my fingers threading into her red hair, while my other hand locked around her waist and dragged her against me with such force that our bodies collided hard enough to echo through the room.
I tore her from my neck. Aurora moaned at the loss, her lips stained crimson with my blood, her eyes completely clouded with pleasure and sudden power.
“Enough,” I growled against her mouth, even as my body betrayed the word.
I drove her back against the wall. The heavy stone shuddered beneath our weight. There was no restraint left in me, no courtesy, no pretense of control. The meeting of Hunter and Vampire in the dark became a brutal dance. I claimed her mouth, and in our kiss were metal, blood, and the bitterness of centuries of solitude.
Aurora did not retreat. She struck back. Her hands tore at my shirt, buttons scattering across the dusty floor. The fingers that had held daggers moments ago now raked down my skin, leaving deep marks across my shoulders. This was no longer human strength. The awakening of the dampir had unleashed a sexual fury in her unlike anything I had ever witnessed.
“You…” she gasped between kisses, her legs locking around my waist, demanding that I hold her. “What did you do to me, Elijah?”
“I only showed you who you truly are,” I answered, and bent toward her throat.
My kisses burned. This was no longer about the bite, but about claiming every inch of her. From her neck downward, my teeth caught her skin at her collarbone, just enough to draw a sharp hiss from her lips. I breathed in her scent, rain and swamp and desire tangled together until it drove me close to madness.
My hand slid beneath her nightgown. The silk was nothing but an obstacle. With one decisive motion I tore it away, clearing the path for my hunger. Aurora threw her head back against the wall, her eyes closed, her breasts rising and falling with her wild breathing.
Every movement she made answered mine. When I reached her thigh, she opened to me instinctively, her fingers digging into my back, demanding more. There was no longer any question of master and servant. In this moment, two predators faced each other, each finally having found the one being in the world who could match their pace.
The air around us seemed to spark. The House, Blackwood Manor itself, sighed in satisfaction through its walls. The magic awakened by Aurora now fed on our heat and need.
“Do not stop,” Aurora whispered in my ear, and her voice was no longer that of a Hunter, but of a ruler. “Not now.”
My hands explored every new strength in her, every hardened muscle shaped by her awakening. This was not seduction. It was a battle for dominance. Every touch was a seal placed upon her. Every bite was a confession.
I knew that if we went any further, there would be no turning back. The bond would become final. But as Aurora pressed herself against me, and I felt the heat born of her dampir blood, I understood that I did not want to turn back either.
Never again.