Chapter 37 Bargains and Lust
❀ Maeve ❀
Water sloshed over the edges as Bastian surged his hips powerfully beneath me.
Already his form wavered, fangs sharpened, claws sinking into my skin. I trembled around him, breathless with need.
“Yesyesyes! Oohhh!”
Meeting him with pure abandon, I snapped my hips into his thrusts.
“Maddening… female!” he grunted before capturing my lips for a brief moment.
I coyly tilted my head, swinging my wet hair aside to expose my neck. He released a feral groan, fighting his beast even as his muscles swelled beneath my fingers.
His scent intensified, robbing me of common thought. Any moment now, he’d sink those curved fangs into me. My moans turned strangled at the thought.
Mark me!
Blood humming, a tidal wave of bliss built and built. Each thrust, each slide stoked the heat, spurring me on.
Desperate, I hugged him tightly, placing my neck directly in his face. He wouldn’t resist. Any moment now, I'd be his irrevocably, my position protected. A home secured—
He lifted me off.
“Noooo!” I keened, clawing his arms to return. My core clenched miserably at the sudden emptiness.
More water splashed to the ground as he turned me around. He grabbed my wrists, slamming them on the edge of the tub. With a knee, he pushed my legs apart and entered me from behind.
Stubborn male!
“Fuck you Bastian!” I cursed, each powerful whip of his cock bucking my knees.
“Yes, and you’re doing such a good… job of it! Aahhh!”
My eyes crossed. My throat was raw from constant vocalizations. His pace didn’t relent, hips slapping my ass loudly like cracks of lighting.
Must mark me!
I rose, melding my back to his front, but he covered my throat with his arm, the other steering my hip. His hot breath lashed my face, and I turned to kiss him.
My knees buckled when his fingers covered my clit, making me scream.
“You want my mark so badly, you know what you must deliver!”
A vampire… yes, yes. A smoking hot, talented tongued vampire—
I gasped. I wanted Nikolai here, his tongue laving me while Bastian plowed me from behind just like this.
I’d grab his hair, riding his tongue so he could taste me and Bastian—
White light shot behind my lids.
“Fuuuuccc! Oh my goodness…!”
A tidal wave swept over me, my back arching, limbs tightening as I quaked. My jaw slacked in a scream.
“I can feel you… squeezing my cock… fuck Maeve!”
His lips clamped down on my neck.
Hips snapping into me, Bastian grazed my skin, sucking nosily, messily.
Mind spinning, warmth lashed my depths as he released, his seed spurting so powerfully I felt the jets.
He fell backward, taking my slumped body along. His hand shot out at the last minute, bracing on the wall while he held me tightly against him.
Success?
Through the haze, I touched my neck. Nothing. No flaring pain, no sizzling half of a completed bond.
I sagged completely, my bones jelly.
Stubborn fucking male!
❀ ☽ ❀ ☽ ❀ ☽ ❀ ☽ ❀ ☽
“Save your murderous looks,” Bastian drawled from the settee.
Smirking in his usual infuriating way, he slowly stood with his arms crossed, gaze raking my body.
“If you noticed it, it’s working.” I snapped.
He’d exercised so much control over himself earlier by sucking my neck instead of biting me! My cheeks flushed when I remembered what else had occurred.
I’d fantasized about having Nikolai lick me, with Bastian present. In fact, when Bastian had sucked my neck, I’d come so hard just imagining the vampire's fangs.
Would Bastian’s fangs sear me with such pleasure?
I ran my gaze over him.
His eyes had cooled, his lips tight. “The fact that you’re trying to fast track your marking only tells me one thing.”
I froze. My heart fluttered in my chest.
I pulled a straight face, “What?”
“You’re either planning to trick me to protect the leech, or you don’t believe you can find him.”
One of those was spot on.
I released a frustrated breath, glaring. “How am I sure you won’t fail on your end of the bargain? What if you do kill him and still reject me or refuse to claim me?”
“You said as long as you’re on Ironwolf grounds, you’ll be content.”
“With my mother.”
“Exactly. Which is why we’re going to kill a leech.” He advanced, towering over me with his intimidating height.
Tension bled from him, his fists clenching.
I pursed my lips. “You don’t even care about her, do you? Your only focus is the vampire.”
“I don’t have time for your arguments. Are you done?”
I raised my chin a notch, my eyes slitted to show displeasure. “Let me wear my shoes, or will you drag me around barefoot?”
He scowled.
Inside, I cheered.
Bastian didn’t know how right he was about my plan to trick him. By telling him that Nikolai had my mother, I could take him to our house and force him to follow her scent to her exact location.
He had no idea I could summon Nikolai at our secret location with just the gem in my chest—
“Come here.”
Huh? I spun at the command, walking back to him.
Before I could ask what the matter was, Bastian’s hand shot out as he tore my dress in a blur.
My breasts spilled out.
“What the hell?!” I screeched, turning to cover myself.
Not that I was shy, it was unexpected!
He grabbed my shoulders and turned me back around. His gaze first settled on my rapidly pebbling nipples, the intensity making my skin flush.
Then his heated gaze slid slightly upward to the bloodgem in my chest.
“What is that?” He demanded, voice flat.
“T-this? Uh… it’s an inlaid ruby piercing.”
“I noticed it since the first time. But if it’s jewelry, you’ve never changed it.” His fingers thumbed the gem, scratching the edges.
My heart pounded. Would he recognize it for what it was? I doubted. How many people were walking around with vampire forged bloodgems in their chests?
“I wasn’t exactly rich before coming here Bastian. This is the only gem I have.”
“How did you afford it then? A gift?”
“From my mother.” I lied.
Well, indirectly. She made me find a tutor, if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have met the most alluring vampire ever, who could also be a liar.
“Then let’s go hunting,” he said, eyes glowing with bloodthirsty intent.
I nodded, even as deep down, I had no intention of forfeiting my vampire.
After changing my outfit and pulling on my shoes, we headed out.
Under the moonlit sky, I inhaled deeply. I’d always enjoyed scents, they calmed me and made me feel alive. And now that I had my wolf, I could smell even better and further than ever.
My heart fell at the the realization that I could’ve found mother if I’d had my wolf earlier. But too many days had passed for even my wolf ability to sniff her out. Which was why… Bastian.
I turned just in time to see him unleash his beast.
Unlike other werewolves, Lycans didn’t completely shift into a full wolf.
Blue eyes crackling with unfathomable power and intent, Bastian roared into the sky.
Bones cracked and lengthened as he grew more muscular, impossibly taller, fangs thickening and dropping.
A fuzzy outline of a pitch black bipedal wolf form covered his body, the air crackling around him. His fingers and toe claws curved into lethal points so sharp that when he held a hand out, I almost balked.
But I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
I took his hand, staring up into his intoxicating, primal gaze.
“Hello wolf,” I greeted his beast.
He chuffed, sending my hair back in a gust of breath. Drawing me closer, he gently licked the back of my hand.
My feet left the ground when he swooped me up, tucking me against his chest, and I wondered what my wolf would look like.
He hadn’t let me shift because I couldn’t keep up with his lycan speed anyway, and he was brimming with the urge to find and end Nikolai.
As he ran at top speed toward Blackbridge, I shut my eyes, imagining a world where I wouldn’t have to choose. It was impossible, but I dreamed anyway.
Underneath all that want, my heart thrummed at the thought of finding my mother.
You owe me a shit ton of explanations, Gwen Till.