Chapter 3 Blood and Velvet
The elevator doors slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a private penthouse that felt more like a shadowed cathedral than a home.
Black marble floors gleamed under recessed lighting that cast long, blood-red pools across the room. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed the glittering city below, but heavy velvet drapes half-concealed them, turning the view into fractured glimpses of lights and darkness. A massive four-poster bed dominated one end of the space—dark silk sheets, carved ebony posts rising like sentinels. At the other end, a low black leather sectional faced a roaring fireplace that burned without smoke or heat, the flames an unnatural violet-blue.
Lucien didn’t give her time to take it all in.
He backed her against the nearest wall the moment the doors closed, his mouth on hers again—hungrier this time, less controlled. His hands roamed with purpose: one sliding up her thigh beneath the slit of her gown, the other cupping her breast through thin silk, thumb brushing over the peak until she arched into him on a broken gasp.
Isabella’s fingers tangled in his hair, pulling hard enough to make him growl against her lips. The sound vibrated through her, low and primal, and she felt the sharp graze of fangs against her tongue—not breaking skin, not yet, but promising.
He tore his mouth away long enough to rasp, “Tell me to stop.”
She met his gaze—eyes molten silver now, pupils blown wide with hunger. “Don’t you dare.”
That was all he needed.
Lucien lifted her effortlessly, legs wrapping around his waist as he carried her toward the bed. Her back hit the silk sheets a second later, the cool fabric a shocking contrast to the heat of his body covering hers. He settled between her thighs, weight pinning her deliciously, and dragged his mouth down the column of her throat.
“You taste like sin,” he murmured against her pulse. “And I’ve been starving for centuries.”
She shivered when his fangs scraped the sensitive skin just above her collarbone—not piercing, teasing. Her hips rocked up instinctively, seeking friction, and he rewarded her with a slow, deliberate grind that made stars burst behind her eyelids.
“Lucien—” His name came out half plea, half demand.
He pulled back just enough to look at her—really look. Something raw flickered in those icy eyes, something almost like reverence beneath the lust.
“You have no idea what you’re giving me tonight,” he said quietly. “Or what I’ll take.”
“Then show me.”
His control snapped.
He ripped the straps of her gown with one sharp tug, fabric tearing like paper. Cool air hit her skin, then his mouth—hot, insistent—closing over one nipple, tongue flicking, teeth grazing just shy of breaking skin. Isabella cried out, back bowing off the bed. His hand slid between her thighs, finding her already soaked, fingers circling her clit with ruthless precision until she was writhing, begging.
“Please—”
He lifted his head, lips glistening. “Please what, Isabella?”
“Touch me. Taste me. Anything.”
A dark smile curved his mouth. “Anything?”
Before she could answer, he moved lower, shoving her thighs wider. His shoulders forced her legs apart, and then his mouth was on her—tongue delving deep, fangs framing her most sensitive flesh without piercing. The threat of it, the promise, sent her spiraling. She fisted the sheets, hips bucking against his face as he devoured her like a man who’d waited lifetimes for this exact moment.
When she came, it was sudden and shattering—wave after wave crashing through her until she was trembling, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
Lucien crawled back up her body, kissing the tears away with surprising tenderness. “Beautiful,” he whispered. “So fucking beautiful.”
He shed his shirt in one fluid motion, revealing a chest carved from marble—pale skin marked with faint silver scars that spoke of battles older than the city outside. His trousers followed, and Isabella’s breath caught at the sight of him—thick, hard, already leaking at the tip.
He settled between her thighs again, the blunt head of him nudging her entrance.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
She did.
He pushed inside her in one slow, relentless thrust.
Isabella’s nails dug into his shoulders, a sharp cry escaping her lips. He was big—too big at first—but the stretch quickly melted into pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. He stilled when he was fully seated, forehead pressed to hers, breathing ragged.
“You feel like home,” he rasped.
Then he began to move.
Slow at first—deep, measured rolls of his hips that dragged every inch along her inner walls. Then faster, harder, the bed creaking beneath them. Isabella met him thrust for thrust, legs locked around his waist, urging him deeper.
His mouth found her throat again. This time, he didn’t tease.
“May I?” he asked against her skin, voice wrecked.
She knew what he was asking.
The bite. The bond. The point of no return.
Her heart thundered. Every rational part of her screamed danger—kings didn’t bond lightly; they claimed forever.
But forever suddenly didn’t sound so terrifying.
“Yes,” she breathed.
His fangs sank into her neck in the same instant he drove deep.
The world exploded.
Pleasure and pain fused into something incandescent. Isabella felt him everywhere—inside her body, inside her blood, inside her mind. Flashes of him: centuries of loneliness, endless nights, a throne that felt like a cage. And beneath it all, a hunger so vast it had nearly destroyed him.
Then she felt herself reflected back—her pain, her betrayal, her quiet strength—and something in him cracked open.
He drank slowly, reverently, each pull sending another orgasm ripping through her. She clenched around him, milking him until he groaned against her throat, hips snapping erratically.
When he came, it was with her name on his lips—a broken, reverent sound—and the hot rush of him filling her.
He licked the puncture wounds closed, then gathered her against his chest, still buried deep inside her. His arms wrapped around her like iron bands, as if afraid she’d vanish if he let go.
Isabella lay there, heart racing, body boneless, mind reeling.
She had just let the Vampire King bite her.
She had just let the Vampire King claim her.
And she didn’t regret it.
Not yet.
Lucien pressed a kiss to her temple. “Sleep, little moon.”
She wanted to argue—wanted to ask what happened now, what this meant—but exhaustion crashed over her like a tide.
Her eyes drifted closed.
The last thing she felt was his hand stroking her hair, gentle in a way that didn’t match the monster the world feared.
The last thing she heard was his whisper, so soft she might have dreamed it:
“You’re never running from me again.”
When Isabella woke, the bed was empty.
Sunlight sliced through a crack in the drapes—dangerous for a vampire.
She sat up, sheets pooling around her waist, and froze.
On the pillow beside her lay a single black card—matte, embossed with silver.
His name. His private line.
And beneath it, in elegant script:
Come find me when you’re ready to stay.
Her heart lurched.
She looked around the penthouse—silent, pristine, no sign of him.
Panic clawed up her throat.
She had let him bite her.
She had let him inside her blood.
And now he was gone.
She scrambled for her torn gown, pulling it on as best she could. Her legs shook when she stood.
The black card burned in her hand.
She could leave. She could disappear into the human world, pretend last night never happened.
Or she could chase the monster who’d just given her the most intense night of her life—and maybe, just maybe, the only real thing she’d ever felt.
Isabella stared at the elevator doors.
Then she slipped the card into her bra, right over her racing heart.
She wasn’t running.
Not this time.
She was choosing.