He pushed aside one of her legs, making room so that he could move between. He leaned over her then planted his hands on either side of her shoulders. He looked into her eyes. “So, you ready for this, ascender?”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Yes,” she whispered, her hands once more riding his biceps, stroking up and down.

Supporting himself with one hand, he slid the other under her stiff green shirt and made gentle circles on the bare flesh of her stomach. She arched, writhing beneath his touch. Lavender swirled up from her body, from every pore, even from her sweet breath as he leaned down and put his lips on hers once more. He kissed her in a teasing drift that brought soft moans from her throat.

He drew back and looked into her eyes, the blue eyes that had tempted him from the first, exquisite eyes with just a hint of gold around the rim of the iris, her eyes, his breh’s eyes. “I love you so much.”

Her hand slid to the nape of his neck. “Kiss me again.”

He obliged her and for a long time he savored her lips then the moist recesses of her mouth as his tongue drove deep. She slid her fingers through his hair.

He kissed her cheek, her neck, then moved lower to lick her in a long glide up her throat. “I want your blood,” he whispered, his voice little more than a deep hoarse rumble.

Once more she palmed the back of his neck, pressing. “My vein throbs for you.”

He licked and kissed the skin above her vein. He could feel the powerful pulses against his lips, the invitation so erotic. He was already hard but the thought of sinking his fangs and taking what he wanted shot desire through him like a bolt of lightning. The head of his cock ached for release. The arms poised above her shook with need. And they’d barely gotten started.

Jesus. How the hell was he going to last when he swore that with only two deft tugs he’d be gone?

He took a deep breath, his fingers still teasing her stomach. She moaned and arched, her hips pressing back into the bed then up toward him.

“Kerrick,” she whispered. “I want you. How about you get me naked.”

He hissed as he leaned back. “So good,” he whispered. He groaned as his hands slipped to the top button of her shirt. He could have folded her clothes off, but dammit, he needed every precious second of this time with her, even though he thought the waiting might just blow the top of his head off.

He took a couple of deep raspy breaths as he undid her shirt. He followed the release of each button with his lips, one hot inch at a time. She panted and writhed beneath the lingering swipes of his tongue.

Once he had her bra exposed, he used a fang and sliced the damn thing in two, savoring the cry that broke past her lips.

As he pushed the lace away from her breasts, his hips jerked in a single hard pump and once more his wing-locks sent a vibration through his body. He put a hand to her lower abdomen and this time folded off her olive-green pants. He looked down. Oh, God. She wore a black lace thong and he groaned.

“Spread your legs.”

Your voice, Kerrick, she sent. Oh, God, your voice, so deep.

At the same time she parted her legs wide. He settled his thighs low so that he didn’t make too much contact. He’d lose it if he did, and he needed to take his time.

He leaned over her, moving his forearms lower. He drew her left breast into his mouth and suckled. She cried out, flinging her arms wide. She wrapped her legs over his buttocks. He suckled until she was writhing beneath him and begging for more. Her hands once more found his hair. She tugged, pulled, and wrapped her fingers in his thick locks, her hips gyrating against his abdomen.

He tended to her other breast, sucking, laving with his tongue. She panted softly, her chest rising and falling in erotic pulses, moans flowing out of her throat as he continued to tend to each breast in turn.

She kept calling his name within his head, Kerrick, Kerrick, which again drove him crazy.

He released her breast and drew back. He couldn’t get far since her hands were buried in his long warrior hair and she didn’t seem to want to let go. Her face was turned to the side, her eyelids closed, her back arching, her hips undulating, her breath punctuating the air. Goddammit, his wing-locks surged and thrummed. He could feel familiar oil glistening at the apertures, weeping. How the hell was he going to hold on to his wings?

Shit. This whole experience might just kill him.

He settled his mouth on her other breast once more. The feel of her beaded nipple against his tongue … oh, God.

Her lavender scent now flooded the room. She was already close to orgasm and his erection throbbed.

He closed his eyes and focused once more on each breath he took. He swore that if his heart were any weaker the damn thing would give one hard jerk and stop pumping altogether.

Without losing contact with her breast, he folded off his kilt, wrist guards, and sandals. The briefs disappeared as well. Her legs, still wrapped around his buttocks, now connected skin-to-skin.

“That’s nice,” she murmured. “So nice.” She moaned now, deep moans from the bottom of her throat. He released her breast and moved down her body, her legs releasing their hold on his buttocks. When he’d reached the juncture of her thighs, he leaned close then carefully slid his fang beneath the left side of her thong and sliced, then the right. With each tug, she gave a little cry.

He peeled back the triangle of lace to reveal her beautiful light curls. His cock twitched. His wing-locks surged. He stroked her gently with the back of his finger. She groaned. Lavender rose to him in heady waves now until his brain was drunk with the scent.

He had to taste her. He slid his tongue down her cleft, dipped low, and dragged over the entrance to her core.

She cried out. “Oh, God, Kerrick.” He knew what she wanted.

“Patience,” he murmured, his voice hoarse.

“Please.” She was begging for contact, hard contact.

I just have to have one more taste, he sent, laying his thoughts over her mind. He licked deep this time. Your honey is like heaven.

Kerrick. Please.

Her breathing came in long gulps now, her fingers still working through his hair.

He drew himself upright and made eye contact, his knees between her spread legs. Her lips were parted, her breaths quick, full of gasps and uneven. She watched him, her gaze skating over his face, his shoulders, his chest, then falling to his groin.

He took his heavy cock in his hand. She licked her lips. He stroked himself. “Is this what you want?”

She nodded. “God, yes.”

He stroked again. “You want me to give it to you?”

Her eyelashes fluttered. “Please. Now. Hard.”

He stretched out and poised the head of his cock at her wet swollen entrance. When she moaned and her hips rocked, he plunged into her. She cried out, clutching at his shoulders, his back, his waist. He leaned over her, his forearms resting on the bed.

He moved inside her, his cock at hair-trigger. He pulled back, thrust forward. Once more he concentrated on his breathing. He set up a rhythm.

She looked into his eyes, her hands having found purchase on his shoulders. Tears streamed down the sides of her face and into her hair. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered. “Oh, God. You’re so tight.” She arched her neck, which caused her hips to rock, which in turned stroked him and dammit, he almost came. He hissed and took more deep breaths.

She turned her neck to the side. “Take my vein,” she cried, releasing his shoulders.

He didn’t hesitate. He crashed down on her neck and bit her hard, sinking his fangs deep. She cried out.

Now take my wrist, he sent.

“Yes,” she moaned, her hips meeting his with each thrust of his cock.

His arm felt weighted, heavy, hard to move as he positioned his forearm over her mouth. She grabbed hold with one hand, brought him against her mouth then bit. The feel of her fangs making a virgin strike made his cock jerk all over again and his wing-locks vibrate. Dammit. He was being pulled apart at a thousand different points of his body.

But he would hold himself back. More deep breathing as he drew on her vein, pulling hard. He surged in her now as she suckled his wrist.

Your blood, Kerrick, like an exotic wine.

He groaned, surged, pulled back, breathed, then thrust.

Her blood, flavored of lavender, slid down his throat and power burgeoned in his body. He was a machine over her now, his cock working her deep, his throat swallowing her blood, the muscles all across his shoulders, arms, and back engorged, his wing-locks on fire. So much fucking power.

Alison, I’m going to enter your mind and afterward you’ll possess mine. Just be prepared … this will complete the breh-hedden.

He heard her breathe through her nose in one long breath as she continued to pull at his wrist.

Do it! her mind called to him.

As he pumped into her, as he took her blood, he pressed his mind against hers and felt her give way. He tumbled inside her, invading her thoughts, seeing instantly just how close to orgasm she was. A tornado of sensation moved around him, whipping his body into a frenzy.

* * *

Alison felt the orgasm sitting at the knife-edge of her consciousness. The big body pounding into her, drinking from her vein, penetrating her mind, whose blood flowed down her throat, now possessed her in every possible way.

She wept for release yet held it at bay, holding back, restraining, wanting the moment to last. She panted over his wrist, her mouth still suckling as though she had always known how to take blood in this way. She longed for the moment she could take Kerrick at his neck, and the thought sent new blistering sensations straight up her core.

She felt the seizing begin, deep inside, around his thick hard presence. She could no longer restrain what had to be released.

You’re going to come, he whispered within her mind. I can feel it.

Deep guttural groans poured from her throat even as she continued to take his blood. She tried to warn him, but the orgasm swamped her, filling her with pleasure that spread like fire from her tender cleft up through her core to rise like a powerful geyser through her body. She screamed against his wrist, but kept drawing his blood into her mouth. At the same time, power rolled from her and struck Kerrick, who groaned heavily in return.