Once Bitten, Twice Burned(87)
Pleasure unlike anything she’d ever known. The kind of pleasure, well, that people just might kill for.
And Ryder was with her. She felt the hard jerks of his hips. His hands tightened even more around her as he emptied into her core. When his head lifted, she saw the blindness in his gaze. Pleasure.
Then his mouth was on hers. Stroking. Licking. Kissing.
Her heartbeat struggled to calm down. She kept touching him, because she didn’t want to ever stop.
Her legs were still tight around his hips. She should probably try to stand. Probably, but she wasn’t.
“You only bite me,” he began, his words growling out, “when we fuck.”
She felt a blush stain her cheeks. “Guess that’s when you bring out the animal in me.”
His gaze searched hers. “You always seem to bring out my darkness.”
He was thickening within her once more. She tightened her inner muscles around him. “Is that all I bring out?”
“No.”
She’d hoped to get a smile from him, but his face seemed even tenser than before.
“You make me very, very dangerous.” He withdrew his cock, then pushed back into her. Her already too-sensitive flesh loved that push. “Because you make me need you too much.”
Was it possible to need someone too much?
“I warned you,” he said, pushing into her again, and the rush of pleasure started to pulse through her once more, “but it’s already too late.”
She licked her lips. Wanted to lick him. “Too late for what?”
“To get away.”
Did she look like she was running?
Another withdraw, then a hard thrust of his flesh into hers. “You’re mine now,” Ryder said, “and I won’t let you go.”
The words were fierce and possessive. Before she could speak, he was kissing her again. The rhythm of his thrusts grew faster. The passion flared again, and Sabine forgot about warnings.
She only thought of pleasure.
The bar emptied out at dawn, the way it always did. If it was a normal bar, maybe the patrons would linger. There was always some kind of party in New Orleans.
But Bran’s Castle wasn’t normal, and even though their flesh didn’t burn in the sunlight—total Hollywood BS—vampires didn’t exactly love hopping around in the daylight.
They hunted better at night.
Grayson Hughes stalked around the empty interior. He’d expected Ryder to return by dawn, but Ryder always loved doing the unexpected.
Tricky SOB.
“What happens now?” The soft, feminine voice came from behind him.
Ah, so he wasn’t quite alone.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Julia, the sexy little bartender, was edging away from the stockroom. Stockroom, blood freezer, whatever you wanted to call it.
He raised a brow at her. He’d wondered when this conversation would happen.
“I mean . . . I thought this place was yours.” She smoothed her hands over the front of her jeans. Julia was new to the vamp life. She’d only been changed a little over a year ago. “But the dark Ryder comes in and just takes over.”
The Dark Ryder. Dark Rider. Yes, that had been the name he’d gotten centuries ago. When he rode into towns and fought vampires, then left, covered in blood.
Ryder was the vampire judge, jury, and executioner. If you crossed a line, he came for you.
And, of course, he was the one who drew the lines to begin with. The vamp with all the power.
Because he’d been created first.
“What happens?” Grayson repeated as he turned to fully face her. He knew exactly how to play this game. Over all the long years, he’d gotten so good at playing roles. “What happens is that we keep our mouths shut and our minds as sealed as possible.”
Julia’s eyes widened. “What if he finds out about what we’ve done?”
What did she think would happen? Ryder would try to kill them, obviously. So he just stared back at her. She swallowed and glanced away.
After a moment, Grayson said, “If you’re smart, you won’t talk about that again, not here.”
But Julia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what’s said or not said. He’s going to push with his power. He’s going to scan us all. Then he’ll know.”
Ryder would know that they’d been in on the plan to kill his ass? That they’d helped to set him up?
“He won’t know if we take him out first.” And wasn’t that supposed to be the goal, anyway? To stop the vamp king before he stopped them? “Call the others,” Grayson ordered her. “Set up a meet. Ryder’s distracted by his lady, so we have time to move, now.”
Her lashes flickered. “His lady?” she repeated. “I’d wondered if he—”