Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
“Yes,” I said. “He and his family have had their eyes on me for a while. But his advances have gone up in the last few months since my father's death. They're desperate to solidify our alliance, and are both completely unaware of my mother's dislike for their family.”
“Then why is she even entertaining them at all?”
“Because my mother will never turn down a potential alliance with anyone who has wealth and power and prestige in the vampire community. Plus the Wrights’ own ideologies mimic my mother's. She could do worse, and she knows it. Especially when my suitability to carry on our family's bloodline has recently come into question.”
“All because you couldn't... because you and Alek didn't work out?”
I actually laughed out loud at the way Talon tried to recover, and Archibald’s eyes lit up because he thought I’d laughed at something he said. Godsdamn it.
“What's funny?” Talon asked.
“I find it wildly entertaining that simply because I gave you some blood you're turning into a soft little purring kitten,” I teased him. “Where is the snappy, cocky, Viking vampire I know and loathe?”
Talon growled again. “Oh, don't you worry. He's right here. Excuse me for trying to practice a little civility in return for your generous donation.”
I pressed my lips together, mostly to keep from smiling at Talon’s tone. It was easier to focus on that, to think about the common ground that we’d started on and not where we were actually at, which was confusing as hell.
It’d been four days since I finally forced the grumpy old vampire to feed.
Four days since we’d exchanged blood and he’d given me the best orgasms of my life.
I didn't know if it was because of the close proximity, the mission we'd been chained together on, or if it had simply been the chemistry we couldn't deny, but it had been world-shaking.
I’d been ready to do much more than just what he offered, but he had made it absolutely clear that he wasn’t as affected by me as I was by him.
His quick departure and even quicker shower had been a blaring rejection of all things intimate. He showed me he held all the power, as he always would. The hunter who hated me.
Drinking from me and getting me off was one thing, but he wouldn’t dare let me return the favor.
And that was fine.
That was fair.
It was clean and brutally honest, at least, though I couldn't deny the sense of hurt that swelled within me every time I thought about it. You'd think I'd be used to rejection by now. Used to not being enough for anybody, intimate or otherwise.
I'd spent my whole life never measuring up to what my family wanted to me to be, and then when they forced me to go after Alek, a near impossible situation, he hadn't wanted me either.
I understood why. Not only were Alek and I inherently different, I also hadn’t been preforming as myself. I’d been the daughter my family wanted me to be. Forced and pressured to pursue the king.
But it didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t sure if there was a vampire alive who would like me for…me. And that was a dark place to be, not that I was a stranger to it, but I was growing weary of living in shadows.
For a moment, when I’d locked gazes with Talon’s arctic blue eyes, when I’d been trapped within his embrace, his blood still fresh on my tongue and him drinking from me, I’d felt something. A sense of camaraderie and hope. For a moment, I wasn't alone in this wretched world.
All it’d really been was a vulnerable moment on my part.
An exchange of needs.
A basic transaction where he’d done me a kindness by not leaving me on the edge after drinking his blood. Honestly, I shouldn't have expected or wanted more than that.
The memory of his hands on my body, his lips on mine, and his blood in my mouth set my veins on fire, and as quickly as I tried to shut down the sensation, it flooded me. My instincts ached for more, to chase that high. To be so completely alive in the moment with someone that all other grievances of our current situation disappeared.
Archibald stopped talking mid-sentence, and Talon gave a low warning growl at the same time.
Both males likely scented my desire, and if Archibald’s disgustingly hopeful face was any indication, he thought it was in regards to him.
Godsdamn me.
Sometimes I really hated being a vampire.
I glanced down the table at my mother and Reginald, wondering if they scented it too, but neither paid any attention. And after a few more moments, they retired from the formal dining room saying they were going for a walk on the beach.
She’d probably fuck him out of boredom, and likely expected me to do the same with Archibald. He probably expected the same, but I would do no such thing.