"They do not frighten ," she replied firmly, her voice carrying a fierce certainty. "And they certainly do not repulse , or whatever nonsense you have convinced yourself of."
The words were spoken with such vehence that it was impossible to doubt their sincerity. In truth, she hated that he could even think that she would react that way. The look she leveled at him was hard and resolute, as though she ant to drive her point directly through his stubborn skull.
The air between them had grown thick with emotion. At so point during their conversation, they had gradually shifted closer together on the bed without either of them noticing. Now their faces hovered only inches apart, so close that their breaths mingled in the small space between them.
"And while we are on the topic," Circe continued, her voice lowering slightly, "I suppose I should reveal a secret urge of mine..." She trailed off briefly, a delicate blush blooming across her cheeks.
It was difficult to maintain her composure when he was staring at her so intently, his dark eyes fixed on her as though he could not look away. Clearing her throat softly, she gathered her thoughts and began again.
"Ever since the first ti we were... intimate," she said, faltering for only a mont before pressing on, "I have wondered what it might feel like to be bitten. What it would feel like to have you feed from ."
When she finished speaking, she t his gaze directly, her eyes steady despite the color still warming her cheeks. "I would very much like to find out."
Those words, soft and sultry as they slipped from her lips, were all Ragnar truly needed. Whatever fragile thread of self-control had been holding him back snapped instantly.
Before she could say another word, he hooked one arm firmly around her waist, pulling her against him to keep her from shifting away. At the sa ti, he lowered his head toward the curve of her neck.
Her pulse pounded wildly beneath her skin, fluttering at the base of her throat with a mixture of nerves and anticipation. Ragnar could feel it clearly, each rapid beat echoing against his lips as he pressed a lingering kiss to that spot.
Circe closed her eyes and began quietly counting her breaths in an attempt to calm herself.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
On the fifth breath, she felt the sharp press of his fangs sinking gently into her flesh.
The mont his fangs pierced her skin, sothing inside Ragnar awakened.
It had been there all along, buried deep for years and coiled in so forgotten corner of his being like a creature waiting for the right mont to rise. The instant her blood touched his tongue, it stirred.
Then it surged to life.
The presence unfurled slowly at first, stretching through him with a languid awareness before tightening its hold. It curled around his soul like a rope, recognizing sothing in the blood he had just tasted.
Circe let out a startled gasp as the sensation struck her, but Ragnar barely heard it. He was already lost to the flood of sensations rushing through him.
He took his first pull from her vein and the taste of her blood burst across his tongue.
For a second he went completely still, his entire body locking as the taste registered in his mind. It was sweet and rich with power so potent, power far beyond anything he had ever known.
It flooded his senses so completely that his thoughts scattered like frightened birds. Magic rolled through him in a sudden wave, sharp and intoxicating, and for a mont he felt almost drunk on it.
He drew another mouthful and then another. Each swallow sent warmth racing through his veins, a deep, vibrant energy that spread through his limbs and settled in his chest. It was addicting, far more intoxicating than any blood he had ever tasted before. His grip on her waist tightened instinctively as he drank again, deeper this ti.
But for Circe, the sensation was nothing like she had imagined. When his fangs sank into her flesh, she had expected pain.
Instead, a searing heat spread from the bite, hard and intense.
Her gasp caught in her throat as the heat rushed outward from the wound, spilling through her body in slow, burning waves. It felt almost as though molten silver had been poured into her veins, overwhelming all her senses.
Her fingers curled into the corded muscle of Ragnar’s shoulders as the strange sensation deepened. A dark, unfamiliar ecstasy followed close behind it.
The room around them began to blur. The only thing that remained clear was the steady rhythm of Ragnar feeding from her and the frantic pounding of his heart where their bodies pressed together. Each pull from her vein sent another ripple of warmth through her system, chasing away every lingering trace of cold.
Sothing inside her chest shifted. Then Ragnar’s shadows spilled free. They poured from him like a swirling mass of darkness, twisting and coiling through the air around them in a restless motion. The mass of shifting shadow seed almost anxious yet eager, as though reacting to the sa overwhelming sensations coursing through him.
The world around them slowly faded away. Inside Circe’s chest, just behind her sternum, sothing sparked. At first it was small, no more than a faint flicker.
Then it grew. The tiny spark blossod into a steady, resonant pulse. It spread outward slowly, filling her chest with sothing entirely different. Sothing alive, a glowing ember.
A phantom presence settled behind her ribs. With every breath Ragnar took, the sensation echoed softly inside her chest.
Across the newly forming bond, she felt the sharp edges of his hunger begin to dull as sothing else rose to the surface, sothing fierce and instinctive. Sothing possessive and protective.
She had a strange awareness of him that she didn’t before.
Circe suddenly felt the vast depth of Ragnar’s presence, the imnse ocean of his essence that existed just beneath his skin. At the sa mont, Ragnar flinched, feeling the sa thing that she was.
Slowly, Ragnar pulled his fangs free. A thin trail of crimson followed before he licked the wound close. His breathing had grown heavy now, each inhale deeper than the last as he struggled to comport himself.
When he looked at her, his eyes had turned completely obsidian.
Through his black eyes, he could just make out the faint glow beneath the skin of her neck where he had bitten her. The light there pulsed softly, almost in ti with his own heartbeat.
He stared at it in stunned silence.
Then he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He was yet to remove his arm from around her waist. Right now, it felt impossible to stop touching her, he couldn’t even if he tried.
Their breaths mingled in the quiet room as his chest rose and fell. The silence felt absolute. Yet beneath it, sothing new pulsed between them.
Two heartbeats, perfectly synchronized.
Deep within the marrow of her bones, Circe could feel him. A piece of Ragnar now rested inside her, settled firmly against her soul like it had always belonged there.
It humd softly in her chest, a quiet, and constant reminder of the connection they now shared.
"What happened?" Circe asked at last.
She looked faintly dazed, as though she were still trying to understand the storm of sensations inside her. She had expected the bite. She had expected him to feed.
But this... This was sothing else entirely.
Her hand rose unconsciously to her chest as the strange new presence pulsed beneath her ribs. "It’s like I can feel you here," she murmured softly.
Ragnar exhaled slowly.
His voice, when he finally spoke, was rough with disbelief. "Bonded."
The single word hung between them.
He lifted his head slightly, his dark gaze settling on her face again. There was sothing different in his expression now, sothing raw and almost primal.
He studied her as though he were seeing her for the very first ti. "I didn’t think such a thing was even possible."
Reviews
All reviews (0)