It feels really, really good, though.
I close my eyes and relax against him. “If this doesn’t work, Rylan is going to start in about killing me again.”
“No one is killing you.”
“If not me then some innocent human Wolf snatches up. Better to be me.” It’s not that I want to die. The exact opposite is true. But I don’t know if I can live with myself if someone innocent dies in my place. Being that ruthless would make me no better than my father. It would make me a monster.
“Mina.” Malachi digs his hands into my hair and tugs until I lift my face to his. “Rylan is very, very old. He’s also not in the habit of spouting off the way Wolf likes to. If he says this can be done, he’s likely right.”
“You don’t seem to like him very much.”
“Our history is…”
“Complicated?”
His lips curve. “Complicated.”
There seems to be a lot of that going around. I sigh. “A lot has changed in a little over a week. It seems like it’s too much, too fast. I shouldn’t feel—” I barely manage to cut myself off before I say something I can’t take back. Like confess I’ve gone and done the unforgivable. I like Malachi, even when I find him infuriating. I might even be falling for him, though it’s not like I have much experience with that sort of thing.
“I feel it, too.” He brushes his thumbs over my cheekbones. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn not to question these things. Some feelings transcend logic.”
“That’s just it. I’m not going to live as long as you; not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Trust Rylan.”
I snort. “Yeah, he was calling for my head not too long ago, and then he pulled a full one-eighty between one bite and the next. Trust takes longer to build.”
“Then trust me.”
I open my mouth to repeat what I just said. Trust takes longer to build. But the truth is I do trust Malachi. Not only do I trust him not to hurt me, but I trust him to keep his word. It’s a little disconcerting, to be perfectly honest. I’ve spent this long relying only on myself and the only truth that held steady was I couldn’t trust anyone.
I take an unsteady breath. “I do trust you. Even if I shouldn’t.”
The smile Malachi gives me is nothing like I’ve seen before. It’s a small smile, but it lights up his dark eyes with something akin to happiness. “We’ll get free, Mina.”
I kiss him. It’s not even a decision. I simply hook his neck and go onto my toes as I pull him down to me. He comes more than willingly. The second our lips touch, it’s as if an inferno lights inside me. I need more. I dig my hands into his hair and Malachi hooks the back of my thighs and lifts me so I can wrap my legs around his waist. One step and my back meets the wall. Gods, this man is addicting in a way I don’t know if I’ll ever have a defense against. I don’t know if I want one.
He kisses me like I’m the best thing he’s ever tasted. Like he’ll never get enough. We devolve into tongue and teeth and little sounds that mean everything and nothing.
Malachi pulls back a bare inch. “You need to eat.”
“Later.” I’m already reaching between us to push at the waistband of his lounge pants. “I need you more.”
He curses, the sounds sweet against my lips. “You’re hell on my self-control.”
“Sorry?” I delve into his pants and wrap my fist around his cock. The feeling of him pulsing against my palm has my whole body clenching. I need him and I need him now. “Please. I’ll make it quick.”
He gives one of those rough laughs. “I think that’s supposed to be my line.” But he leans back enough I can push his pants down and free his cock. I start to guide him to my entrance and then hesitate. “We’re supposed to be using condoms, I think?”
He’s breathing as hard as I am. For a moment, I think he might argue, but he finally gives himself a rough shake. “They’re too far away.”
I don’t have a chance to argue. He shifts his grip and sinks to his knees before me, holding me aloft as if I weigh nothing at all. I yelp a little. “Malachi, I want your cock.”
“Too bad. You get my tongue.” And then his mouth is on my pussy and I forget everything but the slick feel of him licking me to orgasm. It feels so fucking good I never want it to stop. He’s not rushing, either. He’s licking me like he relishes my taste, this moment, as much as I do. Under his tongue, my body coils tighter and tighter with pleasure, ascending toward a peak that will send me hurtling into oblivion.
I’m gasping. I think I’m speaking, but I can’t make out the words. It seems beyond comprehension that he can do this to me without biting me. That there are no vampire tricks or magic involved. Just Malachi’s overwhelming strength and the desire weaving a spell around us.
I barely register we’re in the hallway until I look up and realize we aren’t alone any longer. Rylan and Wolf stand at the top of the stairs, watching us with identical looks of lust in their eyes. Wolf’s have bled pure crimson. Rylan’s only flash silver, but there’s no animosity in the way he looks at me now. No, there’s pure need.
It’s too late to wonder how I feel about that. I’m too far gone. I dig my hands into Malachi’s long hair and roll my hips, grinding myself against his mouth and tongue as I come. He bites me, sending my orgasm to new heights. I scream and slam back against the wall, damn near convulsing with the sheer amount of pleasure pouring through me.
He gives my pussy one last long lick and then rises easily to resume the position we started in. He looks down at me with eyes gone pure black. For a moment, I’m sure he’ll fuck me right here, condom or no. I almost hope he does. Even after coming so hard, I crave the feel of him inside me.
But he just turns with me still in his arms and stalks down the hall to the stairs. Rylan and Wolf edge out of the way as he carries me down to the kitchen and sets me on the counter. I blink and weave a little. “I thought…”
“Food, Mina. Or you’re going to pass out before we get to the good stuff.”
What we just did was the good stuff. What we did this morning and last night was good stuff. I can’t quite comprehend how it can get better than that.
Rylan and Wolf walk through the door a bare second later. Wolf veers toward the fridge and Malachi, but Rylan walks to me. Without so much as a word, he flicks up my shirt and looks at my pussy. “He bit you. You need blood.”
“I’m fine.” I don’t know why I’m arguing. I also don’t know why I flash hot at the hungry way he looks at me before he lets the shirt drop. “And you bit me first.”
He doesn’t respond other than to lift his wrist to his mouth and bite down. It’s not a polite little bite. No, he rips his own flesh as if it’s nothing. As if he doesn’t feel the pain. Rylan grabs the back of my head and lifts his wrist to my mouth. “Quickly, before it heals.”
I want to argue. I do. But his blood makes my fangs ache so intensely, I could weep from the sensation. Even as I tell myself I’ll only have a taste, I cover his wound with my mouth. When I took Malachi’s blood, it felt like lightning shooting into my body.