She fell back on the bed as he came down on top of her. He tore off her panties in one impatient yank. Then he started biting her.
He suckled at her beautiful breasts, tugging at the plump gorgeous flesh of her distended nipples with his teeth, while he fingered the juicy softness of her labia. His hands were shaking. He moved lower and sank his teeth into the soft flesh of her side, just under her rib cage, biting sharp enough to sting but not enough to bruise.
Hunger and arousal pulsed through her. She was becoming accustomed to their companionship. She had forgotten how much the appetites of the flesh were also things of the spirit. They twined up her body, as Rune settled between her legs and put his mouth to her.
He ate at her as though he could never get enough, with a patience coupled with ferocity that caused her to pull up her knees as the pleasure stabbed deep. Her climax started gently and built in intensity as he licked at her with a steadily increasing rhythm. She stroked his hair as she shook with it. Then she coaxed, “Come here.”
“No,” he said. He bit her again, hard on the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, while he rolled his thumb over her clitoris.
That one would leave a bruise. The second climax punched through her, and there was nothing gentle or sane about it. She cried out and her torso arched off the bed. He pleasured her, yet she felt so empty, and she was starving again. “Come here,” she growled.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. He parted her flesh and suckled strongly at her.
The sensation was so piercing, and yet she was so damn empty, and starving, that she came up on her elbows with a hiss, and for the first time in two hundred years her fangs descended.
She rolled over to her hands and knees and prowled toward him across the bed. “I said come here.”
Rune’s face was hard angled with desire, his lion’s eyes glittering like polished stones. He stared at her mouth, frozen. Then he purred, “You going to come take me now for real, baby? Promise?”
Insouciant alpha. She sprang at him and struck, sinking her teeth into his neck. They both groaned as the wild liqueur taste of him exploded on her tongue. She whined at the back of her throat and started to shake.
He held her with a hand at the back of her head and pushed her mouth harder against him, impaling himself on her fangs while he hauled her onto his lap. She went willingly, spreading her legs to sit astride him. He positioned his erection at her slick opening and pulled her down. Then he was filling her aching emptiness with the hard warmth of his cock as his hot blood filled her mouth. He clenched her to him and rocked in her as she drew on him and took in his nourishment.
She grew drunk again with pleasure. She was always so surprised at how generous it was, that pleasure. He filled her to the brim with laughter and constancy, and such a rare bountiful passion, her soul unfurled and flourished.
She realized he was whispering in her ear. “I will always come for you, always hold on to you. I swear it.”
The mouthful of blood she had taken was more than enough. The vitality of it already sang in her veins. She pulled out her fangs and whispered back, “I will never let go of you, never fail you. I will hold steady, no matter what.”
He began to shudder with his own climax, and he gave himself over completely to his mate again.
She held on to him tightly, with all of her heart. She had made a promise to do so.
Early the next evening, Rufio and Rasputin arrived. “Let’s try to get through this without anybody growling, okay?” Carling murmured to Rune as they watched the rental car pull into the driveway.
“Don’t look at me. I’ll be purring the whole time,” said Rune. He blinked at her with his best innocent look.
She tried to scowl at him. She didn’t have it in her. They had spent the afternoon dozing. She had drifted in and out of dreams with her head resting on his shoulder. It could not have been more precious or perfect.
Rune opened the front door as Rufio climbed out of the car, followed by the little brown and sable dog on a leash. Rasputin caught sight of Carling as she stood in the shadow of the doorway. He barked, high pitched with excitement, and strained at the leash until Rufio laughed and let him go.
The dog hurtled up the path with a manic grin. He danced and twirled and jumped, and when Carling bent to pick him up, he leaped into her arms and tried frantically to lick her face. Rune greeted Rufio, asked him how their flight had been, and showed him to his room so he could settle in.
When Rune returned, he found Carling and Rasputin in the kitchen. Rasputin was exploring the corners of the kitchen floor, his plumed tail wagging. Carling had pulled out a package of raw chicken breast tenders, muttering to herself as she sprayed some pam in a skillet. She glanced at Rune. “I’m going to cook Rasputin some chicken for supper. Would you like for me to cook some for you as well?”