Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)

We’d barely locked his front door when he pressed me against the wall. His body felt warm and ready next to mine. I’d resisted the urge to give in so many times already, but now I just let go. I needed to know the outcome of submitting to Arys’s pull instead of fighting.

He allowed me no time to take in my surroundings. At his aggressive touch, my wolf leapt to meet him and a wave of adrenaline crashed through me. As his lips touched mine, our powers collided. Energy rushed around us, white noise that grew by the second. His soft tongue sought mine, and I knew that his need was as great as my own.

Arys tangled one hand in my hair, tugging urgently at my clothing with the other. His touch was possessive and rough. I gasped when he caressed my bare skin, stroking a bold path down my abdomen.

“Arys wait,” I breathed. My lips fought to form the word. I wanted to move further into the house, away from the entryway. I had yet to take my shoes off.

“I know you want me, Alexa. I can feel your wolf calling to me.” He buried his face in my hair, and I felt fangs graze the sensitive skin along the side of my neck.

I shoved him off me and kicked my chunky wedge heels off. “Let’s go inside.”

He stared at me like a hormone-fueled teenager who couldn’t understand the word no.

Even as I sauntered into the heart of the house, the power tried to persuade me to reconnect the broken touch. I didn’t get very far before Arys pulled me back into his arms. A gentle breeze of electricity stirred around us as I lost myself in him. The energy built with each touch and encouraged the next.

In the back of my mind, I wondered what exactly it was that we were conjuring up. Maybe we should stop. I made to pull away, but Arys kissed me. The passion sent a fire racing through my soul. I wanted to take him, right there in the living room. Instead, he led me to the bedroom.

The king size bed was in the middle of the room. With its lavish, fluffy pillows and deep comforter, Arys’s bed looked like a marshmallow just waiting for me to dive in. I was disappointed when he steered me away, but desire and instinct drove me. I focused solely on the vampire that made my blood boil. I needed him to put out the fire that we’d ignited.

Engulfed in passion, I stripped off my own clothes. His hands caressed every piece of skin that I revealed. I couldn’t recall if he’d rid himself of his clothing or if I had done it in my frenzy. I had no semblance of rational thought left at the forefront of my brain.

With dark, potent need, I clung to Arys. He picked me up and slammed me against the wall with a satisfying bang. Braced against the wall, I growled with hunger, ready for him.

As Arys slid deep inside me, a wave of power crashed over us. With our bodies joined, the power seemed to weld us together in our union. It was like that last puzzle piece finding its place.

I flashed back to Lena’s battery metaphor, and a glimmer of fear crept in, but it was too late. I was in his mind, just as he was in mine. Images flashed through my brain like a strobe light. Arys’s memories flooded me with too much information. I wished to close my eyes against the onslaught, but it ran deeper than vision.

I saw blood and pain in his memory, much that he’d taken and more that he’d given. And heartbreak. I was intrigued by the heartbreak. I’d never looked at him that way, like someone who had feelings beyond blood thirst. I had only seen the vampire, not the man.

I experienced the sensation of what he felt when he killed, the ecstasy that he felt each and every time. I saw Arys walk away from a kill with renewal and a grin, but I also saw the blood tears and the regret. The shame that he’d once again fallen into the trap of temptation.

Sweat dripped down the side of my face, and my hair was damp with it. I could feel him in my mind. I couldn’t have shut him out if I had tried. Despite all of it, he didn’t slow his pace as he thrust into me with a sense of desperation.

My fingertips were sticky with his blood. My claws had bit through his flesh as I held him to me. If it pained him, he gave no sign. I cried out as we spiraled toward climax. Our crescendo of buzzing power neared the breaking point.

I was painfully aware of the overflow of energy. It seeped into the objects in the room, as it sought a place to expend. A clock radio on the nightstand turned itself on at full volume and quickly fizzled out, fried. The ceiling light turned on before exploding, sending thousands of tiny shards onto the carpet. I gave a small yelp as one struck my foot. The lights down the hallway followed suit, and I could hear the TV in the living room turn on full blast and then a loud pop.

“Alexa, can I…?” Arys’s breath was hot against my ear as he whispered my name urgently. His pace quickened, and I felt myself hurtling fast towards that ultimate finish.