He groaned into me, the vibration of that sound making a wave of pleasure spread through me.
“Do you know what happens to a witch in the Coven on her sixteenth birthday?” he asked, his eyes drifting closed as he slid his tongue into my entrance and fucked me with it.
Finding any traces of the blood from losing my virginity.
“No,” I said, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it. I had a feeling my father had either unknowingly or willingly set me up for something that would be more dangerous than I realized.
“There is magic in blood and sex, some of the most potent that exists. On their sixteenth birthday, a female witch is forced to choose a partner to give herself to. A witch wouldn’t dare risk her first time being with a Vessel,” he said, dragging another slow, torturous swipe of his tongue through me.
I froze as he crawled up my body, prowling over me. He slid into me in one smooth movement, taking his time and moving slowly as he reclaimed the space that he’d made his own. He pulled back slowly when he met resistance, working the rest of his length into me bit by bit.
“Why not?” I asked, sliding my hands around to his back.
I winced when he found the newly tender tissue, working his way through it even as I gasped.
“If there is magic in blood, imagine what kind of magic resides in blood that can only be given once? It forms a bond, an obsession, between the Vessel and his witch,” he said, snapping his hips forward and burying himself to the hilt.
I whimpered, my body feeling too full as he lingered there. One of my hands dropped between us, pushing against his hips lightly to get him to pull away just a bit until I adjusted to the discomfort.
He didn’t.
“You made a mistake, Willow,” he said, finally pulling back to give me a reprieve. He pushed back in slowly the next moment, taking away the short-lived relief. “I will never stop wanting to be inside you now.”
I whimpered, my nails digging into the bare skin of his hip. He was impossibly hard against my hand, all lean, solid muscle that flexed and relaxed with each roll of his hips. His groan rattled in my ear as he dropped his weight against me, holding himself off just enough not to crush me.
A distant sort of pleasure lingered out of reach, the uncomfortable feeling inside me too much of a distraction for me to grasp it.
Gray’s eyes met mine as he continued his relentless, slow glides in and out of me. I knew he was taking his time, taking me more slowly than he’d intended when he’d shoved himself into me in his rage.
“Relax,” he murmured, the compulsion of those words sliding over my skin. My body reacted instantly, my muscles going lax. He seemed to get even farther inside of me, another tiny press as he moaned. “That’s it. You’ll get used to the way I feel inside you.”
I whimpered as he leaned forward, dragging his fangs over my neck. He sank them in, taking my blood in a feeding that I suspected was more for my benefit than his. The pain of his bite faded quickly, allowing that thick, pulsing pleasure to spread from my neck and down through my torso. It reached inside me, stroking that distant pleasure that I couldn’t grasp and bringing it to the surface.
“Gray,” I murmured, my voice trailing off as pleasure swallowed the words.
He bit down harder. My legs tightened around his hips, holding him tightly against me as my orgasm built and swelled, pulling me beneath the surface while he continued to fuck me. The warmth of his release filled me as he groaned into my neck, pulling his fangs free and licking my blood from my skin.
I fell into the darkness in the wake of blinding light, sleep pulling me under while Gray was still inside me.
32
GRAY
I shook my head as I stared out the window at the grounds below, keeping my eyes firmly attached to the blood dripping from Willow’s palm. She held a knife in her other hand, squeezing her fingers into the cut she’d made so that her blood flowed freely onto the dying plants.
It had been all I could do to control my instincts and allow her to leave my room at all. I’d let her rest and then woken her up with my cock between her legs. Whatever soreness she felt from the night before was easy to chase away with a single bite, until she’d all but writhed in my lap when I brought her into the office area and guided her to ride me on the sofa.
I wanted her scent to fill my office. I wanted all who stepped in here to smell her on me and around me.
I wanted my claim to be known now that Willow herself knew I’d fed from her on the night of the first Reaping. She might not have known I’d already claimed dominium over her, but that was hardly relevant.
The curious little witchling wouldn’t even know what that was, despite the knowledge her mother had instilled her with.
Kairos stepped into my space. “You needed me?” he asked, forcing me to turn my stare away from the window finally to meet his gaze.
“I have to go into town for a while today,” I said, crooking a finger and summoning him to the window. “I want you to keep a very close eye on her. For your sake, though, I do not suggest letting her know you’re watching.”
“Does she have the bones already?” he asked, his shocked expression turning toward me. We didn’t speak of them often, aside from when I’d informed my people that a Hecate witch had returned to Crystal Hollow.
“Not yet,” I said, blowing out a breath as I considered the lengths she’d been willing to go to find them. What she’d still be willing to do. “That doesn’t mean she won’t maim us both if she thinks I gave her a babysitter.”
He chuckled beneath his breath, and I had the distinct feeling he wasn’t taking me seriously enough. He’d find out soon enough if he didn’t believe me.
Willow would make a snack out of him if he underestimated her, but I didn’t think he’d doubt her abilities. Not after what he’d seen her do the day we went to collect her.
“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” Kairos asked as I watched Willow through the window once again.
It shouldn’t have infuriated me that she pressed her knife into her open wound, peeling off any dried blood that had slowed the flow. I might have healed her from the attack the night before, but I’d also fed from her.
More than I should have, if I were being honest.
“A few hours at most,” I answered.
Willow stumbled over a tree root as she dripped her blood upon the ground, her lips moving in the faintest hint of a spell as she moved. The plants behind her blossomed, fresh greenery sprouting and flowers blooming in a wave of life. She stopped, tucking her knife into the sheath she’d strapped to her thigh at some point after leaving me an hour ago. Kneeling at the side of the walkway, she held out her palm and allowed a small pool of blood to gather in it.