THIRST (The Elite Book 3) by Hanleigh Bradley (read the beginning after the end novel .txt) 📕

completely ridiculous. I’m standing naked, talking to a human about turning her into one of my kind. It’s not really something one usually discusses. Humans don’t get to have an opinion on their fate.

But Farah does. Somewhere along the line, I started giving a shit about her opinion and I can’t pinpoint when exactly that changed. I lift a hand to her cheek, gazing at her in wonder. I can’t wrap my head around this.

“What now then?”

“Now?” I ask, my fingers dip to her collarbone, drawing lazily along her skin. She’s exquisitely soft. There are things we need to discuss, but not now, not when all I want is to forget all the bullshit and just enjoy her. “Now, I’m going to show you all the way you’re mine.”

I back her against the bed, pulling the sheet away from her body and then reach down, my hand on the inside of her thigh. She trembles at the touch.

Lowering her to the bed, I can’t help but ask her, “Do you want me to change you?”

I’ve always prided myself on being decisive, knowing my own mind. But with Farah, I’ve not been able to make a single damn decision. Except Scotland. That was one decision I actually made. I said no to Scotland. That fact brings a small smile to my face. At least I haven’t completely lost my mind. I’m still capable of making choices.

But I’m not the only one that’s been indecisive. She doesn’t know what she wants any more than I do.

“I don’t know.”

“I won’t do it,” I tell her. “I won’t do it until you want it.”

“I might never.”

Her words hurt me. It’s strange that an insignificant human can hurt me at all. I open my mouth to respond, even though I don’t know what I’m going to say to her, all the while my fingers are touching her. I allow them to circle her little nub, trying to buy myself time to think. I need time to process why it matters so much that she might never want to be changed.

“I-I might never want that,” she says, her hands on my face, trying to force me to meet her eye. Silly fool, I was watching her the whole damn time. “But I want you.”

Her lips crash against mine. The kiss is fervent, all bloody consuming, but she pulls away far too quickly.

“I want you. Just you. I don’t want this life. I don’t want to be a vampire. I don’t want this damn house. I want none of it. I just want you.”

Farah

I don’t know why I’m telling him this. Surely, he already knows how I feel about him. I’ve told him I love him. And he didn’t say it back. I’ve made how I feel pretty damn clear. But I don’t think he understands.

I’m never going to ask him to make me like him. I’m never going to ask for eternal life. If he gives me those things, it will be a means to an end. A means to being with him.

He pulls his hand away just as I feel myself growing frenzied. I whimper against his mouth at the loss.

“You want me?” he asks.

“Just you.”

“Then you’ll have me,” he growls, thrusting into me in one uncompromising motion. He fills me so completely that for a second I can’t think straight, my legs dangling off the end of the bed as he stands between them.

Everette is power itself like this. Completely in charge. This house is his castle and I am his queen. Or at least that’s how he makes me feel. Like I’m someone he wants to worship, not the inconsequential human he says I am.

“Everette!” I groan, reaching up for him so I can pull him down over me. I need his body cold and hard against mine.

“Mine,” he murmurs in my ear as he moves with fluidity. It’s just a flick of his hips, and yet the power behind it drives him into me, making me want to scream.

“Yours,” I manage to get out between gasps for air.

He’s less controlled than before, and I love that I can do this to him. His eyes are swirling violet as he gives me what must be the hungriest look I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t ask for permission before sinking his teeth into my breast.

“Everette!” I cling to the back of his head, holding him there as he sucks. I feel the blood depart my body and I tighten my grip around him. Arms and legs wrapping around him, claiming him as my own. The euphoria his venom offers me makes me as good as delirious and I can hear myself speaking, whispering things in his ear.

I don’t know what I’m saying, mindless little things, but whatever it is, it drives him on as he drinks deeply.

It doesn’t take long for my body to grow weak and if I had any sense, I’d warn him, tell him to stop, but I don’t. I don’t want him to stop. I want to be the one to quench his thirst. I want my blood to sooth his need for blood. My eyes shutter and I feel myself fall back against the mattress. The world is dark and empty except for him. I can still feel his body against mine. His weight, that is all that’s left.

Everette…

CHAPTER NINE

Everette

Gently, I lap my tongue against the wound, watching it heal. Farah is sleeping now. That wasn’t the plan. I’d planned to fuck her into oblivion, not drink her almost dry. Damn it.

I’m still hard as I pull out of her. That didn’t go to plan at all. Frustrated, I settle back on the bed next to her and cover us with the sheets. She’s colder than I’d like, so I wrap the sheets