Thrall of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 4) by Bella Klaus (elon musk reading list .txt) 📕

My breath came in shallow pants. He would bite me soon, and we would seal an oath in blood.

For the next several moments, he quickened his thrusts to a fast, relentless pace that kept me suspended in helpless ecstasy. He had never been so forceful, so controlling, and I slumped on that bed, helpless to do anything else but submit to the pleasure.

One of his hands travelled up my belly, over my ribcage, and to my breast. Valentine rolled my sensitive nipple between his fingers, generating sparks of pleasure that rolled my eyes to the back of my head.

Heat flared across my every nerve ending, and my entire body felt like a conduit for pleasure. Pressure built around my molten core, which spasmed and clenched around his thick length. I was so close.

“Repeat the words after me,” he said.

“In English?” The words came out in a stutter.

No matter how far gone Valentine had shoved me down the rabbit hole of debauchery, I knew better than to make an oath in a language I hadn’t fully mastered. In my current state of mind, I didn’t have the wherewithal to even deal with double-speak and wordplay in English.

“I, Hemera Griffin,” he said with a bite in his voice.

My heart would have sunk if he hadn’t been pummeling me so hard, driving me to a boiling frenzy. Part of me had hoped he would recite the blood vow with my nickname. I repeated after him through clenched teeth.

“Do promise to obey the direct orders of Valentinus Sargon de Akkadian,” he said.

Triumph flared through my chest, and the muscles of my core quivered. He hadn’t used his title. I pushed back against his thrusts, saying the words after him with double enthusiasm.

“I will follow his directions without subterfuge or complaint, and work for the glory of his master.” He released my nipple and slid his hand back down toward my belly.

As his finger circled my clit, I cried out, the words spilling from my lips. Valentine’s true master was his soul, not Kresnik, and I was happy to repeat the vow. Besides, under such exquisite duress, it was impossible to refuse.

He continued those fast, long strokes. “I commit to these vows in blood and in semen and in thrall—”

My head snapped up. “What?”

“Repeat after me,” he snarled.

I said the words through trembling lips, curling my fingers into the mattress. Would this backfire on me since I had no intention of following his orders if they contradicted those of my soulmate?

Valentine’s satisfied snarl resounded against my back, and he plunged his fangs into my neck. A burst of pleasure erupted from my core, releasing wave after wave of spasming ecstasy and heat.

I convulsed, clamped, cried out as Valentine continued to slide in and out of my core, lengthening my climax until I slumped on the mattress, wrung out like a rag. As he roared out his climax, filling me with spurts of warm fluid, I drifted into a rapture-induced haze.

The final thought that struck me as I lost consciousness was the effect his thrall would have on the vow.

Chapter Fifteen

I was back to floating on a sea of clouds, except this time, within a whistling wind that swirled around my senses like a gnat. I curled my toes, feeling the mattress yield beneath my feet. Either Valentine hadn’t given me so much thrall this time or I’d built up an immunity to it after being bitten so many times.

Bright light seeped through my closed eyelids, pulling me out of sleep, and the wind turned into a voice.

“Miss Griffin,” the voice said.

I cracked open an eye to find the room empty without a single dust mote in sight. Sunlight streamed in through the tall windows on the left, making the curtains of the four-poster bed shine like spun gold. On the right, a fire continued to crackle in the hearth, filling the room with a faint scent of pine.

The other side of the bed lay untouched, and there was no furry presence curled up by my feet. Had Valentine forgotten to let Macavity in after his hunt? What if he’d gotten himself captured? I shook off those thoughts. In his Bengal form, he was small enough to hide his presence. Macavity would be alright.

Silence fell across the room, but a faint crackle of demonic magic danced on the periphery of my senses. I raised myself up to my elbows and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. This had to be Hades.

“Show yourself,” I said.

Wisps of white smoke emerged from behind the footboard, making me pull the covers up to my collarbones.

“Modest all of a sudden?” he said in a deep voice filled with amusement. “From the sounds you were making earlier, you’re no shrinking violet.”

I pursed my lips, glowering at the ash cloud, which had fashioned himself into a column. There were a hundred things he could be doing within an enemy stronghold, such as gathering information on defenses, plots to overthrow the Supernatural Council, magical and mystical weapons. Why had he chosen to spy on Valentine and me?

“How much did you see of last night?” I snarled from between clenched teeth.

“Enough to know that you outsmarted King Valentine.” Hades chuckled. “My, my, what a virginal femme fatale.”

“I’m not a virgin.”

“Technicalities,” he drawled. “Although there is one hole King Valentine has yet to breach.”

Heat burned my cheeks, and I pulled the covers closer around my body. Valentine and I had never, ever discussed anal sex. He’d never even penetrated me there with a finger. This wretched creature standing in front of me was just trying to throw me off balance so he could trick me into reuniting his body without getting anything in return.

Taking in a deep breath and forcing all the warmth out of my face, I soothed out my expression and glowered at the space where he’d fashioned a pair of eyes out of dust. “Are