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

Amusement glimmered in his eyes. It was a surprise that he was exercising so much self-control, but then my most concentrated experience of predators was with cats. In all the time I’d been friends with Macavity, I’d never once seen him eat any of the mice or birds he’d caught.

Maybe Valentine wanted to play with me for a bit before pinning me down and taking my blood. That wasn’t going to happen. He was stronger, faster, and determined as hell. At this level of his hunger, the only advantage I had over him was the ability to think.

“Alright.” Still holding Valentine’s gaze, I slid my hands down his body and lowered myself onto my knees.

I swear the corners of his lips curled into a smile. He’d better not be getting any ideas. With a suppressed shudder, I fumbled behind me and managed to ease the refrigerator door open. Frigid air fanned against my skin, feeling nearly as cold as Valentine’s body. Reaching into the appliance’s depths, I slid my fingers over something plastic and plucked out a pack.

“Here.” I glanced at the packet before holding it up. “O negative. I’ve heard it’s the choice of all discerning vampires these days.”

His gaze flickered from the blood pack to my eyes.

“You want me to open it?” I asked.

He nodded.

The tight band of panic that had squeezed my lungs loosened, allowing me to exhale. But it was too early to feel relief. I rose to my feet, my ass shutting the refrigerator door, and stared at the pack. Two tubes protruded from its bottom, looking like they were meant to be connected to an intravenous drip. I pulled at them, but they held fast.

“Ummm.” My gaze drifted up to meet Valentine’s eyes. “Can I borrow a fang?”

His eyelids lowered into a slow blink, which in cat language meant either affection or trust. In a hungry vampire, it could mean anything.

I held the blood pack to his lips, letting him pierce through its plastic with the tip of his incisor. As soon as the blood spilled from the pack, Valentine’s eyes left mine.

Relief loosened my muscles and I reeled forward, nearly falling into the vampire draining that blood faster than humanly possible. I drew in a calming breath through my nose and returned to the refrigerator to extract a handful of packets.

My fingers trembled over the piles of blood, and I forced myself not to think about which hospital had just been deprived. Each pack contained a unit of blood, which was about five hundred milliliters or a pint. As the human body contained on average five and a half liters, it would take Valentine eleven to regain his ability to speak and to stop looking so deathly. Double the amount if I wanted him to return to being himself.

As soon as that first pack drifted to the wooden floor, I held up another and another and another, watching Valentine consume more and more until he growled loud enough to make me tremble.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” he snarled.

My eyes bulged. I clutched the extra blood packs to my chest and backed toward the drinks cabinet. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s not going to work.” Valentine grabbed my arm, letting the blood packs fall to the floor with several splats.

“Hey,” I snapped. “That’s a waste of—”

“I will eat them later,” he said with a smile that reached his eyes but radiated absolutely no warmth. “But first, I will eat you.”

Every muscle in my body stiffened. My gaze darted to the closed door, which now seemed an entire lifetime away. Why didn’t I try sneaking out when he was busy drinking the blood? Now that his brain was working, he was impossible to distract.

Half-full Valentine was even more feral than his near-dead counterpart. I couldn’t reason with him, couldn’t bargain with him, couldn’t make him change his mind.

Valentine scooped me into his arms and stared down at me with glittering eyes that made all the blood drain from my face. “You’re mine.”

“Valentine…” I placed a hand on his chest. “Please don’t—”

“Silence.” The command in his voice had a bite of magic.

I clamped my mouth shut. This was the same version of Valentine that liked to punish me for my transgressions. The same version of Valentine who had tried to lock me in the penthouse for my own safety. Even if I wanted to fight against his magic, arguing with him would only backfire.

He crossed the room, staring down at me as though he would take everything I believed was mine and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop him. When we reached the bed, he deposited me on the mattress and stared down at me through darkened eyes.

“Remove your clothes,” he drawled.

I curled my hands into fists. “You just broke free from the Supernatural Council. Kresnik has risen from the dead. Lamia is under lockdown, and the vampires have to pay taxes. Don’t you think we should discuss—”

“Now.” The command in his voice made my heart flip.

My gaze travelled from his glowing eyes, over the black enforcer uniform that was still embedded with dust from his fight with the Demon King, and settled on the erection straining against his pants.

A different thrill rippled through my insides, and the pulse between my legs quickened.

“If you insist…” I shouldered off the reaper’s cloak, exposing the thin gown I’d borrowed after turning into the phoenix had burned my clothes. My gaze wandered back up his body as I waited for his next instructions.

Valentine’s eyes lingered on my tightened nipples, and he drifted forward, drinking the rest of me in with ravenous eyes.

The fullness had returned to his flesh, which was still paler than usual but had lost that deathly gray pallor. His cupid-bow lips had returned to their usual roundness, setting me at ease.

“What next?” I asked.

Valentine’s lips pulled into a wicked smile that made my heart flip. “You’re drawing this out,” he said in a voice he used to chastise servants.