Chapter 23: Alkan - Fated to the Night King

Victory was sweet, but I kept my face as neutral as I could. A quick smile, only, but no gloating. I simply held out my hand and waited for her to accept the invitation.

When she did, her soft palm sliding against mine, the need to taste her again surged within me. I fought to hide that, not wanting to give her any reason to reconsider.

"What now?"

She was being brave. I could tell it in the way she was sitting close to me, hand in hand, but still searching the room for an escape route or possible weapon to defend herself with.

"Where would you prefer to drink from on me? Here?" I tipped my chin up, exposing the line of my throat, and caught the way her eyes traced the vulnerable length.  I let the silence build between us, felt her gaze roving over me, before offering her another option, turning our joined hands until the inside of my wrist was exposed. "Or here?"

Her voice held a note of shaky surprise. "You'd let me choose? Aren't you afraid I might try to kill you?"

"You are beautifully fierce, Sena, but if we are to trust each other, it needs to start now. I would give you my throat, if that's what you choose, and believe you won't seek to harm me. If you choose my wrist, I'll offer that freely."

"And what would you require of me?" She stared down at our joined hands. "Where do you want to drink from?"

There were so many possibilities that sparked in my mind at her innocent question. Wickedly wonderful options. But I didn't want to push her too quickly. She needed a chance to build her confidence, for the connection between us to grow.

"I would let you choose that as well."

Shock widens her eyes and I knew she'd expected me to press the advantage. But in this moment, the where is less important to me than the fact that she would agree to this exchange at all.

"Your wrist and my wrist." She makes the decision and I watch the way confidence returns to her bearing as she takes a deep breath.

"That's fair. But you'll have to come closer or this will be very awkward." I smile and hold my arm out as she slides a little closer. Inch by inch, the gap between us narrows until I can wrap my arm around her. When I do, it's slow and gentle. Support and comfort only, though it heightens the intimacy of the moment. She stiffens and then, when I take no other liberties, she relaxes a fraction, her body curving into my side. "I think it will be easiest if you allow me to hold you. This can be an overwhelming experience, and I'd prefer you to feel safe in this moment."

Shrewd eyes take me in. Pretty, shrewd eyes with flecks of amber radiating out from the center, like gold dusted across the deep green. It's like looking into the woods as night falls.

"You want me to feel safe?" She shakes her head as she turns the implications over in her mind. "Because this isn't the only time we'll be doing this, right?"

"True. As my Source, you're the only one I'll feed from. I'd rather your experience be pleasurable than frightening. It's better for both of us that way."

She holds my gaze for seconds, then gives a decisive nod. "Fine. You can hold me. But only for this... exchange."

I don't argue. Progress has been made and I'm happy with the steps forward.

She doesn't balk when I scoop her easily into my lap and wrap my arm around her waist. Anchoring her there, against me. I offer her my free hand once more, palm up, and she takes it in her smaller ones.

"You want me to go first?"

My fingers flex against the curve of her waist, the notch just above her hip. "A sign of trust."

"But I've never done this before." She almost looks worried, and I wish I could kiss away her concern as it twists her lips. "If I do it wrong - "

I pull her a little closer. "You won't. All you have to do is break my skin with your teeth and drink. It's that simple."

Sena looks down at my wrist, takes a deep breath and then lifts my hand up to her mouth. I watch her the whole way, even as she finally makes herself bite down against my vein. Pleasure shoots through me at the small slices of pain from her blunt teeth, then the power of our connection growing stronger as she takes her first drink of my blood. Each pull as she sucks, each swallow, my head goes hazy as I'm lost in the sheer bliss of having her mouth on me.

When she lifts her head, her eyes have a sheen to them. Lust, perhaps, but also a fire as the strength of my own magic spreads through her body.

"All right, Sena?" She nods, and her focus shifts to my lips. She curls in toward me. The softness of her breasts press against my chest and I wish I could feel her truly, skin against skin. In good time, perhaps.

She swallows and then raises her own hand up to my mouth. I take it gently, one arm banded around her waist, cradling her against me, and then set my teeth to the vein she's offering.

The gasp that escapes her when my fangs sink in surges straight through me, setting my skin alight, and passion burns me from the inside out. The taste of her is perfection, and with this exchange of blood, I can more clearly interpret the images, her memories, that flood through me.

Fingers move against my neck, and I realize that she's slipped her free hand around to the base of my skull, fingers stroking through the short hairs there. It's such an intimate gesture that I want to stay like this for a while, her blood filling my mouth as she touches me without reservation.

Two more slow, decadent pulls of my mouth against her wrist and then I make myself release her. Her breath shudders out of her when her eyes meet mine, and there's no mistaking the desire I see in her gaze. There's a reason the sharing of blood is a common activity between fated souls. It's a natural thing among my people - to share the thing we prize most with the one fate marked for you.

She's beautiful, her small body cradled against my larger one, and that protective instinct washes over me again. To hunt down those who hurt her, to make them feel the same kind of pain she did. I lock that temptation down, not wanting her to be frightened of me in this moment.

Especially when it's my blood staining her lips.

I swipe at the line of red, dragging my thumb across it and collecting the precious drops.

"We don't let blood go to waste here, sweet Sena." I hold my thumb to her mouth and she opens, understanding the intent without words. Her lips seal over the tip of my thumb, and she sucks at the digit, her tongue swiping over the tip of it, and my stomach clenches at the sensual feeling. We're only hours into this relationship and already there are things I want her to do to me with her mouth that she's not ready to hear me confess.

A small moan escapes her when I pull my thumb free and I smile. "Good girl." I brush my lips over her forehead, a ghost of a kiss only, and then I slip her off my lap. I instantly want to pull her back into my arms, so I make myself stand.

"Gus will send someone up to help you prepare for the rest of the night."

Her eyes slowly return to focus, the darkened centers slowly shrinking back to their normal size. "The rest of the night?"

"There are things I'd like you to see. Things I think you'd enjoy."

She watches me as I back away, suspicion returning, though maybe not as heavily as it was before.

"I'll allow you privacy to get ready, but please know, you'll be by my side for the whole of the night."

Her hands twine together in her lap as she tips her head to the side. Assessing, surveying, searching me for a hint.

"Don't trust me?"

I chuckle. "It's not you, my dear. I don't trust any of those out there who wish to steal what I have. And there are more of them than you know."

With that warning, I open the door to greet the young woman Gus has assigned to assist Sena. I leave them to it, closing the door securely behind me and listening for a moment to make sure the woman fate delivered to me is safe before I move away, every step making me all too aware of the distance between my heart and the woman I already feel far too much for.