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His hushed whisper barely reached my ears, so he dropped down between my chair and Gina’s. We both leaned closer, though he only touched me.
“She has many gifts. It’s not wise to say her name or speak of such things where anything reflective can catch evidence for her.”
The kitchen behind us was full of brand-new, very shiny, appliances. I stared straight ahead at the windows that spilled natural light over the table. The crystal glasses holding water and juice. White china plates. A silver serving tray holding all the tea and coffee accouterments that Winston had brought as soon as I sat down.
I swallowed hard. How many times had we sat around discussing Marne Ceresa out loud without a care in the world? Stupid, really. I knew she had mirror magic. I’d been lured into thinking if the mirror she’d sent me was put away safely in salt and coffee, we’d be safe.
:Another reason to work your best magic in darkness,: Llewellyn reminded me of my mother’s words.
I nodded. “Gina, can you do a little research on this matter for me before we discuss it any further?”
“Of course,” she replied a little too loudly, very much aware of the possibilities. “Dr. Borcht is at the gate. Is it alright for her to come up for your regular checkup?”
“Sure.” I tipped my head closer to Okeanos, intending to give him a chaste kiss of thanks on the cheek. But the warm skin of his bare throat beckoned me like a deadly siren luring a ship to its destruction. His scent filled my nose, a salty wave of Deep Blue that pulled me under the tide, and I was lost.
The tender skin of his throat filled my mouth, his pulse a drum of thunder in my head. Quietly, Gina stood and moved away from the table, presumably to go meet her friend while also giving us a few moments of privacy.
After the trial he’d already endured with the cobra?—
He leaned harder against me, twisting his head side to side so my fangs scratched and teased. :Please, my queen.:
I sank my fangs deep into his jugular and locked my mouth around his throat. Blood gushed down my throat, even with my fangs still penetrating him. I didn’t even have to swallow.
He arched against me, coming so quietly Gina might not have even known if she’d still been sitting beside us. But I knew. I smelled the musk of sex mixing with his blood, and I could only think about his tentacles writhing with my coils again.
His blood didn’t carry an alpha kick, but the extra power of my venom was addictive. A brutally enticing concoction that stirred my hunger even as it satisfied me.
I could drain him dry again and again and still not get enough.
Shuddering, I pressed my tongue against the punctures to seal them, though I couldn’t release him immediately. His skin felt too good in my mouth. Velvety soft, still tasting of the sea, with a deadly punch of poison lingering just beneath the surface.
Gina called loudly from the front door, making sure I heard them approaching. “Dr. Borcht is here, Your Majesty.”
Regretfully, I pulled back from Okeanos. His pupils were blown wide and dark like tidal whirlpools, sparking with acid-green lightning. “Thank you, my Blood.”
He darted closer, swiping his tongue over my lips and chin to lick up the blood I’d dribbled. Daring to touch me, kiss me, without being so careful and reticent, which I absolutely loved. So I gave him a lingering kiss, even as he slowly stood as the humans came closer.
:My pleasure, my queen.:
10
SHARA
Having a needle in my arm wasn’t nearly as good as fangs. It didn’t hurt—but I still didn’t like it.
Even though Rik stood behind my chair, I didn’t have to see his face to know he was glowering at Dr. Mala Borcht as she slipped the vial into the black case for transport back to her lab. Not because of the small stick of the needle.
But because she took my blood when we were already rationing how much my Blood could take. She took what was his.
:Not mine,: he rumbled in my mind. :Yours.:
:I gave it to her gladly, the same as I give it to you.:
He sighed in the bond, though outwardly I didn’t hear any difference in his breathing. :She’d better not waste a single drop.:
“All done, Your Majesty.” Dr. Borcht quirked her lips, aware of my alpha’s displeasure, even though her near-weekly blood draws had been a regular occurrence for months. “How have you been feeling?”
Ever since Heliopolis, we’d been working to get my hormones regulated to calm down my periods. They’d always been extremely regular—and extremely dangerous. Which was why the monsters had always been able to find me every couple of weeks. The scent of my period blood had been a tantalizing lure no matter what I did.
