Page 34 of Hunt Me

She grinned and held his steely gray gaze as he guided her through the predictable steps of a courtly dance. Luka was devastatingly handsome. His dark hair fell like silk beyond his shoulders, framing a strong face with high cheekbones and a straight, aristocratic nose. But it was his mouth that continually enraptured her. His lips were full and indecently soft-looking—a contrast to the fangs concealed behind them. She knew firsthand what his fangs could do. Unfortunately, she had begun wondering what his lips could do as well.

“I think you reek of pure desperation.” He opened his mouth to argue when she cut him off. “Desperate to save your kingdom, desperate to move on, desperate to control yourself.” She sank her canine teeth into her bottom lip until it bled. His eyes remained glued to the blood that pebbled to the surface. “Look at you; you’re practically salivating. Go ahead. Have a taste.”

Luka swallowed around a ball in his throat. The scent of her blood burned his nose and scorched his insides, and he hadn’t had a taste yet. But the memory… the precious memory of her blood dripping on the splintered window edged him past control to a near frenzy. He couldn’t resist.

Matilda gasped softly when he took her bottom lip into his mouth with a powerful suck. He knicked her with his fangs. It was a small bite that wasn’t enough to leave her writhing on the ballroom floor but enough to make her consider the unthinkable.

“Do you want your necklace back, King Alesi?” she asked when they finally separated.

“I do,” he responded, husky voice making her leak.

“Then there’s only one thing left for you to do… hunt me.”

13

The Hunt

Luka was drunk.

He was drunk on her, and every rational thought was surrendering to raw desire.

He’d made the mistake of giving the huntress a ten-minute head start and lost her in the woods. The clever woman had cut herself, and he found her blood smeared against trees, trapping him in a maze. He needed to follow her footprints; however, the snow fell steadily, blanketing her footsteps. Without a doubt, the cat-and-mouse game between them was intriguing; however, his patience had run thin. He spread his wings and took to the sky.

“Where are you hiding, huntress?” he muttered, flying above the treetops. While he searched, he considered his intentions toward Matilda. Making her his queen was not viable; however, he could keep her as his blood mistress. He’d give her a bullshit title, such as Vampire Human Liaison, to curb suspicions. He could kill two birds with one stone—have her in his bed and quell the unrest from the rebellious humans.

Luka grinned when he caught sight of her below, zipping through the terrain with the bottom of her dress in her hands. He glided through the air and dropped to the ground nearly a hundred feet away from her. He’d lie in wait for her to cross his path, and then he’d take her.

He calmed his breathing with his back pressed against a tree and closed his eyes. The crunch of her feet against the snow rang through his ears, and electric anticipation raced through his extremities. He could still taste her on his tongue, warm and delectable, and the fiend in him was begging for more. He could hear her heart; it pumped wildly as she attempted to escape her fate. Blood rushed below, and his dick strained against his trousers, begging to be let loose.

One.

Two.

Three.

A startled scream tore from Matilda when she was tackled from behind and driven face down into the snow.

“You can scream as loud as you want. No one is coming to save you,” Luka whispered in her ear.

“I’m not the one who needs saving.”

“You are confident for a woman whose face is buried in the snow.”

“Are you done speaking? I have a hot-blooded werewolf in my bed as we speak, eager to breed me.”

Luka laughed heartily as he flipped her onto her back. He wanted to see her face when he delivered the good news.

“Beta David will not be awaiting your return,” he boasted as his fingers traced the gold links of the necklace. It was an exquisite piece that sat on an equally exquisite bosom. He leaned down to kiss the stunning ruby in the center, trailing soft kisses from the pendant to her breasts that threatened to spill out. She sighed when he dipped his tongue down the center of her squished mounds.

“H-how can you be so sure that he won’t be there?” she asked, attempting to distract herself.

“Because he bowed out.”

“He bowed out?”

“That is correct. Beta David no longer wants to challenge me for your hand. This means I am the winner by default, and I can claim you as mine, or you’ll have to challenge me. So, what will you choose, huntress? Will you give in to me, or will you continue to fight the inevitable?”

“I, Matilda Beaumont, accept your challenge, King Alesi.”