Page 159 of Devoted

“Unless…” I looked up at my brother, staring down at the two of us with the strangest expression. Not jealousy, as I would have expected, but something softer.

“No, you take care of her,” Dante murmured, crossing to the bed and making himself comfortable so he could watch us. “It’s you she needs right now.”

I seriously doubted that, but I took my time, drizzling shampoo into those dark locks, scrubbing her scalp gently with my fingers, then harder when her mouth fell open, the tips of her fangs barely showing.

“You need to feed,” I murmured, rinsing the frothy suds out of her hair, watching them slide down the slim column of her throat and chest, pooling between her breasts, where the water met skin. “You’re going to feed from me, then you’ll sleep all night with my arms wrapped around you. I won’t let you go, and I’ll keep you safe, bella. I’ll always keep you safe.”

“I know you will, Gabriel.” Her lips curved into a quiet smile. “Because that’s what you do. Protect me.”

Gods, how my soul caught fire on those words, even if they weren’t entirely true.

Every jaded piece of me breathed for this female, my calcified heart beat for her, and there was nothing that would stop me from fighting for her. Emberline was the center of my universe. Everything spun around her—my plans, my revenge, my very existence—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Because of her, for the first time in my life, I felt real purpose.

“Come on, let me dry you off and let’s get you in bed.” I lifted her to her feet, bubbles and water streaming down her pert breasts, her flat stomach, and that ass I couldn’t get enough of, firm and muscled from years of training. She was utter perfection. After I dried her off, I tucked the towel around her and carried her over to the bed.

“I can walk, you know,” she teased in a low voice.

“Not tonight, bella. Tonight, you get treated like a queen.” Fuck, I’d carry her everywhere if she’d let me, just to feel her body pressed against mine, just to feel her fingers dig into the back of my neck as though she couldn’t let go.

I laid her down beside Dante, then went back to the tub, stripped, and washed off the blood and sweat and dirt perfunctorily. When I stood back up, reaching for a towel, I found her hungering gaze on me, cheeks flushed, lips parted with need.

And when I stalked back to the bed, I didn’t bother with the towel at all.

All I needed were her eyes, shining like beacons, her tongue flicking out to wet her pink lips. My cock throbbed as I dropped down on the bed beside her and pulled her back into my arms, regretting I’d wrapped her in that towel, because right now, her bare skin would feel amazing against mine.

“You need to feed.” I tugged her to my throat, carefully arranging her alongside my body so every part of us touched, and her lips hovered over my vein. “Take as much as you want,” I cupped the back of her head and cradled her closer. “In fact, just take it all.”

Dante lay on his side, head braced on one hand, watching us with an intensity that told me he was using every ounce of his willpower not to pounce on his wife. That he was giving Emberline and me this—time to heal ourselves, to bury the horrors of today under layers of kisses and pleasure and the simple joy of being together.

I’d never pictured myself as a romantic, but right now, I wished I could lay her on a bed of rose petals, drape her in diamonds, or sit her on a throne of pure gold. And still, that wouldn’t be nearly enough. Emberline deserved so much more.

Someday, when I was Don, I would lay the entire world at her feet.

Her tongue lazily traced up and down my pulsing vein, sending ripples of electric shocks through me, straight to my cock. I rolled my hips forward, trapping the fucker between me and the bed; tonight was for Emberline. Not for me.

Not that the bastard listened, throbbing like a motherfucker.

Her fangs sank in, a slow, steady invasion, and my eyes rolled back in my head at the sensations flooding my body.

Having her teeth in me was like being claimed, along with that deep, satisfied moan against my skin when she took her first swallow. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck, holding me still as she fed, hips shifting as her body moved against me, searching out friction.

“Do you need more, bella?” I slid my hand up her thigh, pausing to give her time to refuse.

She tided forward, tongue lashing across the bite, desperate little sounds vibrating against my skin.

“I’ve got you, Ember, hang on.” Slipping my hand between her legs, I found her wet core, so slippery, my fingers pushed deep into her with no resistance. I curled them against the sensitive spot in front of her cunt and worked them in and out until she was grinding against my hand for more. And I was going to give her everything she wanted.

“That’s it, just relax, let me make you feel good.”

Emberline felt like heaven, fangs in my neck and her cum soaking my fingers, made from pure liquid fire, too wild for me to ever fully control, too beautiful for me to ever deserve.

Yet here she was. In my arms, drinking from me, and I was going to make her climax hard enough to see fucking stars.

I added another finger, then pressed my thumb against her clit, as I slowly worked my fingers in and out while rubbing my thumb in slow circles over her hardened nub. Her hips rocked into my touch, faster and faster, and I increased the pace, loving the way she moaned into my throat, fingernails digging into the back of my neck and my chest, deep enough to draw blood.

Emberline licked the bite on my throat closed, then pressed a long, lingering kiss over the spot. Gods. I wanted her at my throat forever, wanted her to be mine forever.