She didn’t fight him… He waited, his hands tightening on her until he knew it must hurt, feeling the thundering of her heart pulse against him where she was flush to his chest. But she was still, and the weight of her interest carried to him.
Gods, she was so sinfully deviant.
Bastian nuzzled against her further, and the action made a small burst of blood fill his mouth?—
And he was gone.
12
SWEET LULLABIES (LOVESTRUCK)
AZ
Thick, hot waves of fear lanced through Az as he raced below, feet slipping on the wet, wooden deck.
Ahead, Graves came to a stuttering stop before a small door in a long, windowless hall. The ship tilted to the side, wind roaring, and Az fell against the wall with a loud grumble.
"Fuck," the demon seethed, trying his best to pull himself upright, but every time he did, he staggered to the side. The ship rocked among the waves, and he could only hope Vale and Tharen led them from Lu’s storm. "I can’t see with you in the way." Az pushed Graves aside with a strong shoulder as he came up behind him.
What he saw stole his breath.
"Godsdamn you!" Az roared, shoulders brushing either side of the door as he shoved his way inside.
Crates were smashed along the floor, red blood running in rivulets amid shattered glass that crunched and tinkled under his feet as the ship rocked.
Az was undone; Lu’s fear threaded so closely with his that he wasn’t sure what was his… and what was hers.
At first glance, he thought the blood on the floor belonged to her, and rage filled him.
The godsdamned vampire had Lu against the wall, her feet barely touching the floor as he held her up, wings crushed behind her, and his head buried in her neck. Lu’s lids fluttered, hazy as they drifted open and found him and Graves standing there, speechless.
Az took one step forward. Just fucking one?—
And Graves stilled him with a raised hand. "Don’t be rough with them."
"What the fuck do you mean, don’t be rough?" the demon spat. That was his angel, the parasitic bastard was drinking from.
"Pulling him away from her will cause more harm than good. Right now, she’s all he wants," said Graves.
Az shook his head, hands clenched at his sides. "Fuck that."
In a storm of protective rage, he had one hand fisted in the back of the vampire’s shirt. Bastian hissed, jaw still clenched around Lu’s throat. Her heavy-lidded blue eyes peered up at Az, cheeks flushed with a delicate rose glow. One of her hands raised, trembling, as she placed her palm on Az’s shoulder. Her wings shivered behind her, flattened against the wall. The scent of her blood permeated the room, but Az saw none of it—the vampire drank every bit before it could escape.
"No," she whispered low, as if afraid to rouse the vampire at her throat, "let him… drink. He’s not hurting me."
"He’s not hurting youyet." Graves stepped in, still keeping his distance. "That could change before you even know it. Before you’re even aware, you could be drained to nothing, and we’d be left to fight off a vampire in the throes of bloodlust," he said, tone calm, but his jaw was clenched.
"Lu," Az said, strained, resisting the urge to yank at his hair. Fuck, he hated feeling so helpless. Graves was right. They couldn’t tear Bastian away and risk harming her in the process.
Bastian drank, the soft sucking noises and his low, pleased groans filling the room almost obscenely, making Az’s lips curl into a snarl. Lu’s head tipped back, a stuttered moan tugged from her chest as Bastian threaded his hands in the material of her cloak at her waist, his leg notched between her thighs, pressing harder, deeper.
Her lips parted, toes curling midair, and the thick fear roaring through him shifted, turning to a slow, burning pleasure that made his gut tighten.
"Oh, sweetheart," Graves rasped. "You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?"
Az wanted to fucking punch him for being able to see her like this… And the vampire, for making her lids flutter so prettily and her lips part, pink tongue flashing as she ran it over her bottom lip, teeth sinking into it to stifle a soft, feminine sound of pleasure.
"N-no," she stuttered, the word strangled.
