"Beautiful," he breathed, stepping back to admire his work. "You have no idea how long I've imagined this. You, bound and helpless. Completely at my mercy."
My heart was pounding. My breath was coming fast. And between my legs, I was already soaking, the ache building with every word he spoke.
He took his time undressing me.
Not roughly, like Lucien. Not reverently, like Azrael. Butdeliberately—each button of my shirt slipped free with agonizing slowness, each inch of exposed skin kissed and worshipped before he moved on. His lips were cool against my heated flesh, leaving trails of fire and ice in their wake. By the time my shirt fell away completely, I was trembling, my nipples hard and aching for his touch.
He obliged, taking one into his mouth and sucking gently while his hand cupped the other. I cried out, my back arching, the ladder creaking beneath my weight. He switched sides, giving each breast the same devoted attention, until I was writhing against my bonds and begging for more.
"Patience," he murmured against my skin. "We have all night."
He continued his slow descent—kissing down my stomach, tracing the curve of my waist, dipping his tongue into my navel until I gasped. When he reached the waistband of my leggings, he hooked his fingers into the fabric and drew them down inch by excruciating inch, pressing kisses to each new patch of exposed skin. My thighs. My knees. My calves. By the time I was completely bare before him, I was shaking with need, my core aching and empty and desperate to be filled.
"Please," I whispered. "Darius, please—"
"Not yet." He rose to his feet, his silver eyes sweeping over my exposed body with possessive satisfaction. "There's one more thing I need to do first."
He knelt before me, his face level with my hips. His hands gripped my thighs, spreading them slightly, and I felt the cool brush of his breath against my most sensitive flesh. I was soaked—I could smell my own arousal thick in the air, could feel it slicking my inner thighs—and he inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering closed.
"You smell like heaven," he murmured. "Like fire and desire and everything I've denied myself for centuries."
His fangs lengthened—I watched it happen, the sharp points extending from his upper jaw, gleaming white in the candlelight. My breath caught, a thrill of fear and anticipation racing through me.
"I'm going to taste you," he said, his voice rough with hunger. "Just a drop. Just enough to feel you inside me. And then—" His silver eyes met mine, blazing with intensity. "Then I'm going to make you mine."
He pressed his lips to my inner thigh—the opposite side from Azrael's mark, I noticed distantly—and I felt the sharp sting of his fangs piercing my skin. It wasn't painful, not really. Just a brief flash of heat, and then—
Oh.
The vampire venom hit my bloodstream like liquid fire. It spread through my veins in a rushing wave, igniting every nerve ending, amplifying every sensation until I could feel the air itself caressing my skin. My head fell back, a moan tearing from my throat, and I felt myself grow wetter, hotter,needierthan I'd ever been in my life.
"You taste like fire," Darius breathed against my thigh, his tongue lapping at the small wound. "Like passion and chaos and everything I've been missing. You taste likemine."
He rose to his feet, and I saw that he'd freed himself from his trousers—his cock hard and thick and perfect, the head glistening with arousal. He positioned himself between my spread thighs, the tip pressing against my entrance, and I whimpered with desperate need.
"Look at me," he commanded.
I forced my eyes open, meeting his silver gaze. The vampire venom still pulsed through my veins, making everything feel heightened, intensified. I could see every fleck ofsilver in his irises. Could smell the ancient, intoxicating scent of him. Could feel the heat of his body, the thrum of his power, the weight of his desire.
"You belong to me," he said, his voice low and rough. "Say it. Say you belong to me, and I'll give you everything."
I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come. Not because I didn't believe them—I did, with every fiber of my being—but because some stubborn, defiant part of me refused to surrender so easily. I was Lizzie Saltz. I didn't belong to anyone. Ichoseto be theirs.
"I—" My voice broke. "I choose you. All of you. That's not the same as belonging—"
He thrust into me in one smooth motion, burying himself to the hilt.
I screamed. The stretch was intense—he was thick and long and perfect—and the vampire venom made every inch of him feel like electricity against my inner walls. He didn't move, just stayed buried deep inside me, his forehead pressed to mine, his breath ragged.
"Say it," he repeated, his voice strained. "Say you belong to me."
He began to move—slow, deep thrusts that rubbed against every sensitive spot inside me. I was climbing, rising toward a peak that promised to shatter me completely, but every time I got close, he would slow down, change the angle, deny me the release I craved.
"Say it," he growled, his rhythm becoming punishing. "Say the words, Lizzie. Give me this."
I was sobbing now, tears streaming down my cheeks, my body trembling on the edge of an orgasm that hovered just out of reach. The vampire venom made everything feel magnified—every thrust, every brush of his skin against mine, everydesperate sound he made. I needed to come. I needed it more than I'd ever needed anything.
"I belong to you," I gasped, the words torn from somewhere deep inside me. "I belong to you, Darius. I'm yours. All yours."
