Page 55 of Plug and Drain

Probably stronger than me.

She intrigued him, and he gazed down at her in wonderment, a new desire settling into place: he didn’t want this moment to end, to be away from her. Not just yet.

There had to be more after this.

I have to see her again.

Arken crouched down so they were face to face, ignoring the whispers of the watching students. He spoke softly so only she would hear. “What are you thinking?”

She gave her head a small shake, her blank mask fading as anger flared in the depths of her green eyes.

“What is it?” he prompted, reaching to take her hand. “You can tell me.”

Susie did not pull her hand away, but she kept it limp in his hold as she lifted her chin, her jaw set. “I was thinking about what you asked before. Yes, Professor Zott scares me, but not for my sake. If I hadn’t agreed to this, it would have been some poor first-year in my place. That’s why I said I have no choice.”

The bliss that had filled Arken deserted him. It left behind the emptiness that he was accustomed to, but suddenly didn’t want to settle for. Not now that he’d had a glimpse of something more.

His mind was awakening, his thoughts laced with questions.

What the hell had just happened?

And what on earth did it mean?

Susie was the reason he’d gone to Zott’s office—but he hadn’t expected to see her there. Still, he was glad that he had, even if his insides were churning from what Zott had been about to do to her. What he’d probably already done to her in the past.

He drew a lungful of air, breathing past the nausea creeping in.

Was he really better than Zott?

As Susie knelt before him, Arken had allowed himself to think so. But what he’d mistaken for enthusiasm had been a sense of obligation on her part.

Surely, there was something more to it. Did she truly feel nothing for him when he felt so much for her?

The air between them was buzzing with tension. Yes, there was something more, something unspoken.

Something he was determined to uncover.

Suddenly, Professor Zott spoke, breaking the quiet bubble he and Susie had occupied. “Excellent, Susanna. Simply excellent. And Headmaster Arken, of course—I hope you also found her performance to be of a high standard.”

Arken tensed. He did not like another vampire commenting on Susie’s ‘performance’. That was an intimate act reserved just for the two of them, regardless of how many onlookers were present.

Zott continued, seemingly unfazed by his lack of answer as he lurched to his feet and nodded in Susie’s direction.

“Thank the headmaster, Susanna.”

“There is no need—” Arken began.

“Thank you, Headmaster,” Susie said brightly, beaming in a way that he now recognised as insincere.

Arken frowned, trying to sense her emotions. Her blood mingled in his bloodstream, and that should have made it easier, but the task was impossible; his mind was still in chaos, disorientated from the lingering rush of his orgasm.

And yet, by pure chance—or perhaps it was fate—Susie had been here in Zott’s classroom when he’d arrived.

Arken offered Susie his hand. “Let me help you up.”

She hesitated.

Suddenly, a long, drawn-out groan made everyone look over at Zott. The professor had evidently just finished the task at hand, and he wiped his hands methodically in a handkerchief before looking up.