Okay, then, I thought. I’ll just sit here on his lap while he tells me how to suck on him. Not awkward at all.
I took a deep breath and leaned in, angling for his throat. I was sitting sideways on his lap, and he steadied me with an arm around my back. It always shocked me a little how cool he was, and when I gripped his shoulder to maneuver myself, I was surprised how hard his muscles were. He might be slender, but he had plenty of strength hidden inside him.
My heart racing, I pressed in against his neck and hesitated. He had no scent at all, though I could smell the faint smell of the detergent he’d used to wash his shirt. Refocusing, I rested my teeth against his cold skin, trying not to put too much of my lips on him. Viktor’s free hand came up to the back of my head, cradling it and adjusting the angle of my mouth against him. “There,” he murmured, an edge of roughness to his smooth voice.
I pressed a little harder. I felt Viktor stiffen just as I broke the skin. The next second, the taste of blood invaded my mouth. It washed over my tongue, and I was surprised to find it tasted nearly the same as human blood, though it didn’t have the insanity-inducing quality that made me want to swallow him whole that human blood possessed. Still, I pressed harder, sucking to get more. Viktor’s hand tightened on the back of my head, his fingers curling to grip my hair, but he didn’t stop me.
He cradled me closer, drawing my body firmly against his as his blood invaded my senses. I sighed with pleasure, taking a long, slow suck. A buzzing, soaring high began to charge my veins, unlike anything I’d felt before. He was right. This was better than human blood. I began to suck more greedily, energy spreading through my body in waves that made my head spin.
Viktor’s breath came faster, and I could feel my own panting gasps against his throat with each suck. My whole body was alive, more alive than it had ever been. Tingling electricity raced through every inch of my body, building in my core with an aching, throbbing need. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing myself closer, but it wasn’t close enough. I needed more.
He was right. Vampire blood wasn’t food. It was a drug. I was drinking sunshine, and silvery dew on the grass on a moonlit night, and victory, and the moment at the top of a rollercoaster where you start to plummet and your whole body is nothing but euphoric, helpless, terrifying life.
“Timberlyn,” Viktor’s voice rasped, breaking my trance. I didn’t know how long I’d been eating, but I was suddenly aware that it had been a while.
“Shit,” I gasped, yanking back and covering my mouth. I was probably drooling on myself. It was like drinking heroin, for fuck’s sake. I felt like I could fly. When I’d been lost in bloodlust, there’d been something frantic and ugly in the need for more. This wasn’t the same frenzied, gluttonous bingeing, but it was more sinister somehow, more addictive. I felt recklessly, dangerously invincible.
“Give a little suck, and then press your tongue against the punctures to heal them.”
I wasn’t sure I could stop at one little suck, but I tried not to make it too long. As my warm tongue pressed to his cold skin, I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Viktor’s hand was squeezing my hip almost painfully, reminding me to keep it brief. I pulled back, my face hot, avoiding his gaze as my thoughts raced.
“I need some of that back,” Viktor said, his voice low and husky. And for one terrible second, I didn’t want to give it back. My instinct was to hoard this new power, as if it belonged to me. But it didn’t. It was Viktor’s blood, and he’d shared it with me out of kindness and concern for the human population as well as my mental wellbeing.
“Of course,” I said, hoping he couldn’t read the look in my eyes, see the selfish desire to keep what had been only a loan. I knew better, anyway. He’d warned me what could happen. Not that I thought he’d try to control me, but I didn’t like anyone even having the option. And I wouldn’t think about the other risk—the pain I’d feel when he died.
Viktor lifted me and turned me to face him, so I was straddling his lap. I was about to protest, but before I could, he wrapped his arm around my hips and slid me forward until my body was flush against his. A gasp of surprise escaped my lips. I wasn’t used to my shy friend being so forward and forceful. He wrapped his free hand around my hair, whisking it off my neck with one motion and tugging until I dropped my head back. His teeth sank into me without preamble, and I tensed, remembering the vampires biting me last time.
Viktor held me tightly against him, and after a second, I relaxed. The pain vanished almost instantly, replaced with a fluttering heat when I felt his tongue and lips massaging my skin as he sucked. He drew in a deep breath and let out a soft moan of pleasure, and a flash of self-consciousness went through me. I was sitting astride his hips, and I could feel
