Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [698]
“I need to be alone,” he muttered, a throaty snarl of sound.
He meant that; he couldn’t be around her right now. He didn’t want to think about the brief but indelible past he’d had with her, or how swiftly his body—his weak-willed heart, as well—still responded to the mere presence of her.
He didn’t want to look at her now, as she was moving closer to him, her expression tender and caring, her hand held out as if she wanted to touch him. Something he craved in that moment with every selfish fiber of his being.
His pulse hammered hard in his veins. His mouth was wet with hunger for her, his sex going tight and heavy with desire.
Only a single pace separated her from him now. He stopped breathing as she lifted her hand up and gently placed it against his chest. “Andreas, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm—”
“Get out, Claire.” He drew in a breath that hissed through his teeth and fangs. “Now, goddamn it!”
She startled at his thunderous bark of anger, jumping back from him as though he might strike her. She blinked up at him for a long moment, her lips parted but unspeaking Then she fled the room without a word. When he was certain she was gone, Reichen drifted over to the library doors and shut them tight. He told himself he was relieved that she was gone. If she valued her well-being at all, she’d leave the house and run as far away from him as she could get.
He only prayed he’d be strong enough to resist going after her between now and sundown, when he would have a chance to go out and slake his blood thirst on someone else … anyone else but her.
CHAPTER
Six
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Lucan Thorne pressed his mouth against the warm, soft skin just behind his Breedmate’s left ear. Standing with her in the living room of their private quarters within the subterranean compound that belonged to the Order, he found it hard to let Gabrielle out of his arms. Instead, he held her, willfully neglecting his duties as the leader of the band of Breed warriors for another moment to enjoy the pleasure of feeling her close. He let his tongue play over the little crimson birthmark that hid on the tender patch of creamy flesh behind her ear, the very spot his fangs had pierced a short while ago as he and Gabrielle had made love.
“If you keep it up,” she murmured, “we’re going to be in here all night.”
He grunted, smiling as he continued to nuzzle her neck. “Not a half-bad idea. And you should know that keeping it up is never a problem when I’m around you.”
“You’re terrible, you know that?”
He caught her earlobe between his teeth and gave it a little nip. “That’s not what you said twenty minutes ago under the shower with me. Or before then, in our bed, when you had your long, beautiful thighs wrapped around my bare, bucking ass. Then you didn’t think I was so terrible. You were too busy coming and screaming my name, telling me to never stop.” He didn’t even try to conceal his masculine pride. Not that he needed to, when his arousal was definitely obvious in both the emerging of his fangs and the hard rise in his dark jeans. Beneath his gray T-shirt, he could feel his dermaglyphs pulsing in response to his desire for her. “Correct me if I’m wrong, or did you say at one point that I was a god? An amazing fucking god, was, I believe, your exact opinion.”
“Arrogant bastard,” she scoffed, but he could hear the humor in her tone.
Her soft laughter melted into an inhaled, tremulous hiss as he grazed the tips of his sharp canines down along the curve of her shoulder. He splayed one hand into her thick auburn hair and she tilted her head to give him better access to her neck, her fingernails scoring into his shoulders as his free hand delved beneath her loose knit shirt and the waistband of her yoga pants. She shivered as he trailed his mouth and tongue along the delicate line of her throat, mewled a sweet little cry as his fingers dipped into the velvety cleft of her sex. She was still wet, still hot and gloriously responsive to his touch.
“Lucan,” she gasped. “Oh, my God…my God…”
“Yeah, that’s better,” he