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know that if he tasted her,
drank from her, the feelings he had now would increase in strength
one hundred fold.

    He would lose his
mind.

    “ You can love,
Regis... you’re just too afraid of how those feelings control you,”
she said and his gaze snapped to hers. “Well they control everyone.
We’re slaves to them too.”

    His breaths shortened as
the hunger rose.

    “ Is it just
blood making you lose control?” she whispered, sinful and tempting
as the blood itself. “Or is it my blood? Is it me?”

    He frowned at her. Was it
her or her blood? He had been battling for control over himself
from their first meeting in the square. He hadn’t smelt her blood
back then. He had only smelt her perfume of Lyran
lilies.

    “ I’m not
afraid, Regis,” she said and removed his hand from her wrist.
Entranced, he stood there, watching with a sense of inevitability
as she raised her hand and the precious drop of blood towards him,
knowing he wasn’t strong enough to stop her. “Not of love or these
feelings. Not of you or your hunger.”

    She wiped her finger
across his lower lip, smearing it with the rich taste of her
blood.

    “ Tell me that
you didn’t want me before you had a taste.” Her voice was a sultry
whisper that made him realise that she didn’t know how dangerous
what she had done was. He couldn’t control himself any longer.
“Tell me that you didn’t feel something that night we spoke in the
garden.”

    He shuddered and licked
his lip. Bringing his hand up, he touched his mouth and then
brought it away. His fingers shook, paler now than they had been.
He couldn’t control himself and he wished for her sake that he
could.

    He frowned and tears
filled his eyes, hot and rebuking.

    Was this love?

    This desire to protect
her, even from himself, even when he knew that he wasn’t strong
enough?

    “ Tell me that
you didn’t want to kiss me and I will believe that you cannot love.
I will leave.”

    He stared at
her.

    “ I wanted you
the moment I saw you.” He grabbed her around the waist and crushed
her lips with a kiss so consuming it felt impossible to sate. His
tongue thrust into her mouth and hers came to meet it, tangling and
gliding against his in a way that stirred the fire in his blood. He
growled, picked her up, and continued to kiss her as he lay her
down on the bed, only half-aware of what he was doing.

    She moaned on contact with
the soft bed and he ground his teeth, closing his mouth and
struggling for control. Her hand came up to caress his cheek,
bringing the scent of her blood with it. It was too much, too
intense. It shattered what little control he had retained and sent
him over the edge.

    He poured all his hunger
and need into his kiss, claiming her mouth for his own just as he
longed to claim her blood and her body. The feel of her delicate
warm fingers stroking his cheek drove him on, luring him into
enacting all the sinful thoughts running through his mind. He
closed his eyes and fervently kissed her, his body hardening as her
tongue caught his teeth and a flood of sweetness filled his senses.
Her hands lowered to his arms as he devoured her mouth, seeking out
every molecule of blood, desperate to taste each one. Her fingers
flexed around his muscles and then held them tight as her body went
rigid and a moan escaped her. He groaned at the feel of her body
brushing his, stirring his desire until a red haze fogged his
mind.

    He needed her.

    She didn’t protest or put
up a fight as he dragged the skirt of her dress up to reveal her
legs. He broke off the kiss and stared down at their long shapely
forms, the sound of her heartbeat and her rapid breathing filling
his ears. With a growl, he grabbed her and pushed her up the bed,
so he was level with her hips. He pushed her dark blue skirt away
and ran his hands over her thighs. She shook beneath him, trembling
in a way that his body matched as he stared wide-eyed and open
mouthed at her bare legs.

    He wanted her.

    She