Page 61 of Incoronate
I didn’t have a chance to acknowledge it or even blink before Dominic blurred. One second he was in front of me, the next he was behind me, moving with that impossible vampire speed that still made my stomach drop. His hand splayed across my stomach, pulling me back against his chest. I could feel every line of him pressed against my spine, his body solid and unyielding.
He leaned in, his breath cool against my ear. “Ready, love?”
I nodded woodenly, my throat too tight to speak. Swallowing hard, I tilted my head to the side, exposing the curve of my neck to him.
His mouth touched my throat first, not with teeth or even hunger, but with the press of lips and a slow, almost infuriatingly gentle kiss that made the moment tilt away from training and into something else entirely. He lingered there,as if he were memorizing me, tasting me, learning the exact point where my strength unraveled and my resolve frayed.
The soft click of his fangs descending was the only warning I got before he struck.
The pain from his bite only lasted a heartbeat before his venom flooded my system and overtook everything. Heat surged through my veins like liquid fire, turning the ache into something else entirely. Something that made my knees buckle and my fingers clutch desperately at his arm.
My eyes found Trace’s across the room. He was still standing there watching me, but his arms were at his sides now and the blue of his eyes had definitely shrunk a little. I tried to hold his gaze, to ground myself in those protective eyes, but the pleasure was building with every pull at my throat, making it harder for me to focus. Harder to even think straight.
My eyelids grew leaden as the room dipped and swayed around me.
Dominic’s arm cinched tighter around my waist, holding me upright as he continued to feed, each draw of blood sending another wave of euphoria crashing through me. My head lolled back, eyes slipping shut as I let myself drift in the haze. Higher. Further. Faster.
And then it stopped.
Dominic pulled back without warning, his fangs retracting as he licked the puncture wounds with his tongue.
I whimpered at the loss as I turned around in his arms, my hands fisting in his shirt to keep him close, to have more of that intoxicating warmth that came from his bite.
My body chased it even before I’d made the decision.
“Patience, angel,” he chided, though I could hear the amusement in his voice. “I need you awake and on your feet.”
The pleasure was still buzzing through my body, making everything feel soft and distant, but I forced my eyes to stay open. Forced myself to stand without leaning too heavily against him even as his hands stayed firm on my waist to hold me upright.
I wasn’t sure what we were waiting for until a second later when his hands came up to frame my face, tilting my head so that I had no choice but to meet his eyes. Dark, bottomless eyes that made the whole world narrow until there was nothing but his gaze holding mine, pulling me deeper.
“Look at me,” he commanded, his voice brushing over my mind like a caress. “Only me.”
The compulsion hit like a tidal wave.
Everything else fell away. The room. Trace. My own thoughts. Until there was only Dominic’s voice echoing through my skull. The instinct to obey rose up swift and powerful, circling around my will like chains.
Look at him. Only him. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists.
My body wanted to surrender. Wanted to sink into the command and let it carry me under until I was lying at the bottom of the ocean beneath it. It would be so easy. So simple. Just let go and give in to him completely…
No.
The thought came from somewhere inside me; a flicker of resistance buried under the pull of his voice. I latched onto it, desperate and clawing, even as the compulsion tightened its grip on me. My fingers dug into his forearms as I turned my focus inward, searching for the anchor bond I could feel thrumming beneath my skin like a lifeline I couldn’t quite reach.
Trace…
I tried to call out to him through the bond. Tried to pull on that connection with everything I had. But Dominic’s voice was everywhere, drowning out everything else.
“That’s it,” murmured Dominic, his eyes never leaving mine. “Feel how strong it is. How much it wants you to give in. This is what you will be up against when they come for you.”
His thumb stroked my cheek, the gesture almost tender. “Now fight it, angel. Show me how strong you are.”
I wanted to rise to the challenge. I wanted to make him proud. To prove I was stronger than this invisible force trying to drag me under.
But the compulsion was a living thing inside me, wrapping tighter around my thoughts with every passing second.Look at him. Only him. The command pulsed through me relentlessly, like a heartbeat I couldn’t outrun.
I could feel myself fracturing under the pressure. One part of me screaming to obey, to make the voice stop by giving it what it wanted. Another part fighting tooth and nail against the chains binding my will.
