Peyton kept his eyes on Novo’s as he followed her instructions and flipped the lock into place. He was quite confident that the medical staff had a key to things. But with that sign on the door, and the fact that the training center was empty because Wrath had ordered everyone off rotation, privacy was a good bet.
Before he went over to her, he cut the lights so there was nothing but a glow coming from the little bathroom. In a way, he hated the dimness because the lower the illumination, the brighter the readouts on the monitors around the head of the hospital bed.
She still had two IVs in.
But she had been well enough for a shower, her damp hair once again braided, the end curling up tight. And she had eaten a little of that meal.
As he approached, she lowered the top half of the bed until it was all flat, and his heart beat faster as he realized he was actually going to lie down beside her.
“Let me just move…” She tried to rearrange the tubing that fed into her arm. “Damn it, this is ridiculous. Let’s just take it out—”
“Yeah, not going to happen. Here, let me help you.”
He ran the clear plastic lines up by the pillow so that they didn’t get pinched. And then he put down the rail, and sat on the very edge of the mattress.
As he took her hand, her skin was softer than he’d imagined. A warrior like her? Her palm should have been spiked. Still, he could recognize the tensile strength in her and feel the calluses from weight bars and rowing and fighting.
When she pulled him down, he went more than willingly, stretching out on top of the blankets that covered her.
“So are you going to kiss me or what?” she demanded.
“Yes, I am.”
He found her mouth and oh, fucking hell—his brain shorted out, all higher reasoning and rational thinking just packing their bags and leaving for someone else’s skull. Her lips were delicious and her tongue was a thrust of aggression in his mouth and her scent made him feel higher than the weed. And holy shit did things move fast, especially south of his waistband. He wanted in her so badly, he was panting and out of control already.
The one thing he was careful of? He made sure not to put too much of his weight on her healing chest. Other than that, it was sensation only, his hips rolling into her thigh, her torso arching under him, her hands clawing into his back—
“Take off your shirt,” she moaned.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He eased off of her slowly and sat back on his heels. The buttons were stubborn, his fingers were sloppy, his breathing was too hard—but she didn’t seem to care. Novo just stared up at him with ravenous eyes, her tongue tracing her upper lip, the tips of her descending fangs flashing white.
“I’m hungry,” she growled.
“Take it all.”
“Be careful. I might kill you.”
“So let me die in your arms.”
Peyton tossed his white shirt down on the floor, the loose bow tie going with it, and then he lay back down. As they tilted their bodies together, though, he got on some of her wires, and an awkward realignment had to happen—which was something he tried not to focus on. Should they even be hooking up like this?
Fuck yes, his cock announced. Shut the hell up with that.
Stop it—
“What?” she said.
“Nothing. Let me keep kissing you before I come in my pants.”
“That’s not a very threatening threat.” Her lids lowered over her burning eyes. “Because that’s what I want you to do.”
As he hissed, she stroked over his pecs and went down onto his hard stomach. When she stopped at his waistband, he gritted his teeth. “Fuck—”
“That’s the plan. Help me get these off.”
At first, he wasn’t sure he’d heard that right. But then she was tugging at his belt with her free hand—and hello, he was more than willing to be a Good Samaritan for this cause. With a rough series of tugs, he got the strip of smooth black leather through the white-gold buckle and then he was fumbling with the button and the zipper.
Her hand slipped inside as soon as she had access and the instant she touched him, he jacked forward with such force, he nearly snapped his spine.
“Watch me,” she commanded.
He groaned and looked down, seeing her palm circle his thick shaft—and then she stroked him, up and down, the sensations creating a mad rush of hot and heavy all over his body. Then she was kissing him, her mouth taking over, her braid slipping free of her shoulder and landing with a heavy thump on his arm.
“Fuck, slow down, I’m going to come—”
“What I say.”
Just as the pleasure was cresting, she went for his throat, those razor-sharp fangs scraping down his skin, finding the right place at his jugular. She struck at the very onset of his orgasm and he barked out her name, the pain and the pleasure mixing, the alchemy ramping everything up until he thought he would blow apart.
Cupping the back of her head, he urged her on as she started to pull from his vein, her head close to his own, her scent the only thing in his nose, his cock hard and kicking and hungry for more as she pumped him off.
She owned him.
Through and through.
Whatever vulnerability he had sensed—and not understood, but certainly accepted—was gone now as she ruled everything about him.
He’d never been one for getting Dom’d. That had never interested him much. After this? He wondered how much further she could go…how much he could take from her.
And he wanted to find out.
As Novo sucked at Peyton’s throat and gave his arousal a workout, she wanted him in her sex. But the feeding had to come first—and okay, maybe she was chickening out a little, shying away temporarily until she could trust herself to stay separate.
But it was good, all of it. That taste of him down the back of her throat, the feel of his erection, both velvet and hard, the sense of control, of mastery—not just over him, but her own emotions. And on his side? Peyton was defo all about the orgasms, his beautiful male body riding the waves she called from him, his hips moving with her, the rhythm getting faster and harder the more releases she gave him. He was spectacular in her grip, those heavy muscles flexing and easing, his cock the kind of thing that fantasies were justified by.
And then there was the powerful rush of his blood. He was so pure that he made her head buzz and her heart pound, the strength he gave her so willingly making her feel like she was on a very long, rejuvenating vacation while at the same time being in Vegas and winning a million dollars at the slots.
She could have done this forever.
Yet the tipping point came when an alarm bell started to ring. At first, she shifted her eyes over to the monitors. Nope, it wasn’t a machine informing her she’d pushed her repaired cardiac muscle too far.
No…it was an instinct in her own head that was telling her she was on the verge of taking too much.
Prying herself off his neck took some inner arguing, but then she forced her lips to break the seal and made her tongue lick the puncture wounds closed—
Okay, wow. She’d chewed him raw, multiple bite marks marring his flesh, the raw red slashes of her fangs making him look like Wolverine had hit him with a hand job. God, she hadn’t even been aware of striking more than once. Clearly, though, she’d bitten him many, many times.
How long had they been at this?
Not a clue.
And she really had to stop. Extending her tongue, she licked up the side of his throat again and again, sealing everything up. With that job done, she pushed herself back and kept stroking him—before deliberately running her thumb over the slick head of his erection. His response was violent, his body jerking like a puppet at the end of strings, his torso arching and then his hips punching up. His eyes, glassy, unfocused, crazed, met her own as he bit into his lower lip and sucked a breath in through his teeth.
Blond hair was all messy on the pillow. Color on that handsome face was high. A delicious sweat made his bare skin glow.
He was…mind-numbingly beautiful.
Unfair. Totally unfair.
And she was still hungry.
Fortunately for them both, he had another kind of sustenance to give her.
Novo moved down him to his hips, opened her mouth, and took his sex in deep. In response, Peyton pulled another all-body spasm, his expression shocked as if he’d expected things to be over.
When she was sure he was looking at her, she sucked him in and out of her lips, his girth so wide, she felt the stretch in the corners of her mouth. And then she paused at the top and went into a swirl.
Sure enough, he started to orgasm again.
She caught all of it her mouth and swallowed what he gave to her.
Then she kept right on going.