Chapter 6

My stomach churned. Not from hunger, but from the kind of fullness that hurts. 

I twist to the side, only to wrench myself away when a searing heat burns the side of my face, retreating back to the darkness. 

My limbs felt heavy, mouth sticky with heat and iron. I flutter my eyes open, blinking against the rocky walls looking like it's tilting, spinning gently like a lullaby gone wrong. My heart's beating wrong. The way it slows, and slows, until it's completely gone.

Am I dead?

The haze was lifting, piece by piece, as I blinked hard. Chest rising and falling like I'm remembering how to breathe again.

But it wasn't until I saw something, no someone, that I screamed. 

A hand clamped down on my mouth, pressing hard to muffle my voice. It smelled of blood. 

"Keep quiet," he bit out. 

Why am I in a cave?

I shut my eyes, then open them again just to check if I was dreaming. Nope. Not dreaming. 

Bodies of dead soldiers littered the small cave like death had stormed through and left no one standing. Some floated in the shallow water, their terrified eyes still wide open. Pale as death, as if they're basking in the sun. All bore two distinct puncture wounds on their necks.

Others were draped in the shadows, slumped against the cave walls and rocks in unnatural positions. All of them wore the same black uniforms, the one I knew belonged to the hunters.

He pulls me back, deeper into the darkness like he's afraid I might lash out again. 

"If I let you go, will you promise not to scream?" he whispered harshly against my ear, his voice a strange mix of gravel and silk. 

I nod quickly. 

"They were going to kill us both," he said slowly, deliberately. "We had to do this to survive."

"They forced our hands," he added. 

"I'm going to let you go now," he warned. 

The moment he did, I dropped to my hands and knees, scrambling to the water's edge and retched violently. The roar of the waterfall swallowing my cries as I emptied my stomach, filled with nothing but blood. 

A few pumps later, I sink back, dejected, watching the blood, their blood, drift through the water, staining the lush bluish green with streaks of red. 

"Are you okay?" he asked softly from behind. 

That's it, I can't take this anymore.

I spun around, grabbed his throat and slammed him against the rock, my hand tightening around his neck. His red eyes blazed with heat under my grip, but he made no move to fight it.

"What have you done to me?" I cried, tears streaming down my face.

No remorse. No guilt. Nothing but pride shines from his eyes. 

"I've made you better," he said softly. "Stronger, more powerful. You'll never be looked down again."

"No, no," I cried, shaking my head. "I don't want this, I never asked for this."

"Would you rather be human? To never feel this powerful? I've seen the way treat you. You deserve better."

I cried, even though he's right. I've never felt more powerful than this. But it still doesn't take away the fact that this is not right. He's not even fighting me. He just lets me have this.

"I've only got a pack left, Rosie," he reminded me. "What do you think will happen if we let them live?"

He grabbed my face with both hands, his fingers still stained with blood as he gently wiped my tears with his thumb. So tenderly, I drifted to his lips, the blood smeared across his skin, trailing all the way down to his neck.

I couldn't help but feel hypnotized. He looks even more enticing this way.

"Take what you need, Rosie Posie," he whispered, pulling me close. 

"Use me all you need. I'm all yours to take." 

My lower lip trembled. I wanted him. God, I wanted him so much, but I don't. This is so wrong.

"You said this was a mistake," I said, more to remind myself than him. 

"I changed my mind," he murmured. "I was wrong."

"I was a virgin," I confessed, our noses touching. 

"I figured," he replied softly against my lips, like it's a secret between us. "I'm sorry."

That was all it took before I kissed him. Our lips meeting together in a violent, desperate collision, our blood melding together between us with its warm, sweet scent that makes this all feels even more raw and intimate. 

We clung to each other like lifelines, our mouths moving with feverish need, crashing together again and again as if trying to drown out everything else. The pain, the fear, and most of all, the guilt. 

He hands gripped my waist, trembling with need while my grip softened around his neck, pulling him closer, deeper. It was messy and wrong, with the way their blood smeared across our bodies like a stain we couldn't wash away. But I didn't care anymore. In that moment, it was the only thing that made sense. 

I want him. That much is clear. 

I press him harder against the rock, pulling away from his lips and drop down on my knees. 

"Rosie, you don't have to..."

He trailed off the moment I unzip his pants and pull out his dick. He's already hard and thick with need, dripping with pre-cum on his tip. 

"I want to," I breathed, pulling him inside my mouth. 

He groaned as I licked his tip, tasting his salty pre-cum before I swallow. His hand drifts to the back of my head, rocking his hips while I sucked, taking all his length down my throat. 

"Yeah, just like that..." he rasped, his accent thick.

I grinned, sucking harder.

"Fuck, Rosie..." he uttered through gritted teeth, as I gripped his dick and started pumping.

My hips moved against the ground while he fucked my mouth with more intensity. Never thought I'd enjoy this. I didn't think I would ever get to this. 

He didn't waste any time before lifting me up, kissing me, and positioning me against the rock, his hand fumbling with my pants and lining his dick up my entrance.

We paused, taking each other in. 

We were covered in blood from the face down. It was like someone had dumped us into a pool of blood. I saw the way my eyes glowed, reflected from his eyes. It made us look like we've stepped out of a horror film. 

He didn't have to say anything. 

But I know he wants me to make the move.

And so I did, my hand grabbing his lower back and pull him into me. 

A groan escaped him after he was fully sheathed inside me, head falling onto my shoulders as he sniffed my bloody neck. I can tell he's tempted to reopen that wound, I can feel his fangs poking my neck, but instead of plunging in, he licked it. 

"You're mine now," he said, panting against my ear as I moaned, pumping in and out of me in hurried thrusts, thick with possession.

"You're bound to me," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"And I will destroy anyone who touches what's mine."