“Jared,” she moaned. “How can you let her do this to me!”

“Very easily, actually. As if it’s not enough that you Turned my brother against his will, you toyed with me and betrayed me and manipulated me into letting you Turn me. Worse than all of that, not only did you put the woman I love through a serious amount of pain, you later kidnapped her and handed her over to those f**kers. Why you’re expecting any mercy is beyond me.”

Magda’s expression quickly turned cold. “Then I hope you both rot in hell.”

“But that would mean meeting you again. I’d rather not.”

Sam stepped forward at the same time as she conjured a large energy beam and began twirling it around like it was a baton. “A small part of me is going to miss you. You know how dear you are to me.” She held it up, ready to aim. “Prepare to become a believer.” And then she threw the beam, which buried itself into Magda’s stomach. She screamed and shook and writhed before eventually bursting into ashes.

I turned to Sam. “Feel better?”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Yes.” Her gaze then went to a screaming Brook, who was clearly feeling the effects of his link with Magda being severed.

“I’ll take care of this one.” Not particularly because I felt the need to put him out of his misery, but because the little bastard had played a part in taking Sam from me. That wasn’t something I could forgive. So I raised my hand and watched in satisfaction as the electricity streaming out of my fingertips made his body spasm and shake until, finally, he was ashes.

Sam exhaled heavily. “I think we both got closure, didn’t we?”

I nodded. Now that everyone who had hurt her and tried to steal her from me was dead, it was like a saddle of anxiety and fear had been lifted from my shoulders. I could breathe properly again, and suddenly the air seemed fresher. I didn’t have to worry that she would suddenly fold over in pain or lose control of her gifts or have an attack of bloodlust. It was over; my mind didn’t need to have room for anything other than how much I would enjoy claiming her tonight. “Now can we go home?”

When she nodded, I took her hand and teleported her to our apartment. Standing in our bedroom, we both gasped at the sight of the rose petals on the bed and the large bottles of champagne-flavoured NSTs on the bedside table. There was even a tray of strawberries and nibbles. Presumably, Fletcher had arranged for someone to bring them up for us.

I brushed my lips against Sam’s as I freed her hair from the pins, wanting to scrunch it in my hands. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not hungry for that kind of food.”

In answer, she fused her lips to mine. I opened for her, like I knew she wanted me to. Her tongue swept inside, stroking mine, and sending that familiar fire through us both. I shrugged off my blazer as she tackled the buttons of my shirt. Halfway through the unbuttoning, she impatiently yanked it open and whipped it off me. Raking her nails down my chest, she sucked hard on my tongue. Little witch.

Giving in to the need to take control, to take what was mine, I made the kiss my own. Quickly, it became raw, primal, and hungry. Our psychic link made it all even more intense. I felt as her heartbeat sped up, felt as her thirst level increased, felt as arousal zoomed through her. I growled into her mouth, needing her more in that moment than I ever had before.

She cried out as I suddenly freed her mouth and bit down hard at the crook of her neck. Her hand held my head in place as I drank from her, drowning in the syrupy punch to her blood. I hadn’t had the chance to take all that much, however, because I was abruptly shoved onto the bed. And shoved hard so that I was lying on the bed with only the bottom half of my legs hanging off it. Not that I found that a problem.

Kneeling above me, she leaned over and brought her mouth down hard on mine as her hands took care of my zipper. “Stay.”

Like I was going to move when I knew what was coming. Anything she ever did to me felt amazing purely because it was her, but damn she was good at this.

Keeping her eyes locked with mine, she slid down the bed until her mouth was level with my c*ck − which, of course, was standing at attention, and had been all night. Propping myself up on my elbows, I watched – totally entranced – as she ran her tongue from base to tip, licking up the drop of pre-come from the head. She retraced her path but didn’t stop at the base. Instead, her tongue continued downwards. Then she was licking and sucking on my balls, making me wait for what I wanted most…because she was a wicked minx like that.

Then she went back to licking my cock, swirling her tongue around the head and occasionally grazing it lightly with her teeth. Impatient, I bucked a little, hinting at her to stop teasing me. I thought she might ignore me since I always teased her, but apparently she was prepared to take pity on me. Tilting her head back, she sucked the surrounding energy into her mouth and exhaled a small flame of fire, heating her mouth the way I liked it. And then she swallowed half of me. Son of a bitch.

I knotted a hand in her hair. “Just like that, baby. God, I love your mouth.” Harder and harder she sucked, taking more and more of me. “That’s it, suck me deep.”

She ran her tongue along the underside each time, sometimes pausing to dance her tongue around me. It was almost frightening that she knew every little thing I liked, knew exactly what buttons to push and just where all those buttons were.

And now her mouth was fully impaled on my cock. Christ. The picture she made right there like that was too much. I was going to come and I knew it. Seemingly so did Sam, because she gently bit the head of my cock. The effect of her Sventé saliva combined with the hard suction of her mouth made me feel like my entire c*ck would explode. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, Sam.” Unable to help it, I started lifting my h*ps and f**king her mouth. Groaning, I came seconds later, loving that she swallowed every single drop.

Although it felt as though she’d wrung every bit of energy from me, I wasn’t about to lie back while I recovered. No, she deserved a reward for that.

(Sam)

I was kind of surprised to suddenly find myself on my back while Jared scooped my br**sts out of my dress. But I wasn’t about to complain. A gasp flew out of me as he latched on to one of my ni**les, sucking and tugging on it with his teeth. I ran my fingers through his hair, moaning as he pretty much tortured my br**sts, constantly switching his mouth from one to the other.

I arched into his hand as it snaked down my stomach and reached to grab the end of my dress. Still focused on my ni**les, he bunched the dress up around my upper thighs. Then he placed his hand on the inside of my knee and began skimming upwards. A millisecond later, he froze. Knowing why, I smiled. Almost instantly, he was standing upright, shoving the dress further up, and gazing down at the white stockings and suspenders. Seeing the scorching heat in his eyes, I was glad that Fletcher had talked me into wearing them.

“I have a dilemma,” he announced in a deep, throaty voice, swallowing hard.

Confused, I lifted a brow. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“Well, I want that thong out of my way, but I don’t want to take off the suspenders.” He placed his hands on the inside of my thighs and skimmed his way along the silk until he found skin. He sighed. “There’s only one thing for it. I’m going to have to tear it off.”

Before I could protest, the thong was in two pieces on the carpet. And his tongue was flicking my clit. To tell the truth, I hated this as much as I loved it. The thing with Jared was that he was a bloody expert at teasing me until I couldn’t talk, and as much as all the sensations always felt amazing, I didn’t like to wait long to have him inside me. By the almost casual way he was toying with my clit, I suspected he’d be there for a while.

I was right. It could have been over an hour later that I was still writhing on the bed, practically shaking with the need to come, as his tongue licked and marked and f**ked me. Oh that wasn’t all. He’d bit the inside of my thigh, electrocuted my g-spot, and occasionally f**ked me with his fingers. But not once had he let me come, and now I needed more than his tongue and fingers. Several times I’d attempted to shove his head away, but each attempt had been unsuccessful − he’d known in advance that I’d struggle, and he’d prepared himself for it.

“Jared, I really can’t take anymore.” Not that I hadn’t already told him this. Multiple times, in fact.

“I like tasting you.”

I pulled hard on his hair, trying once again to dislodge him. No success. “I want to be f**ked!”

“I know.”

A swirl of his tongue inside me made me gasp. That was it, I’d had enough. I literally pummelled his back with my fists. He actually laughed.

“You want to be f**ked that bad, baby?”

“Yes.” That had come out sounding almost animalistic.

He forced a long-suffering sigh. “Oh all right.” The cheeky little shit.

Finding himself abruptly on his back on the bed with me kneeling above him, he double-blinked in surprise. A wide smile spread across his face, and he looked way too smug for my liking. When I curled my hand tight around his dick, that smug smile melted away and became a look of pure heat. He grunted as I pumped him, teasing him. But although it would be satisfying to put him through similar suffering, I needed to come too badly.

Positioning myself above his cock, I began to sink down on him. I moaned at the feeling of being stretched and filled, at the familiar burn. I could feel Jared’s tension, his need, his thirst, and how he was relishing every sensation as I continued to lower myself on him. When I’d finally taken every inch, I took a second to simply enjoy and revel in that full feeling.

Jared’s eyes were smouldering when they gazed up at me, but there was also something akin to awe there. I swivelled my hips, and he groaned through his teeth.

“Shit, baby.”

I did it again, and that seemed to have been too much for him. His hands landed on my hips, and then he was slamming me down on him while repeatedly bucking his hips, punching his c*ck in and out of me. I tried prying his hands away, wanting to ride him, but he shook his head.

“You wanted to be f**ked, baby. Now you’re going to get f**ked.”

And then I was on my back again. This time, my legs were hooked over his shoulders and his upper body was curled over mine as he ruthlessly rammed in and out of me. The position meant his thrusts were deliciously deep − which was what he wanted, I could sense. He wanted to be as deep inside me as he could possibly go, wanted to come deeper inside me than he ever had before.

So close to cl**axing, I was literally clawing at his back. “Jared, I’m going to come.”

“I know, baby. Do it. I want to feel it. I want to watch you come.”

Seconds later, a devastating cl**ax crashed into me and a scream erupted from my throat. Rearing up, I bit into the crook of his neck.

“Fuck.” Holding himself deep, he exploded inside me, groaning my name. As if to ring out every bit of his come, he rocked a few times before finally lowering my legs and slumping. Still shaking with the reverberations, we tipped onto our sides.

When I could finally open my eyes, I found Jared gazing admiringly at the knot on my finger. I took his right hand and examined his matching brail-like tattoo.

Jared smiled. “Cool, isn’t it?”

I shivered when he lightly touched the knot, surprised by the small tingling sensation. “And it’ll never fade?”

“No. No matter what, it stays.”

Those words should have comforted me, shouldn’t they? I should have found the ‘no matter what’ reassuring. Instead, I found myself thinking about the downside of that.

His words were gentle. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“You’ll just tell me I’m being daft.”

“You probably are.” He merely chuckled when I slapped his arm. “No, seriously, tell me.”

Admit a fear? Not my style. But this was the person who I was Bound to, and that made things different, didn’t it? “It scares me that if you ever stopped loving me, or if you felt something for someone else, I’d literally be able to feel it.”

He looked at me as if he did, in fact, think I was daft. “Seriously, baby, how could you think that either of those things would ever happen? Is it because I don’t tell you I love you a lot? It’s not because I don’t.”

I was about to say no, but he didn’t give me a chance.

“It is that, isn’t it? Sam, I know I’m not good at giving compliments and telling you what I’m feeling and stuff, but—”

“No it’s okay,” I insisted. “You don’t have to shower me with pretty words. I don’t even like them.”

“Tough, you’re about to hear some. I’ll tell you what you are to me.” He kissed along my neck as he spoke. “You’re strong. Talented. Determined. Wilful. Gorgeous. Intelligent. Tenacious. Capable. A good friend. A good mentor. A good leader. You have the biggest heart. And you’re mine – whether you like it or not. My crazy, stubborn, homicidal bitch.”

I could tell that he meant every word, which left me totally mystified. “You really see me like that? I mean, the latter part I fully agree with. But all the other stuff…You really think that?”

He looked at me wearing an incredulous expression. “Wait a minute, I’ve just pushed past my difficulty with giving compliments, and you don’t even believe me? Oh the irony.”

“It’s not that I think you’re lying,” I chuckled. “I’m just surprised that that’s how you see me.”

“Well that’s exactly how I see you.” He brushed my lips with his. “I love every inch of you. It’s why I get angry with you when you’re hurt and I threaten to strap you to the bed – unfortunately, you like that, so the punishment isn’t a success.”