A Taste for Blood (6 page)

I did my best not to laugh when Zee rubbed Kassy’s shoulders as if to make her point. “She isn’t used to having this kind of control.”

“So control her.” Zee’s eyes lit up. “That is one of your better skills, you know? Controlling women.”

I sighed and joined them on the bed, keeping to the side farthest from Zee. “Kassy, relax. Zee knows what she’s doing, and if I feel you’re going too far, I’ll stop you.”

Kassy nodded, albeit with a little less enthusiasm than I’d like. Then again, if I had to choose, I’d take shy and hesitant over ravenous any day. At least with Kassy I’d still have some say over what she did.

But can the same be said for me?

I bit my tongue.

Taking the chain from Kassy’s collar in my hand, I let it hang between us. Zee pulled the robe farther away from her neck so Kassy could see the faint bite marks other vampires had left behind. The marks were dull and barely visible. As often as Zee entertained our kind, the scars were permanent.

Kassy rubbed her own neck as if to remember the bite I’d given her last evening. I squeezed her hand.

“I know you’re hungry,” I said, stroking her hair. “What’s stopping you?”

“I…”Kassy looked between us. “I don’t know where to bite.”

Zee smiled and directed Kassy to sit in the middle of the bed. “Is that all?”

Kassy laid back on a handful of pillows as she took in Zee’s form. When she’d finished her assessment, she looked just as confused as before. “But she’s so…beautiful. What if I—”

“Leave marks?” Zee untied her robe and let it fall onto the bed. “Love, that’s all I am—one big mark. It’s my choice.” She pointed to the scars on her neck, wrists and even her breasts. “They’re my badges of honour. My right to be here, under the protection of your kind. I’ve earned this right, and every mark you see is something I wear with pride. They aren’t painful. I don’t hate Alex or any of the others for putting them there. In fact, I’m thankful. These scars only go skin deep. There are others who have done much worse. I promise you, another bite won’t hurt.”

Kassy held out a hand, tracing the pink tissue on Zee’s neck and wrists. She stopped when she reached for Zee’s breasts. “May I?”

Zee lifted her gaze at me. “Up to him. Alex?”

I rubbed at my eyes. If I’d told Kassy to slow down last night, she probably would’ve given me a dirty look. But now? Now she wanted to take her time, and I was loving every second of it. I watched them—Kassy in her thin gown and Zee wearing nothing but the marks I’d given her.

“You may touch,” I said, nodding to Kassy. “But remember the rules—you’re only to bite her neck and wrists. Those other marks are from private sessions.”

“Among other things,” Zee added, raising her eyebrows at me.

Still a little hesitant, Kassy held out her hand, allowing her fingertips to brush Zee’s breast whenever her digits got close. I sucked in a breath as Kassy touched the marks I’d left ages ago—back when Zee was new and had sought me out for personal lessons on how to deal with unruly vampires. It was one of the first times I’d ever bitten a human anywhere else on the body, and to this day was one of my favourite places to bite on Kassy.

This isn’t sexual. This isn’t sexual.

Even as Zee shifted her weight to straddle Kassy’s legs, I had to remind myself that this was strictly business. Zee just had a very specific way of doing things. Of course, it probably didn’t help that I was in the same room and had already made it clear I wasn’t here to play.

Tell that to the rest of your body.

My cock hardened, and it took more than a little effort on my part not to reach for Zee and touch her myself. Even as Kassy placed her palm on Zee’s hip, I couldn’t help thinking of what it would be like to watch them kiss. To taste. Touch.

Fuck.

I groaned, adjusting myself so the pressure against my cock went from almost painful to uncomfortable. My moment of weakness didn’t go unnoticed, and Kassy leaned her head back to kiss me on the lips. She batted her eyes as I went to pull away, Zee’s coy smile seeming to have infected her.

Taking a breath, I tried not to think about how Kassy hadn’t even bitten Zee yet. How this was just her first drink of the day. How long it would be until we got back to our room. Or the amount of stairs that stood between the basement and our bedroom.

Just keep it together a little while longer.
I was beginning to wonder if I should’ve been the one wearing the collar with Kassy holding the other end of it. And when she looked at me, I almost lost it. Her neck still bore the marks I’d left last night and earlier this morning, and just as the flesh had yet to heal, I hadn’t yet forgotten how it felt to bite her. Be bitten by her. Taste and be tasted.

Fuck it.

I couldn’t wait any longer. If Kassy didn’t bite Zee soon, I would. Laws or not, I was determined to fuck one of them or both if I had to.

Whatever it takes to get rid of this damned hard-on!

Unbuttoning my pants, I breathed around my relief as the pressure on my cock dissipated. While Kassy continued her thorough inspection of Zee’s vampire-bitten body, I thrust into my palm, shuddering from the brief contact.

“Need some help?” Zee teased, dismounting from Kassy’s lap.

“I can come back if—”

Zee pressed her lips to mine before I could finish. “Who said we wanted you to leave?”

I swallowed, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t allowed to do anything sexual to Zee, but the same couldn’t be said for Kassy. And hell if I wasn’t going to take advantage of that fact. Gripping the chain in my hand, I tugged at Kassy’s collar, directing her to my lap. She licked her lips and met my gaze, her eyes silently asking, begging for permission.

Inclining my head, I closed my eyes and leant back. The room fell silent for a long moment, and if it weren’t for my being a vampire, I wouldn’t have been able to hear our hearts beating or Zee’s delicious blood flowing through her veins.

Someone moved off to the side, their shadow falling over the top of me. Cool fabric washed across my legs as Kassy removed her gown. Taking a breath to steady my nerves and growing impatience, I noted the sweet hint of honeysuckle and warm breath against my neck. I counted my inhalations and the seconds that slowly slipped by, but the last thing I expected to happen was two women kissing me at the same time.

My eyes flew open when Zee bit at my collarbone, causing my grip on the chain to tighten when Kassy pressed her lips against the base of my cock. Zee’s fingers played with the buttons on my shirt, holding my attention just long enough to lose track of what they were doing.

I leant back on my elbows, fighting gravity to keep myself upright. It was easier said than done, especially when Zee bit me. Just. Like. That. I was vaguely aware of the hot breath on my cock—of Kassy using the tip of her tongue to trace the vein along the underside of it.

I groaned as she made slow, sweeping motions from the base to the tip and back down again. And each time she reached the head, Kassy paid close attention to the slit. The longer she teased me—the longer she tasted me—the less aware of Zee’s bite I became. Until I couldn’t feel it at all.

She could’ve broken the skin or nicked an artery for all I cared. So long as they touched me, I didn’t care who was in control. I just hoped it wasn’t me.

On Kassy’s fifth pass—
or was it the seventh
?—I released the chain and placed my hand on the top of her head. She murmured something I couldn’t hear, but I felt the vibrations of her voice on my skin before she licked at the head of my cock. I thrust upward, and in that single, sweet moment, she deep-throated me.

She didn’t suck. She didn’t bite, gag or pull away. Instead, she moved slowly. Painfully. Using long, fluid strokes, she pressed her tongue along the base of my cock, keeping the same pace as before. My arms shook from staying in the same position, but I didn’t care. And as the first tremors of an orgasm ran through me, a second pair of lips touched my own.

“Bite,” Zee whispered against my lips, licking at them before kissing me a second time.

I bit her bottom lip, sucking at it when the taste of iron registered on my tongue. Zee held a hand at the nape of my neck, holding me there as I searched for the chain to Kassy’s collar, pulling up on it before they both pushed me over the edge. She was good. Too good. But I wasn’t ready to finish just yet—and neither was she. If they thought I was turned on now—

Damn it, Alex, stop kidding yourself.

I wasn’t here to drink.

Tell that to Zee and the bite you just gave her.

It had been just a bite. I was allowed to watch.

For now. But what about later
?

I knew how the first drink of the day made me feel, and chances were, someone was going to get fucked before we even got to brunch.

Reluctant to break our kiss halfway through, I turned away from Zee, pressing both hands on Kassy’s cheeks before drawing her up to meet me. I kissed her, lightly at first so she could taste Zee on my lips before she kissed me back. In that instant, the flavour of Zee and Kassy become one. Both sweet in their own way, their combined taste was too much.

“Enough,” I breathed, struggling to catch my breath as the room started to spin. Caressing Kassy’s face, I asked, “How was it? The kiss?”

Kassy sucked on her bottom lip, savouring what was left, then smiled. It was almost calming, and as the smile grew, I knew it wouldn’t take much at all to get her drunk. We had to be careful, but even from the small sampling I’d already had, I was giddy.

“Kiss her.” I nearly choked on the words and gestured at Zee. “Slowly.”

Kassy bobbed her head, brushing a hand against Zee’s face before gently, carefully kissing her on the lips. She paused, but only for a second. Zee’s lip was still bleeding, calling to her, inviting Kassy's vampire kiss. And taste she did. Holy hell. If there’d ever been a deeper, more passionate kiss between donor and vampire, I’d never heard of it, let alone seen it for myself.

Time slowed, and every touch, each time Kassy licked Zee’s lips, was magnified. Memorising. Intense. Leaning forward, I bit at Kassy’s nape. A breath caught in the back of her throat. She shuddered. Fell into me. Drew in a lungful of air.

“We must be careful,” I murmured, nodding for Zee to lie in the middle of the bed, which she did without question. “She still needs those lips.”

I lifted Kassy away from the bed before setting her down beside Zee. She lay there—her eyes glazed over, her mind likely reeling from the flavour she’d just had the pleasure of experiencing. I might have said donor blood wasn’t as good as live, but when it came to Zee, there was no better.

No drugs. No alcohol. No caffeine. Just pure, untainted blood. The other donors weren’t nearly as considerate. Then again, we didn’t treat the other donors nearly as well as our lovely Zee. She was gourmet, the best dish in our world, and was treasured like the goddess I knew she was.

I crawled over to the other side of the bed and sandwiched Zee between us. I lifted one of her wrists up to my lips and waited for Kassy to do the same. “Her wrists, however, are better acquainted with a vampire’s kiss. She is our wine. Remember what I told you earlier?”

“To savour it,” Kassy replied, her attention fixed on Zee’s wrist and the blood flowing just below the surface.

“Good girl.” Leaning my cheek against Zee’s one wrist, I brought it to my lips, then said, “Bite down, but only enough to break the skin.” I waited for Kassy to bite down before doing the same, pausing to check in on Zee. “Doing okay, love?”

Her eyes rolled back and she smiled. “You always know how to treat a girl to a lovely evening, don’t you?”

I smiled into her skin, keeping my attention on Kassy to make sure she wouldn’t go in too deep or too fast. But the longer we savoured Zee’s blood along with her very unique company, the more anxious we both became. Kassy’s sips got longer. Hungry. Desperate. I made sure to hold mine back. A taste. Barely a sip, but more than enough to want more.

Keeping my thumb on Zee’s vein, I monitored her heart rate, knowing full well that a slow beat was safe. Slower was risky. A nearly non-existent heartbeat was unacceptable. And as the moments passed, we were gradually making our way from slow to slower.

We’ve gone too far. I shouldn’t have kissed her
.

Breaking away from Zee, I rushed across the bed to Kassy. “Stop.” Zee’s eyes widened—from Kassy’s hunger or the growl in my voice, I wasn’t sure, but if we didn’t stop soon, we’d have an even bigger problem on our hands. When Kassy didn’t recoil, I did the only thing I could. The only thing I knew she’d hear. “Red, Kassy. For fuck’s sake, red!”

Chapter Six

Neither one of us moved. And while I hated to use one of Kassy’s safe words against her, it was something I knew she’d understand. I petted her hair, kissing her forehead. Her cheek. Anywhere I could to get her to open up.

It was hard to tell how a new vampire would react the first time they were interrupted. Last night we’d got lucky with the few humans she’d bitten. Their taste had been marginal at best.
But when you find a taste you like
? I shook my head. There was a big difference between having a preferred taste and liking it a little too much. And Zee was almost always a little too much. Even for me.

“Kassy, look at me.”

Deep, vertical lines appeared between her eyebrows, and as her eyes glazed over, I hugged her to my chest. I drew in a shaky breath and let it back out again once I realised the colour hadn’t left Zee’s face. “Are you okay?”

Zee forced a smile. “A little surprised is all.”

I nodded. “And to think, she was afraid she wouldn’t like the taste.”

“Mmmm.” Zee crawled across the mattress to kiss me on the lips before lifting Kassy’s chin. “Now when have you ever heard of a vampire resisting me, hmm?” To Kassy she said, “I’m not angry at you. You just scared us. Please know this. I trust Alex with my life. Always have.”