Page 51 of Burn for Her
She didn’t answer.
“It’s more than I’m willing to allow you to pay,” he whisper-growled against her ear as he tilted her head. “My teeth are real, Lena. As real as the danger you’re now in.”
He sealed his mouth over the side of her throat, and she groaned when his fangs grazed her skin. They were like two needles scratching down her throat column.
Did she pull away or stay put? Fight, fly, or freeze?
He didn’t give her time to pick. Dorian moved away, and she touched where his mouth had been. “I didn’t bite,” he said. “And I won’t until you give me permission. But you feel it don’t you?”
Lena’s mouth dried up. She didn’t answer.
“You feel that heat in your belly? That hunger for something you’ve never had? You want to run out that door, but your mind and body are at complete odds with each other.” He turned her around slowly and gripped her hips. Then leaned down and breathed heat along the shell of her ear as he said, “You came here for something else, didn’t you? You might want to be edged, fucked, tied and spent, but that’s not what you truly hoped to get from a night in this place.”
Her lungs sawed to take in air.
Dorian moved her across the floor in a graceful glide that was so fast, she couldn’t keep up. Suddenly, they stood in front of a floor-length mirror together. Dorian stood behind her, his head pressed against the side of hers, his hard cock pushing against her ass. He stared at her reflection in the mirror as he said, “Tell me what you crave, Lena. Admit it.”
“I…” Her body betrayed her and leaned into his. “I…”
“Say it.”
Her eyes fluttered when the echo of his voice bounced down her spine. Say it. Say it. Say it. “I…”
“Dorian!” Some guy banged on the door. “We gotta move out, now!”
Whatever just built up between her and the man pressed to her back shattered. The spell broke. The intensity fizzled. Dorian backed away, cursing and shaking his head. He looked absolutely gutted.
“I tried to spare you,” he said while frowning. “I tried to save you from this world, but you just had to walk right into it.” Dorian ushered her outside and Lena saw the woman from earlier—Victoria—and a blond man who must have been the one to bang on the door.
“We’ve got to hurry,” said the blond guy. “Fuck, this is a goddamned mess.”
“Can we bring her to the House?” Dorian asked.
“We’re going to have to.” The blond replied. He and Victoria hopped into the front of a car parked in the back of the property and once Dorian and Lena were secured in the backseat, they sped out of there.
“I’m so sorry,” Dorian said as they flew down the road. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I believe you,” she mumbled, unwilling to admit anything more.
Lena wanted to tell him he didn’t have anything to apologize for. This wasn’t his fault. It was hers. She’d been warned this was a dangerous step in the direction she was hellbent on going in. Lena hadn’t believed the guy who warned her and came here anyway.
For years Lena was drawn to danger, to pain, to violence. She came here seeking answers… and she found Dorian.
Chapter 18
Lena kept her shit together as they pulled up to another sprawling mansion. This one was triple the size of the kink club they just fled. As impressive as it was, the columns and balconies needed some repair. Vines crawled along the base of the foundation, spreading and choking out the bushes and crept along the right, front corner of the mansion. Oaks lined the drive, but there was no color, nothing that welcomed guests. It dripped gothic melodrama. Spanish moss had made it a mission to drape dramatically across everything it could. The fountain out front wasn’t turned on and the statue of the angel in the middle was missing a wing.
They pulled around back. Several cars were parked along a pad to the left, all of them high end. A centuries old oak tree bumped up against the detached garage to the point where most of the branches had formed around the roof. Trellises out back were covered in dead vines and brown leaves. Iron chairs and tables lay strewn about, abandoned.
It looked haunted and romantic at the same time.
Jesus, she needed to get a grip. The blond guy pulled into a vacant parking spot and everyone hopped out. Dorian hadn’t said a word the entire trip, but she noticed he was vibrating with tremors. She didn’t know what was wrong with him but decided to keep a little distance between them until she figured it out.
For all the gentle curls of his light brown hair, designer clothing, and his soft, green eyes, Dorian exuded aggression and intensity which never wavered. This guy was going to be trouble. She could feel it in her damn bones. Dorian was a well-designed trap.
And she wanted to take the bait and be caught.
Lena’s fists tightened in her lap and she closed her eyes, mentally shedding that idea. She didn’t need to be caught, she needed to be careful. You’re my mate. Why’d he have to say that bullshit with such sincerity? Why’d he have to hold her like she was a precious treasure in danger of being pilfered by someone else?