Page 24 of Crimson Mate
“No, you don't,” I cut him off. “If that were true, I wouldn't have found you alone in a cave with half a dozen newborn bloodmad vampires. I saved your life then, too. Maybe you're the one who needsmyprotection.”
“I absolutely need you,” he says, smirking as he looks down at me.
I tilt my head, ignoring the heat that blazes through me at that declaration. “Have your skills gotten so rusty?” I tease. “Did stasis really weaken you that much?” The question actually brings a flash of concern, but I cling to the fun game we're playing. “Maybe I could take you right here.”
“That's adorable,” he says.
“You don't think I can?”
“I have no doubt in your abilities, Talia. But think about who you're talking to.”
I bite my tongue so I don't admit to just how much I've been thinking about him lately.
“Scared to find out?”
“Try me.” I lash out with an attack as the words leave his mouth, knowing I'm severely outmatched and need the element of surprise to get even remotely close to besting him.
Zachariah is taken off guard for only a moment, dodging my attempt to get him to the ground, and bouncing on the balls of his feet as we circle each other.
Anticipation blasts through me as I calculate the best way to get him to the mat, battling every other way I'd like to get him underneath me as I try to think strategically.
“You've been dying for a shot at me for centuries, and that's the best you have?” he teases.
I gape at him, but can't keep the smile from my lips as realize I can’t approach him like I would any other foe. I have to get in his head if I want to win.
I drop my fighting stance, letting my arms hang loose at my sides, feigning hurt.
“I would never want to hurt you, Zachariah,” I say in my most weak and sad-drenched tone.
He immediately shifts out of his stance, concern lining every inch of his features as he steps toward me. “Talia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean?—”
I strike, kicking his feet out from underneath him, my hand at his throat as I take him to the ground, straddling his chest.
I grin down at him triumphantly, his eyes flaring wide with shock and a little bit of pride that I can't help but feel radiate through me. “I win,” I say.
A blink is all it takes before my spine kisses the mat, his muscled body atop mine, his hand at my throat as his delicious weight settles between my thighs.
“That's right,” I say, need flaring through me, exhilaration flooding my body at the sensation from sparring with him. “I forgot, you used to be the most powerful vampire on the planet.”
“Used to be?” he says, and I roll my hips, using everything I have in my arsenal to distract him. He shudders at the way I move beneath him, and his pupils blow out just slightly?—
I tighten my hips and flip him, regaining the upper hand as I look down at him. “One would say that our king is the most powerful vampire on the planet now.”
Zachariah groans, his hands falling to my hips, the fight going right out of him. “Fine,” he says. “I'll gladly take second place to our king, as long as I'm first with you.”
I roll my eyes, gripping his throat just a little bit tighter as I lean down, my lips an inch above his. My every instinct is begging me to bite him, to drink his blood in the way I always fantasized about.
I'm so fucking thirsty, desperate for sustenance only someone like him can offer, someone like my mate...
Not my mate. Not anymore, I argue with myself.
“Say I win,” I say with a lot more gusto than I actually feel.
Zachariah glances down at where our bodies are connecting, at where I’m straddling him. “I'd have to argue that I'm the winner in this situation,” he says.
I can't help but laugh.
“I have my hand at your throat. One good squeeze from me and...you'd at least go to sleep for a minute,” I admit begrudgingly.