Page 73 of When Night Falls

My breathing hitches and my heart thuds in its cage in fear of what he's going to do next.

"Don't you ever fucking doubt what lengths I would go to keep you safe, my sweet sin. I will burn the world down for you if only it meant I got to hold you up against the wall like this just to watch your pretty little eyes beg me for mercy."

Fuck. His breath skates across my skin, my heart pounds heavily in my chest. I can feel every caress of his fingers at the back of my head. His eyes light me up with so much hunger and lust.

"You would?" I ask, adrenaline coursing through me like a wildfire.

Rivian gives into the heat that has been sizzling between us the whole time we've spent together in the forest. I knew he could feel it. The butterflies that assaulted me every time he touched me, the way his eyes would dig into mine as if to tell me there is no escape.

He dips his head, running the tip of his nose along the scar on my cheek.

"You plague me, Lucynda. You have become all I can think about, and it is ruining me." He breathes me in, chills swarm the surface of my skin, what little is exposed. I dare to keep my hands at my side, wanting to reach out and grab him but knowing that I won't be able to stop myself from begging him for more.

"I need you. More than I need to fulfill the craving for blood. And I'm a monster. How could you want someone like this, Lucynda? How could you want me to touch you like this and to…"

I push further into the wall trying to create enough space to see his eyes.

"You pushed me away because you thought I wouldn't want to be with you?"

He dips his forehead to my own. I can't tell if he's hiding something more or if he's simply too ashamed to speak his truth.

His eyes change. Blackness overcoming the greens and swirling into clouds of smoke. I’m entranced by the way everything blends into a pool of dark.

"Rivian, you saved me," I whisper. "You have shown me more in the past week alone than I have ever been privy to in my life. You helped me through some of the toughest times of my life and I will always be thankful for that." It's true, as much as I have hated the way he's treated me these past few days, I can't deny how helpful he truly has been.

The voices he planted to talk me down from ledges I was bound to jump off of, the act of freeing me from my father and making sure I had a place to go after I escaped the hell hole that was known as my home. And more importantly, he's opening me up to the possibility of a new life.

"You aren't as undesirable as you think you are, Riv." I push my fingers through his hair, leaning up to pull my lips to his.

He allows me to draw closer and closer, until-

"Hello! We don't have all fucking night!" Shouting comes from down the hall causing me to jump.

My head smacks into Rivian's mouth and he winces slightly, but not more than I do when I see a dribble of blood escape the corner of his mouth.

"Shit. Sorry," I apologize.

I look over to see Troian peeking out of Rivian's office, clear down the other side of the hall, hand on her hips.

"You should get going," I say to him, seeing the agony in his eyes from not being able to continue what we started.

His hands are flat on the wall behind me and his head is still low.

"Rivian," I whisper. Feeling too overwhelmed with the way he's looking at me and the way it makes me feel.

The drop of blood continues its descent over his lips and onto his chin. Something dangerously forbidden crosses my mind—the blood bind. I'll have to feed from him, drink his blood.

It can't be worse than sucking blood off your finger when you get cut by a piece of glass, right? The taste won't be that bad. It'll just be . . .more.

I look back over to check if Troy is still watching, and she's not. So I lean up, eager to make contact. I use my grasp on his shirt for purchase as I softly press my lips to his.

He tries to press deeper, but instead, I open my mouth against his closed lips and use my tongue to glide over the little spot of blood, allowing myself to savor the way it tastes.

I lean back, licking my own lips. Satisfaction and greed dances in Rivian's eyes.

"Lucynda." His voice cracks with need as he says my name.

"You should get back."