She hated him, who he was, but she needed him, needed this, because she was bound to him, because she felt the depth of his starvation and need, and she wanted to be the one to satisfy him.

Though the rational part of her brain told her this made no sense, this giving of her blood, this allowing his body to possess her, she couldn’t blame the chains alone for what she was experiencing, the bald nature of her need, the depth of her desire. From the first, even before she’d put the chain on him, she’d experienced a profound attraction to the man.

He slowed his movements, and that’s when she felt that he trembled from head to foot and drank from her unsteadily. He was still hard. He hadn’t come.

Your blood. Lily, your blood. My God.

Had she heard him? Was that his voice, his words, in her head?

Adrien? she responded with her mind, wondering if she was just hearing things.

His body stilled completely and he drew away from her, his lips red-rimmed, his brows drawn into a tight frown.

He met her gaze, his hips quiet though he remained inside her.

What did you say? His mind to hers. Did you say my name?

She hadn’t been mistaken then. I spoke your name because you called to me. You said, ‘Your blood. Lily, your blood.’ I heard you. Aloud, she said, “I heard all of that. Say it out loud so that I know we’re talking about the same thing, that I’m not just imagining this.”

“From my mind to yours, I said, ‘Lily, your blood, My God.’”

“Yes, you did.”

“You shouldn’t be able to do this telepathically.”

“It’s the blood-chain. It has to be.”

He nodded. His gaze fell to her mouth and she forgot her animosity. She just wanted him, wanted Adrien.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

He leaned down to her and touched his lips to hers, tenderly, the way a man would normally kiss a woman if he liked her.

He began to surge into her once more, but this time he kissed her while he thrust and it felt like heaven, like more than she had ever expected it could be with him.

She didn’t understand what was happening to her, why she was feeling so much for Adrien whom she didn’t know, why her arms snaked around him, feeling the muscles of his back, her hands rising until she drove her fingers into his hair.

His trembling settled down and power returned to his thighs and his arms. He surrounded her, holding her closer, bending his knees to angle up and into her. I want you to come for me. His voice in her head brought a deep groan from her throat.

Adrien, yes, she responded.

His hips pistoned faster and she fell into the quick rhythm, her body tightening deep within, her skin tingling over her chest and arms. So close.

Faster he moved. Come for me. Come for me.

Her body spasmed as ecstasy poured through, taking the fire in her veins and spreading it over every inch of her.

Adrien, now, do it now, release now and I’ll come again.

He groaned heavily against her mouth and his entire body shoved against her, his hips moving fast again, so very fast. She strapped her arms around his neck, holding on for the ride.

He moved quicker than a human and her body responded clenching hard. Then more pleasure streaked through her and she could feel or sense his own pleasure rising, so she rode it as he shouted into the air, pumping hard.

The experience reached into her chest, expanding her lungs. She could hardly breathe as so much feel-good passed through her, waves of lush sensation, of ecstasy peaking, falling, and peaking again, over and over. And he kept pounding her.

I’ll come again if you keep this up.

Oh, God, so will I.

Vampires could do that? There was so much Kiernan hadn’t told her.

Once more she exploded deep inside, screaming her pleasure, gasping for breath, savoring each pummeling of his hips against hers. He shouted with her, driving his cock deep.

At last he began to slow. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her face felt flushed with passion.

He drew back, sweat gleaming on his forehead, his lips swollen and parted as he drew in deep breaths as well. “It’s never been like this.”

“The chains,” she whispered, unable to catch her breath.

“I don’t know.” He searched her eyes.

She stared back wondering about him, who he was, why she could do this with him and not be repulsed, why she felt so much so quickly. The chain at her neck lay oddly still on her skin.

Slowly, he drew his hips back, sliding out of her, their combined fluids dripping down the insides of her thighs. He picked up his shirt and planted it between her legs.

“Thank you.”

He nodded, frowning. She could feel his uneasiness, almost a wariness, certainly his distrust. Her own doubts intruded.

She shaded her face with her hand.

Adrien was a vampire. She needed to remember that, to remind herself that very little about her current predicament could ever carry over into her real life, the one she would resume with her son as soon as she got herself out of this mess, as soon as she had the extinction weapon in hand, as soon as she could hire someone to get rid of these chains.

And the last thing she should ever do was start to care for Adrien. Damn sex, anyway, because it was so easy to get connected with a man through sex. She knew the science behind it. And the chain wasn’t helping.

“You’re humiliated?” he asked. “Because you had sex with me a second time, you’re ashamed?” He made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat.

She looked up at him. She opened her mouth to correct him, to reassure him that it wasn’t shame. But what was it, then, if not shame?

A pure hatred and distrust of his kind?

Or the knowledge that she could never make a life for herself in this world, so what was the point?

Maybe it was a little bit of everything.

She had to keep her distance, so what did it matter whether she regretted the moment because of shame or because she couldn’t risk trusting him. They were different species, and his kind had destroyed her family.

“Of course I’m ashamed.”

He picked up his pants and punched a foot through each leg, glaring at her in turns.

She drew a deep breath and found her clothes or what was left of them. She slipped on her shirt just to be covered a little.

“Back to the bedroom,” he said, sounding weary.

“I’m not tired.”

“I wasn’t suggesting sleep. We have work to do, but you need to get cleaned up, and your clothes and things from India are in there now.”

She followed behind him, which suited her since her pants weren’t fit to wear anymore. He’d ripped them down the back all the way to the crotch.

Once in the bedroom, she unpacked a change of clothes. Because he barred the way to the bathroom, she moved to stand in front of him, refusing to make eye contact.

“I’m not evil, Lily, whatever you may think.”

She glanced up at him, her mouth ready to agree with him to say she knew at least that much, but what was the point? She needed to keep her focus, to remember that Josh waited for her, had been waiting for two years. My God, would her son even know her anymore?

“Please, Adrien. We just need to get through this, the quicker the better.”

He stepped aside and she went into the bathroom. She took a quick shower, hoping by the time she opened the door Adrien would have some idea where they should go next.

“We need to go see a man in the north?”

Adrien sat on the floor outside the bathroom, still in his jeans and nothing else. He stared up at Lily having forgotten how pretty she was, with her large haunted hazel eyes staring down at him. His chest squeezed up, making it hard to breathe.

“A vampire?” she asked.

“Actually, he’s a half-breed, and an Ancestral, rare in our world, but it happens.” Just like Adrien actually. His mother was human, but the vampire genetics were dominant in his father’s line and though he didn’t have Ancestral status, and never wanted it, he had the potential.