MY HANDS CAN’T STOP touching her. They slide and skim over her bare body as I trail kisses down her chest, over her breasts, and across her stomach.
Her small, petite hands slide over my shoulders and down my back, digging her nails into me. Hissing, I arch my back, getting off on the pain as I sink my teeth into her hip. Her legs wrap around me, pressing against my shoulderblades, drawing me closer to her.
When I finish drinking, I trail my tongue back up her body, before I kiss her hard, forcing her to taste her own blood. She moans, digging her nails in harder. It’s enough to drive me crazy and I slide inside her in one, quick thrust.
We haven’t stopped. I’ve lost count of how many times we have done this. Over and over, we claim each other. Sometimes it’s sweet and soft like this, other times it’s hard and passionate. I’ve fucked her over every surface of our room and the living room and it isn’t even night yet.
Her fangs plunge into my neck and I thrust harder into her, biting her once more so that we blood share at the same time, intensifying the scorching heat between us.
‘Fucking hell,’ I curse, rotating my hips and hitting into her harder. ‘I can’t get enough of this. Of you.’
‘Me either,’ she replies with a content sigh. ‘I’m so in love with you, Hunter.’
Kissing the side of her head, I increase my pace and she lifts her hips, meeting me thrust for thrust. Every time we release, it’s at the same time. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I don’t know if it’s a bonded thing, or if we are really just that in tune with each other’s feelings.
I pull out of her and roll onto my back.
‘How is none of this enough?’ she whispers, her hands finding mine, stroking me, making me feel hot and bothered for her again, even though it hasn’t even been half a minute since I was inside her.
‘The lust and attraction we felt for each other was already insurmountable and that is only heightened now.’
‘Good God,’ she mutters.
‘I’m not complaining,’ I say, as her fingers close around my length, pumping lazily up and down.
‘Me either, but we won’t be alone for much longer, and it will kill me not to touch you.’
Rolling over, I shuffle down until my head is between her thighs, dragging my tongue along her centre. She sighs blissfully at my touch, sliding her fingers through my hair.
‘Jesus Christ!’ Cora’s voice snaps impatiently from the other side of the front door. ‘I have been waiting hours for you two animals to stop attacking each other. Enough is enough!’
Raya lets out a shocked gasp, yanking my head up so harshly my neck cracks.
‘Ow,’ I complain, rubbing it. ‘You’re strong now, remember?’
‘Oops.’ She giggles. ‘Sorry.’
Moving my head down once more, I press my tongue into her and her eyes widen.
‘Hunter!’ she hisses.
‘Hunter, I swear to God!’ Cora’s voice booms on the other side of the wall. ‘I’m going to beat your ass in a minute!’
Chuckling, I lean back, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth. Raya is a blur of motion as she dresses before toppling over and landing in my lap. I steady her, shaking my head.
‘Slow down, hot stuff,’ I say, bracing her in my hands. Her long, dark hair flows down her back. Her eyes are intense, silver-black, in a pattern I’ve never seen before. She says mine are the same, which makes me assume it must be bond related.
At first, her eyes were the same as every other vampire. But after we slept together again as vampires, our eyes morphed into something between the bonded-human eyes and vampire ones, which means people will be able to see the direct link we have to one another. I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing.
‘Hunter! Put some pants on!’ Raya exclaims, slapping my chest.
‘Yes ma’am.’
As I yank my pants back on – with reluctance – Cora steps inside, her silver eyes shooting daggers at me.
‘Honestly,’ she snaps. ‘Do you not have any impulse control?’
‘Nope,’ I say.
Shaking her head. ‘I did not need to hear any of that.’
Cora and Raya both glance at each other and then just as quickly look away.
The two are scarily similar in appearance. Both the same height, and build, with the same hair colour. The birthmark on Cora’s face is a small difference that could easily be overlooked, which may be why Raya has the purple streak in her hair, to define something about her own appearance.
Raya sighs, which brings a sobering feeling to the room. Moving into the kitchen, I make up some drinks from the supplies Cora brought and place the glasses down onto the table. Sitting down, Raya drops into the seat beside me, and Cora into the one across from us.
My muscles are tense as I glance between them. This has been building up. Raya has been avoiding Cora – she is unsure how to be around her, after everything – which is definitely understandable.
It’s difficult to know what is right and wrong in this situation, when the lines are blurred this much. I get why Cora did what she did. More than anyone ever could.
Despite everything, I want the two to salvage their relationship. They’ve both survived and endured so much. They need each other now more than ever, but it’s not as easy as that.
‘So,’ Raya begins, leaning forward and closing her hands around the glass, spinning it in a slow circle, not meeting Cora’s eyes. She mentioned to me that every time she looks at Cora, she thinks of Alex. The hurt in her eyes when she speaks of him is like a physical blow to my chest. I ache to ease her pain, but I don’t know how to. It’s not as easy as it was when she was human. ‘How did this happen?’
Cora downs the drink in one sip, placing the glass hard back down onto the table before pushing it toward me.
‘We are going to need more of this.’
Hearing Cora talk about how she first met Kian makes my blood boil. The age and vulnerability of this girl in front of me – and what my brother is like – is a deadly combination. I’m surprised she is still alive to tell the tale.
‘So, you sought him out?’ Raya questions, her forehead crumpling adorably as she frowns, looking at her sister with equal parts interest and confusion.
‘Yeah. I know. I’m stupid.’ She takes a long swig of the bourbon, not even wincing with the taste. Wordlessly, she holds out her glass and I pour more into it. ‘I met him on a night out. I was drunk and having fun. He was so bloody hot.’ She laughs, shaking her head. ‘A walking fucking red flag.’ She flashes her teeth at Raya who offers a hesitant smile in return. ‘But red is my favourite colour.’
My gaze darts between the two of them, not really understanding the inside joke, but not caring enough to ask them to elaborate.
‘He took me down this random alley. We . . .’ she trails off, waving her hand in front of her. ‘Hooked up. It was totally mind-blowing.’ She directs her gaze to Raya, who is still staring down at the table. ‘I became addicted to the high. A human having sex with a vampire is . . . well . . . you understand.’
‘So, you slept together and he didn’t hurt you?’ I question when Raya doesn’t look like she is going to reply.
‘Oh, he fed on me,’ she replies with a curt nod. ‘I think he would have tried to kill me, if a group of drunk party-goers didn’t stumble into us.’
‘You knew he fed on you?’ I ask.
‘He never compelled me to forget.’
Releasing a heavy sigh, it’s my turn to take a long sip. I’m sure there is a long list of women my brother has done that to. It’s a part of his game.
‘He wanted you to find out what he was.’
‘Exactly. He knew the effect he had on me. My weakness of wanting to escape my life drew me to him. And him to me, too. He knew he could offer me a way out, and I was desperate enough to take it without understanding the fineprint.’ She lets out a humourless laugh. ‘It’s so ridiculous to think about now.’
‘What was the offer?’
‘He would turn me if I sold myself to him for ten years.’
Wincing, all three of us take a drink. Raya says nothing, and I can feel the pain coursing through her body at hearing this. Her sister traded her soul to the devil.
Placing a hand on her thigh, I give her a reassuring squeeze.
‘I never knew what that would entail, obviously,’ she continues, hanging her head in her hands as she rubs her fingers over her eyes.
‘I don’t know how you two are brothers,’ Raya says earnestly, glancing at me. ‘Sure, there are similarities in your appearance, but your souls can’t be more different. Like day and night.’
Nodding, I tap my fingers against the glass. ‘I agree.’
‘Explain the car accident to me,’ Raya says, and I can feel how tense she is. I tenderly squeeze her thigh once more, trying to offer her comfort.
‘Well, Kian loves the dramatics,’ Cora says. ‘He wanted to stage something ‘chaotic’. He told me the sacrifice didn’t have to be anyone I know. Just another human being to balance the scales.’
‘Right,’ Raya says slowly, and I can see she’s trying not to look as repulsed as she feels, but she’s failing.
‘I didn’t know how to leave my old life behind. So we staged a car accident. It was perfect. A stranger would die so that I could turn, and you and mum would mourn my death and move on.’
‘But he killed her,’ I say. ‘Your mother. Instead of the other driver.’
Burying her face into her hands, Cora nods. ‘The moment I saw him take her life, I knew that I had made a grave mistake. He killed her, turned me, and then went to kill Raya, to really cement the fear into me, but he never got to complete the kill because there were witnesses, one being an on-duty police officer.’
The silence is loud. I don’t know what to say. Glancing at Raya, I see a tear slip down her cheek. Leaning over, I collect it on my fingertip. She sighs, looking down at her hands.
‘And then I was bound to him,’ Cora whispers. ‘The psycho that murdered our mother in cold blood.’ She sniffles, wiping her cheeks. ‘I know that sacrificing a stranger was awful enough, but in my head, I didn’t know them. It wouldn’t affect me, or my family. I was so fucking selfish and naïve.’
I run my hands roughly down my face, absorbing all of this information.
‘I don’t forgive you for the decisions you made,’ Raya says thickly, her voice firm. She breathes a heavy exhale, tucking her hand behind her ear. ‘I . . . can’t forgive you for what you did to Mum. To Alex.’
There’s a beat of silence. And then another. Swallowing, I drag my thumb back and forth across Raya’s skin, as if that would somehow help take away some of her pain.
Cora leans back in her seat, blinking, looking void of emotion. Like she is tapped out of energy, and needs to be recharged. I’d feel much the same, if I had been through what she has.
‘I chose to save you,’ Cora says, lifting her chin. ‘You don’t have to forgive me for that, but when it comes down to it, it’s what I will always do.’
‘He didn’t deserve to die for me!’ Raya shrieks, slamming her hand down onto the table. It shakes violently under the impact, and the wine glasses topple over. As one rolls off the table, I swiftly reach for it, grabbing it just before it connects with the floor.
‘He may not have deserved to die Raya, but neither did you. I made that choice, and I’m going to live with that guilt forever.’ She remains exactly where she is, her face pale, her eyes pained but unflinching.
Drawing in a shaky breath, Raya nods stiffly. ‘I know why you did it. You love me as much as I love you. But he was there for me when nobody else was.’ Finally, she meets her sister’s eyes. ‘He was there for me when you weren’t.’
Cora’s face crumples. The air feels heavy in the room. Suffocating, and thick with tension.
Raya’s emotions slam into me with a severity that makes me inhale sharply. Placing a hand on her back, I focus on drawing out that dark energy. Her shoulders sag as I take away her pain. Not nearly enough of it, but as much as I am able to. It’s the best I’ve been able to do since she turned.
The pain is written all over her face. The relief and joy of being reunited with her sister. The person she loves endlessly, and has devoted her life to finding. But she also feels hurt, betrayed, and furious with the choices her sister has made.
I can’t hate Cora. I really can’t. Because she saved Raya. It’s something that I would have done. The bond would have forced that. Cora simply beat me to it. If she hadn’t, I have no idea how I could have lived with the guilt – or how I would ever convince Raya to forgive me.
Raya releases a heavy breath, tears streaking down her cheeks. I look away, not able to bear seeing her in so much pain when I can’t take it from her.
‘We can’t bring Mum or Alex back,’ Raya says after a moment, sniffling. ‘But we still have each other. So, that’s something.’
Leaning forward, Cora clasps her hands with her sister’s. Raya pulls her hand back, and Cora’s eyes fill with tears.
‘I’m so sorry, Raya,’ she whispers. ‘I love you so much. I’ll never forgive myself for causing you so much pain. But I couldn’t watch you die either. You’re my little sister.’
Smiling sadly, Raya nods, not able to meet her gaze.
‘I know.’