Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
We can’t do that. Not when she’s studying her power. Not when she needs to use me to connect to it. Use the sensations I’m creating in her right now.
The water around us ripples. A smile stretches over my lips. She still has her eyes closed.
“You’re doing so fucking well, Annika.” I pump my fingers into her again, dragging them over her sensitive flesh as she gasps.
“Dagon,” she moans into my mouth as I haul her tighter against me.
That sound she makes when she says my name, pure submission and trust and need. I could die to it. I could kiss her mouth for an eternity and never tire of it—
Water roars around us in a quick burst, the motion jarring us out of the kiss. I draw my hand from between her thighs, resting it on her luscious hip.
Annika blinks a few times, glancing around at the thin pillars of water shooting up to the sky on either side of us.
“Is this you?” she asks, still clinging to me.
I grin, shaking my head. “This is all you.”
CHAPTER 6
Annika
“Whoa, really?” Daphne asks, shock coloring her tone as I press the phone to my ear.
“Really,” I say, rolling on my back, sprawling out on the bed in the room I’d been given in Cassandra’s mansion. I’m thankful my phone works here. I was afraid the remoteness of the island would equal zero service and I’d have no connection to my best friend. Daphne and I had bonded instantly when I arrived at the king’s residence, gushing over our love of books and connecting over the similar sheltered lives we’d grown up in, despite her being a human and me being a vampire.
“Dagon,” she says like she can’t totally believe it. “The ancient hunter kissed you?”
“We kind of kissed each other.”
Daphne laughs. “That’s unexpected,” she says. “How was it?”
I blow out a breath. The memory of the kiss, the way he touched me, sears beneath my skin. “Incredible.”
“What’s the problem then?” she asks.
“He’s technically like…my teacher? And he’s a million years old and seems to be totally annoyed with me most days.” Except, lately, he hasn’t. Something has shifted between us, but I’m not sure what exactly that means.
“Damn,” Daphne says, voices chattering in the backroom. “Hang on.” I hear a door close. “They’re having a party in the hallway outside my dorm room.”
I clench my eyes shut. “I’m so sorry! Here I am venting when you have a party to get to. I’ll let you go, you have fun.”
“No, I’m not going,” she says quickly. “An immortal demon king pays my tuition,” she continues. “The last thing I need is him popping up at a party and embarrassing me in front of everyone.”
A laugh tears out of me. “You think Xavier, the king of the demon realm, is embarrassing?” I’ve only seen him once before and the last thing he seemed was embarrassing. Mysterious, terrifying, sex personified, but not embarrassing.
“Yeah,” she laughs. “He loves to pop in at the absolute worst times. It’s ridiculous.”
I laugh harder. “I think you speaking about the demon king like he’s a worried house mother is more ridiculous than anything. You know most people do their best to not irk him or even talk about him out of fear.”
“I’m not scared of him,” she hurries to say. “Just annoyed.” She sighs. “Annoyed but grateful,” she amends. “He’s been…very generous.”
I sit up on my bed. “How generous?”
“Paying for my tuition is no small thing,” she says. “And I wasn’t about to ask Valor for help. Not when she’s already done enough for me.”
“You know she wouldn’t mind,” I say.
“I know, but this is great. It’s working out great.”
“Okay,” I say. “Just be careful. I don’t know Xavier well, but he’s a demon. That usually means he rarely does anything out of the goodness of his heart. And he’s more ancient than Dagon, if you can believe that.”
“I’m very aware of that,” she says. “I haven’t made any deals with the demon. Now, let’s get back to you and Dagon.”
“There is no me and Dagon,” I say despite my heart fluttering. “It was one kiss. That’s all.”
“And it helped you move the water?”
I sigh. “Yes.”
“Then I say do it again,” Daphne says like it’s the easiest answer in the world.
“I can’t,” I say. “He’s…it was just an experiment. A teaching tactic to get me in the right headspace.”
“I’m sure that’s not all it was.”
I groan, hearing footsteps just outside my hall. “I have to go,” I say. “That’s probably him, ready for another lesson.”
“I bet he’s ready for another lesson,” she teases.
I laugh. “Omigod, stop.”
“What?” she asks. “You’re amazing. And a total badass vampire with powers. Do you know how cool that is? You have power of your own. You don’t have to rely on anyone else. That’s everything.”