Raised in Fire (Fire and Ice Trilogy, #2)

by K.F. Breene

“Damn it, captain. Good call on this door.” “You almost got it.” Panting, because it was hard work, I kept going. I looked like a complete idiot, but this was going to happen. I anticipated the sweet rush of kicking a door open. “It would probably be easier from the other side, you know,” the captain said. Very helpful, the captain. “I got it.” I kicked again, this time near the hinges. Metal squealed. After the next kick, it groaned. “Screw you, door!”

“I am greatly looking forward to finding out, ma chere.” “Don’t call me that. I’m going to make you wait until you’re begging for it. You do realize that, don’t you?” “A type of teasing I can easily reciprocate once you finally give in.”

“For some reason I can’t identify, I feel an overwhelming need to protect you. The primal side of me views you as mine, solely. I cannot pinpoint when this need took hold, just that it continues to grow stronger. I crave you constantly. I dream of you when I haven’t dreamed in over five hundred years. I take blood from others, but nothing quenches my insufferable thirst. We are not tied through blood, and even if we were, the bond shouldn’t be this consuming. Yet I am powerless to absolve my desire for you. In addition—” “Oh good, there’s more. I was worried the crazy was about to end.” “—you are incredibly valuable to me. Your abilities and lineage ensure it. There has never been anything as precious to me as you, be it as my beloved or as a bartering chip. My primal side wishes to claim you, but worse, my logical side realizes I must do that as a man claims a woman, as a husband claims a wife, in order to sustain your happiness. It is absolutely unheard of, not to mention absurd, for an elder to feel this way, yet…”

“I am at your mercy,” he said, his lips getting closer. “I have always been at your mercy.”

“I cannot describe how good you taste, mon amour. Your blood is truly the nectar of the gods. Sweet, spicy, complex. Better than the finest wine in all of France. Better than I could’ve possibly imagined. The smell does not do it justice. There is nothing on this planet that could possibly compare.” He straightened up, his eyes deep and intense. “I am speechless.”

“Soon,” he whispered, his eyes feasting on me. “But first, let me worship you.”