Lost Read Free Page B

were stronger. His satisfaction, her demise, it was how things were meant to be.
    He pinched the cap between his fingers, pulled it free, and then repeated the process on the other side.
    “You shouldn't have lied to me.” The words were soft. “I can face the truth. I’ll have to.” Her hand tugged at his sleeve.
    He spun, his canines fully exposed.
    She stepped into his arms and angled her head to look up at him.
    Her neck was pale and smooth. The scent of vanilla and cinnamon hit him anew. Flashes of warm kitchens and mothers welcoming their children home from school raced through his mind. He'd had no such comforts, no one to soothe his hurts. Just a father who thought hurts built strong vampires and stronger sons.
    “You know something, don't you? You're looking for something. What is it? Some animal? Have there been attacks?” She moved her hands to his shirt and bunched the material in her fists.
    “Attacks. Yes... probably.” He was distracted by the sight of her neck, by the blood he knew pulsed beneath the skin, but he also couldn't imagine Dorian had been roaming the canyon as long as he had and gone without attacking something, or someone.
    “My friends... do you think…?”
    The emotion in her voice pulled him out of his fog. He stroked his fingers down her face then her neck. “Everything—”
    She slapped his hand away. “Don't. Don't lie to me.” She twirled to the side, tried to break away, but he grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back against him.
    Her heart thumped in her chest, making him aware again of the blood that coursed through her veins. Hunger returned, but this time he had no urge to devour her, at least not as he had before.
    “Just a taste,” he murmured. Then, his fingers lost in her hair, he bent his head and dragged his fangs over her skin.
    She clutched his shirt again. Her head tilted back, and her spine stiffened.
    He expected her to fight him or faint, but she did neither. She waited as if she was as encompassed by the feel of his teeth pricking her skin as he was by the scent and feel of her in his arms.
    He paused, waiting again for her to object. She rose onto her toes and pushed his fangs into her neck.
    Blood dribbled into his mouth. It tasted like she smelled, of vanilla and warmth, of comfort and love. She, he knew, had never been the child standing out in the cold looking in on that scene in the kitchen. She had been in the center of the room, dipping cookies in milk and feeling loved.
    He should have hated her for it, but it only made her unexpected acceptance of him all the sweeter.
    He plunged his fangs into her vein.
    o0o
    Pain shot through Rachel's neck, like two needles jamming into her flesh. She jerked, and a cry exploded from her lips. Then Cameron's tongue lapped at her skin, and the pain was gone, was replaced by need... the need to be near him, to cling to him.
    She wriggled her body to get closer. Her breasts brushed his chest. Desire wrapped around her core and squeezed until her knees collapsed, and only Cameron's arms around her kept her from falling.
    “What...?” This was no simple kiss. She knew that, but what she was thinking— that Cameron was biting her and she was enjoying it— that was impossible.
    His mouth was pressed to her neck. She slid her hands up his chest and held on, willed him to keep doing whatever he was doing, not to stop, not to give her a chance to come out of this spell. Pleasure swelled inside her. Her eyes drifted closed, and she moaned. In the recesses of her mind, the knowledge that she shouldn't be doing this, that she should be hurrying to her friends' aid instead, flickered, but she couldn't make herself pull away.
    She sighed and gave up the fight. Cameron murmured something against her neck. His breath was warm. His tongue lapped at her skin slowly, almost reverently, like she was an exotic ice cream that he wanted to savor. His hands stroked her sides, moved to the undersides of her breasts. She arched her