Hellfire

Chapter Thirty-Five

I stood, cap tilted as my gaze blazed a hole in the wall of the alley, barely keeping my temper under control as the wanton cries of the woman Lucius fed from. She was bundled up against his chest, his teeth in her throat, her manicured hands clinging to him as an expression of pure rapture flushed her face.

I was both irritated and utterly embarrassed that that was what I was like when he fed from me. Screaming with pleasure, writhing in ecstasy. And in the pit of my belly jealousy writhed like a snake.

The woman's lustful cries thankfully ended slowly as his teeth slipped from her pale throat. She clung to him, her mouth trying to catch his before his thumb pressed against her lips expertly.

'Go home.' Lucius commanded frigidly.

She sighed at hearing his baritone voice and nodded dopily with obedience. She slipped away from him, unsteadily heading out into the nightlife of Bath before vanishing round the corner.

'Had enough?' I asked him tersely, eyeing him as he wiped the blood from his lips.

'I shouldn't be a danger to you for now.'

I sighed, a rush of irritation coming out in a spark of embers, something Lucius didn't fail to notice. His brow arced lazily, amusement beginning to shine.

'You're annoyed.' He stated curiously.

I shot him a scowl. 'I thought you said you make humans feel nothing when you feed.'

'I did, until recently, but I've pent up venom most days.'

'Has your addiction caused that?'

Lucius said nothing, just watched me intently with a darkening expression, greed glittering in his hooded gaze. He wasn't going to say.

'Fine. Keep your secrets.' I grumbled and pushed away from the wall, striding off down the alley with Thorn bumping at my hip.

Lucius prowled after me with feline silence, his cold breathing against my heat, his gazing lingering on me and in such a manner that made my muscles bunch and my fire curl in defiance. I forced myself to be glad he'd fed. He didn't need my blood for a little longer, and he'd be stronger now after yesterday. Still, I couldn't shake the clinging dislike that he'd bitten another and pleased them like that. It made me feel stupidly possessive, as if he'd wronged me in some way. I shook the thought away. I had Ella to focus on.

We moved into a car park, quiet as most of the cars would be left the entire night, abandoned by night revellers and collected in the morning.

'You said it was around here your bats seemed to lose them?'

'Yes.' Lucius purred as he loomed beside me, his body rippling with strength and wolfish alertness shining beneath the brim of his trilby. The feed had definitely given him a boost. 'See if you can find anything I can't.'

I didn't respond, just slipped out between the cars, my flames flickering within my eyes like wildfire, my senses primed and straining my hearing and scent. I tried to focus on Ella and the emerald hellfire the witch had produced, trying to sense where they had gone.

'It felt warm, not hot.' I reminded myself under my breath.

But my attention slid to Lucius prowling in the shadows as he patrolled the perimeter, ensuring no one saw my hellfire and no one snuck up on me. I could see the male strength of him rippling, his body dangerously fluid, vibrant eyes shining like ice. I found my attention slipping to him, listening to his heartbeat thumping that lazy, powerful beat, his movements making the barest noise.

Then I was thinking of that woman embraced by him. His teeth pleasuring her in that way he did to me. I wondered if it excited him the same way. If it mattered who he bit, so long as he fed. Jealousy squirmed in my belly and sparked hot embers into my lungs, embarrassment flaming the back of my neck that I was like that. Seeing that feed just highlighted the differences for us; the sexual pleasure for me and the necessity for him. It made me feel stupid.