Chapter Six

I only realized the gravity of the situation I was in upon seeing Calum Reed sitting on the foot of his king-sized bed, wearing nothing but a bath robe and holding a flute of champagne in one hand. I’ve always thought how pale his skin was, but the sliver of chest muscle that peeked through his robe was much paler.

Feeling undeniably self-conscious and embarrassed with each passing second, I visibly shrank into the identical robe I was wearing. My arms crossed over my chest in an attempt to hide myself, but I still felt as exposed as ever. When I noticed a sly, amused smirk form on his lips, I knew then that there was no use left to pretend that I wasn’t bothered at all.

“Can’t we do this while dressed?” I asked him in a low voice while awkwardly hovering by his bedroom door and fiddling with the fabric of my robe. “I don’t see why I have to look like…this.”

He gulped down the remaining contents of his glass before standing up to set it down on one of his bedside tables. For a moment, I thought he was going to come to me in all his half-naked glory and instinctively backed myself against the door. “I could be a messy eater at times, dear Avery.”

“W-What?” I choked on my own saliva as my stomach made a nervous flip. An image of my lifeless, bloody body on his king-sized bed suddenly haunted me.

“There is no need for you to be afraid,” Calum Reed set his red eyes on me, his provocative delight still blatantly evident. “I have been craving for your sweet blood so badly. And here you are at last, in the same room as I, yet I let you stand idly by the door. I hope that is testament enough as to how patient I am with you.”

I wasn’t sure whether he was being manipulative or genuine. Either way, it worked. “I’m sorry.”

He gestured for me to sit on the bed, and I obeyed without hesitation. My heart pounded rapidly against my chest and beads of sweat slid down the sides of my face. Just when I thought that I was already nervous enough as is, a loud gasp escaped my mouth upon seeing Calum Reed’s canines grow sharper and longer. His red eyes were brighter than I’ve ever seen them before.

My body froze in fear as he slowly approached me. A few moments later, through my vision blurred with tears, I noticed how his smirk dropped into a sympathetic frown. He positioned himself on the bed beside me before wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

I felt humiliated for showing weakness, so I tried to resist his embrace. But he was surprisingly stronger than I was. Calum Reed held on tighter and buried my face into the crook of his neck while gently stroking my hair.

“Worry not, there is no shame in being afraid,” he whispered in my ear.

My voice came out as a whimper. “Let me go.”

He did as I told him, except he still held me by my shoulders. “You will get over the fear soon after we begin, I promise.”

For some reason, his words and the soothing voice he paired it with calmed me down. I lifted my chin to look up at him and gauge just how sincere he was. To my surprise, the eagerness and empathy in his red eyes seemed genuine.

My body began to relax unknowingly. He then leaned in slowly, opening his mouth wider to bare his canines, while relentlessly shushing me in comfort to make sure that I wouldn’t panic again. The slid the robe down my shoulder, further exposing my body to him, but I felt no shame this time.

My skin first came in contact with the tip of his nose. He traced the shape of my neck with it for a few moments before he finally sank his teeth into my flesh. I gasped, both in surprise and pain, and felt the strength leave my body. However, the pain strangely subsided shortly after. My body temperature rose and every inch of my skin tingled.

“What is happening?” I whispered to him in between deep breaths. My hands clawed onto his chest. “My body feels…weird.”

When Calum Reed pulled away to meet my eyes, my blood tainted the corners of his lips. He licked them off before speaking, “Did I not tell you about the side effects?”

“No,” I replied with a shudder. He looked rather…seductive. It was taking almost all of my remaining strength, which wasn’t much to begin with, to not throw myself at him.

“Vampires inject aphrodisiac into our prey whenever we feed,” he began to explain, leaning in close enough that his breath was tickling my lips. Upon noticing that his antics were indeed affecting me, a confident smirk broke out on his face. “That way, the process would be pleasurable for both of us.”

A blush crept up to my cheeks. With my hands on his chest, I immediately pushed him away, but I couldn’t even get him to budge with how weak my body felt. “Just get it over with so I can leave.”

“If you say so.”

I felt his tongue glide across the spot on my neck where he had bitten me first before going to my other shoulder and burying his teeth into my flesh once more. I gasped and my back arched instinctively. As he fed on my blood, he moaned in satisfaction against my skin and tightened his hold on me. The sound of his deep voice made me squirm.

Of course, my reaction did not go unnoticed. He chuckled in my ear before untying my robe easily with one hand. It slid off my body and fell onto the floor, leaving me fully exposed to him. I remembered meeting him in the very same bedchamber for the first time. I was naked and ashamed, but this time was different. Once he got rid of my clothing, it felt freeing, as if I’ve been wanting him to strip me naked for the longest time.

He gently pushed me onto the bed and positioned himself on top of me, resting his weight on one elbow. Not long after, he let his free hand roam my body, caressing me in all the right places. His touch left sparks in their wake, making me want more. The feeling was overwhelming that, for a few moments, I had forgotten that the man was feeding on my blood.

I held his arm and, in between ragged breaths, mumbled, “This isn’t enough.”

He pulled away to look me in the eye, an amused smirk playing on his lips. His usual graceful demeanor was long gone. “As much as I would love to take you up on that offer, Avery dear, that is the aphrodisiac talking.”

“I know,” I told him. It was true. I was well aware that me craving for his touch and wanting to be held were only caused by the aphrodisiac Calum Reed was injecting into my blood stream, but I couldn’t care less. “Just do it, it’s fine.”

“You will regret it in the morning.”

“Why are you being such a gentleman right now?” I huffed in frustration and slung my arms around his neck to pull him closer in an attempt to prove that I was indeed alright with going further than just touching. “You didn’t think twice to bind me to you and etch your mark over my tattoo.”

He sighed, “Your blood was captivating, I did not want to let you go. Thus, I decided to take advantage of the fact that you were weak.”

“So…” I trailed off my sentence as I tilted my head to the side to reveal the bleeding wound on my neck. “Is my blood not captivating enough right now?”

I swore his eyes shone brighter at the sight and his breaths shallowed. His reaction made me smile. Then, I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood. His eyes immediately darted to my mouth as I expected, desire evident on his face.

He caught himself gaping and shook his head to snap out of his thoughts, much to my dismay. “The last thing I want is to scare you off and starve to death.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

The moment the words left my mouth, he instantly swooped in and locked his mouth with mine, but not without licking the blood from the cut on my lip. I didn’t know what exactly I was expecting, but he was a much better kisser than I thought.

He grinded his hips against mine, and I felt the hard bulge underneath his robe, while his hand busied with tracing the curves of my breasts. I moaned into the kiss and pulled him closer, running my fingers through his long, dark locks. Calum Reed then licked my bottom lip once more, his tongue begging for entrance. I gladly complied and opened my mouth a little to welcome him and the metallic taste of my blood.

A few moments later, he pulled away from the kiss, but only to trace even more kisses down my neck and my collarbones until he was sucking on an erect nipple. My shoulders jerked back immediately in response.

“Cal…” I breathed out in between moans, failing to even finish saying his name. My hands formed into fists on his hair.

He looked up at me with a mischievous smile. “I love the nickname, Avery dear.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue so I only returned the smile before propping myself up to my elbows. The tips of our noses grazed slightly. “Just hurry…”

“You are being surprisingly impatient,” he chuckled and planted a kiss on my lips. “But I should ask…Is this your first time?”

“No, so it’s fine.”

“Good,” he untied his robe and revealed his nakedness underneath. “I was in no mood to take it slow anyway.”