Chapter 9

HAVEN

I woke up with Grace nestled against my chest. The morning light made her golden hair glow. She was breathing softly, and I felt a pang of hunger.

It was always more intense when I first woke up, but it could wait. I wanted to enjoy the sight of her sleeping form.

I would never forget how she felt around me for the first time. I almost bit her to heighten our pleasure, but she needed to know what I was before I did that.

I let my hands glide gently over her curves beneath the white sheets. I had dreamed of this moment, and now that it was real, she felt even better than I had imagined.

She stirred against me and buried her face deeper into my chest. I smiled down at her and kissed her softly, stroking her hair.

She hummed in pleasure, making my cock throb. It was already hard, but she was just too much. Her breasts brushed against my chest with each breath she took, and it was enough to drive me wild.

“Grace,” I whispered softly.

She opened her honey-colored eyes and focused on me. She smiled, and I smiled back at her. She was so breathtaking, my girl.

“Haven...” She sighed.

I leaned in to kiss her softly but stopped her when she tried to deepen it. It wasn’t a good idea in my current state, or I would end up drinking her blood. I wouldn’t be able to stop if she excited me further.

She pouted, and it was adorable. I chuckled as I rested my forehead against hers.

“I need to talk to you before we do anything else,” I said.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, sweetheart. You were amazing. I just...need to tell you a bit more about me,” I said softly.

She wrapped her arms around my waist, and her gaze met mine. She was giving me her full attention, and I appreciated that.

“Last night was...incredible, but I don’t usually do vanilla sex,” I explained. “I’m into BDSM, and I’m a dominant.”

Her eyes widened, but I didn’t see fear in them, just curiosity and desire. Good. The first part was going better than expected.

“I...I’m ready to learn if that’s what you need,” she answered. “I’ve read a bit about it, and I have to admit that...I’m curious.”

“I’ll teach you to be a good submissive. Don’t worry,” I said, amused. “You’ll see that you’ll be treated so well if you trust me with your body and heart. I felt how we complete each other, and I have been looking for that for a long time.”

She beamed at me, and I kissed her forehead. Now for the hard part.

“That’s not all you need to know about me, and that is probably the biggest part,” I continued.

“If you have some unusual kinks related to BDSM, I’m sure that we can discuss that,” she said gently.

“It’s not really related,” I said, amused. “I’m...I’m a vampire.”

She looked at me, frozen. I waited for her to process the information, and she finally frowned. That wasn’t easy to accept, but I didn’t want to hide this information any longer, especially from her.

“Why are you telling me this? It’s daytime, and you’re obviously not burning, so don’t say weird things like that.”

“I’m not that kind of vampire, so I won’t burn,” I answered. “If you don’t believe me...I’ll show you my fangs. Don’t worry. I would never hurt you, okay?”

I moved away from her enough so she could see my whole face and grinned broadly. It was bad manners to show our fangs unless we were eating, but it was the only way for Grace to believe me.

If I needed to show my wings, I wasn’t sure that she would take it well. Not all vampires had them, after all.

I saw her face fall in pure shock as she saw my fangs. I supposed that it was impressive for a human to see them, but in their minds, fangs on a human face could only mean vampire.

“So you...drink blood?” she asked, careful.

“Yes. Mostly it comes from the blood bank or willing donors,” I said.

Her blood would be the best for me because she was mine, but I would tell her that later. I didn’t want to scare her when she was taking it so well for now.

“Is that why you don’t eat?”

“Yes. I don’t need to eat. I do it when I work, but it tastes like ashes. I only need blood to live.”

“Do you...want to drink mine?” she asked, worried.

“Only if you want to. I would never do that if you don’t consent. It would actually be really pleasurable for you because...biting someone is very sexual and intimate to us.”

She blushed as she looked back at me. Now the fear was gone and the curiosity had replaced it. I preferred that, and I held my breath as I let her decide what she wanted to do.

“Are you...hungry right now?” she asked.

“Always when I wake up, but if you don’t want me to bite you yet, I have blood in my fridge,” I said, trying to remain neutral.

Drinking her blood would be hard to do without marking her, but I would wait to talk about that. I needed to take the information about vampires one step at a time.

She seemed to think about it, and then she gave me a pained look. Why? Why did she look so hurt?

“Does that mean that...if I don’t let you drink my blood...you’re going to do that very intimate gesture with someone else?”

It was my turn to be shocked. She understood very well what the bite meant to us and that we would never do that at home to anyone. I smiled tenderly at her. If only she knew.

“Nope. Actually, I haven’t done that with anyone else since I met you,” I told her. ~Fourteen years ago, ~I thought to myself.

Sure, I’d drained the life from some bad guys, but I hadn’t bitten anyone for pleasure or shared blood with anyone since her. She was the only one I craved. The thought of tasting her blood when she was ready was thrilling. Her scent was already heady.

“Really?” Her face lit up.

“Absolutely. It would be like cheating. That’s why you can’t let any other vampire do that to you. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

“So...you can drink another vampire’s blood?”

“Yeah. It’s even more intimate than with a human, but we can talk about that another time. Right now, I need to know what you want to do. I’m getting dangerously hungry, and talking about it...isn’t helping.”

She seemed to think it over for a moment, then nodded. ~Damn. ~This was going to be tough, but I found I had a lot more patience when it came to her.

“What should I do?” she asked.

“Just relax and trust me,” I told her, pulling her back against my chest and wrapping my arm around her waist.

I brushed her hair aside and kissed the base of her neck. I’d mark her there another time, but for now, it was the perfect spot to drink from. I kissed her again, and she relaxed a little more into me.

Then I bit her.

She tensed for a moment, then her breathing sped up, signaling that she was enjoying my bite. Her blood began to flow into my mouth as I took my first gulp.

~It was fucking incredible.~

It tasted amazing. Like some rare wine. And the flavor... It was just like her scent: sweet and intoxicating. I’d never tasted anything so good.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop. That was always the risk with people like her, whose blood was irresistible to vampires, but I cared too much about her to hurt her.

She moaned my name, and a tear of pleasure rolled down her cheek. She’d done the same thing every time I’d made her climax last night.

I couldn’t deny that I was ready to explode against her backside. The bite wasn’t just pleasurable for the one receiving it; it was incredible for us too, especially when we had a bond like the one I shared with Grace.

She began to grind her backside against my hard cock, and I didn’t stop her. I didn’t want to stop her. Next time, I wanted to bite her during sex. That would push her over the edge, and she was so adorable when she climaxed.

I couldn’t handle her grinding any longer, so I came on her back, and she climaxed too, crying out. I stopped drinking her blood so she wouldn’t faint, and I licked the wound clean to close it. She’d barely have a mark, but that was enough for me.

Her taste still lingered in my mouth as she turned to kiss me. She was so passionate, my Grace.

“Haven...take me,” she whispered against my lips, her hands moving to my hard shaft and starting to pump. ~Fuck me. ~How did I get so lucky to have a soulmate this hot?