She squirmed from his grip. “You sound terrified!”

“Have you not learned your lesson? These vows are not to be played with.”

“Okay, okay. You know how I feel on the matter.” She fetched her combat boots and socks. “And you know how stubborn I can be.”

“Demons need sex multiple times a day,” he informed her, stating a fact well known by Loreans. Did he believe she was a Forbearer? Not particularly. But he believed she knew as little as they did. “I’m going on days without.” Not since the four nymphs.

When he recalled that rendezvous, he felt not even a twitch below the belt. But imagining Josephine up against that courtyard wall as he pistoned between her thighs got his shaft so stiff, it pained him. “Don’t you even want to try to land me through sex?”

She stomped into her boots. “Pass.”

No matter. Her resistance now would make her eventual surrender all the more rewarding. He turned to the set of drawers, opening one. Inside was a backpack and a scrapbook with the edges of pictures sticking out. She’d drawn abstract designs on the cover.

She sidled in front of him, closing the drawer with her hip. “I’m ready.”

“Now I know where to look when I return.” So many secrets for a master to uncover.

“Better make sure your return doesn’t have anything to do with the mission to kill Nïx, or I’ll never get to drink again.”

What if he went to a nymph covey and Nïx showed up? If he killed the Valkyrie there, that assassination would trigger Josephine’s vow! How could he leave the vampire at all? Again, the pressure to kill Nïx weighed on him. “Come, then. We need to start hunting. Besides, I’m keen to leave this pitiful place.”

“Go to hell, Ruin.”

His shoulders tensed. “I told you not to call me that.” The vampire did not want to challenge him, not when he was still hard from watching her change and his demon half suffered from lack of sex. Not when their futures were becoming more entangled with every hour. Pressure increased from all sides. “So shut the fuck up.”

Her eyes went wide. “You shut the fuck up, Ruin.”

Gods, she was sexy when pissed. “I wasn’t jesting about tanning your ass, little girl.” Picturing that got his demon in a lather.

She gave a haughty laugh. “Try it, old man.”

Her defiance . . . it called up his every primal need to pin her down and make her submit. To cover her and rut till the pressure within him relented. “You wouldn’t be able to sit for days.”

“I dare you, Ruin.” She shoved at his chest with a flash of her fangs.

Like flipping some kind of switch.

The demon in him reacted outside of Rune’s control. He lunged at her, one hand gripping the back of her head, the other palming her ass as they flew into the wall. Cinder blocks cracked. He trailed his lips down her neck. “You defy me?” She wouldn’t if I marked her. She’d be too busy coming, surrendering. “When I’m so much stronger than you?” She’d respect the male who mastered her.

“Wall’s still standing. Is that all you got, limp dick?”

He shoved between her legs. “I’ve got your fucking limp—AHHH!”

She’d sunk her sharp little fangs into his neck.

He threw back his head. Fighting not to come at once, he growled, “You can’t get enough of me!”

She nodded, lapping and sucking.

“Ah, gods, that’s it, baby. Drink me. I want you to swallow me down.” Using his grip on her ass to hold her in place, he rocked his swollen shaft between her thighs. I need on her, in her.

She couldn’t seem to get close enough to him either. Her claws dug into his back, her legs locking around his waist.

This tiny creature wants me as prey. The thought made his balls ache. “Suck me. Drain me!”

“Ummm.” She met him, grinding her sex against him faster.

“Ah, I scent you! Your tight little pussy gets so wet. Sweet and slick. Can’t stop thinking about your taste.” He tried to hold back, to draw out their pleasure. But he could hear her swallowing as she consumed him, could imagine his hot lifeblood filling her lush body, coursing all over her. “Ah, fuck,” he groaned. “Too good! You going to come for me?”

She whimpered against his neck, sucking wantonly, grinding, grinding. . . .

“Harder!” His shaft throbbed, his ballsac tightening. “You told me you’d fuck me with your fangs—do it.”

She dug her claws in deep, and she bit down hard.

His mind turned over. His cock jerked in his pants. He shoved and shoved, words bursting from his lips. Pleasure racked him, whipped him, made his knees go weak. His bellow was like an explosion from his lungs.

She released her bite to throw back her head. Still writhing on him, she screamed, her pale throat working.

He rasped at her ear, “That’s it. You like the way I make you come. . . .”

When she finished with a shiver, she met his gaze. Her irises were black, her lips so plump as she licked them for more of his taste.

They caught their breath, still languidly moving against each other. The moment was thick with . . . something. He felt as if he might say words he’d regret. Or she might.

But he couldn’t seem to let her go—

A knock sounded, and she hissed at the door.

He reluctantly set her down, then adjusted his sensitive cock. Curious how she would interact with others—he’d only seen her with Nïx—he said, “By all means.”