The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12)(92)
Author: J.R. Ward

As confusion played over his handsome features, she figured she might as well accept the help. At this point, she was incapable of lifting herself off the floor.

“Slowly,” she said gruffly. “Please?”

Trez frowned, but was gentle as he lifted her to her feet. “Are you all right?”

She bought herself some time by making a production of tying her robe together. Meanwhile, her joints were screaming, particularly her hips and back.

Forcing a smile onto her face, she tried not to get spooked. But this was how it had started for her sisters. Each one of them.

“Shall we?” she said with determination.

Trez’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed even further. But then he shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’ll just pull on some clothes.”

“I’ll wait in the hall.”

Through will alone, she made it across the bedroom and out into the corridor. By the time she closed the door behind her, she was choked of breath—

Instantly, her body experienced an internal shift of incredible power. In a way that meant only one thing: Someone was in her needing.

The queen? she thought with astonishment as she looked to the vaulted entrance of the First Family’s private quarters.

Now that would be momentous.

Easing back against the wall, she thought of massaging Trez’s shoulders and wished there was an equivalent for her own body. There was none. No cure, no slowing the disease.

No telling how long she had left.

THIRTY-SIX

Beth had no choice but to give herself up to her body’s roaring demands. And the only respite she got? Every time Wrath released into her, there was a brief reprieve—before the grinding need started its ascent once again.

“Take my vein,” Wrath said roughly. “Take it…”

She didn’t even know whether she was on her back or her belly, what room she was in, what time it was. But the instant his throat came up to her mouth, she was crystal clear on the bite: Her fangs punched out and she used them hard, cranking down on Wrath’s flesh, breaking the surface and going deep, freeing up the other thing she needed from him.

Oh, the power of him. As her mouth was filled, she was struck once again by the incredible impact his blood had on her. With her strength flagging even as the needing raged on, and her body aching everywhere as if she’d been through a baler, she was nonetheless fortified from the very first draw, better able to continue—even though it wasn’t like she had a choice.

As she had to release his vein to suck some air in, she couldn’t believe she had volunteered for this. She must have been crazy, some stupid-ass romantic vision of having a baaaaaaaaby getting in the way of twelve kinds of reality.

Relocking on Wrath’s throat, he somehow managed to keep pumping even as she stayed on his vein, his erection going in and out, the deep digs and sharp removals resonating throughout her torso, her head rocking up and down, her hips absorbing his weight. Slick with sweat, their bodies moved together with such seamless communion, she didn’t know where hers left off and his began.

A sudden change in tempo told her he was gearing up for another orgasm, and she needed it from—

Wrath reared his head back, and her fangs ripped his neck, but he didn’t seem to care.

Didn’t seem to even notice.

Jesus, he was magnificent: Through the haze of the sex, she watched him strain, his lips curling back, his own fangs getting exposed, his hair flowing away from its widow’s peak as his sightless, pale green eyes flared wide and then squeezed shut.

And then it was her turn, her core grabbing at his arousal, greedy for what he ejaculated into her, the pleasure so acute that it was a kind of agony.

Just as the contractions were beginning to slow, she braced herself for the next wave, preparing for yet another next round of the bone-crushing urge to take over …

When it didn’t immediately come, she looked around, as if the needing were a third party that just might have left the—

Oh, wow. They were still in the bathroom. On the floor.

Wrath collapsed against her, his head falling so far, so hard that she heard his forehead knock against the marble.

As the respite grew longer, she probably should have started to go cold, but the inferno in her body kept both of them plenty warm—

A whirring sound from over the tub brought her head around. The shutters were going down for the day, the panels locking into place at the sills.

So this had been going on for … eight hours? Nine?

There were no sounds from downstairs, but then the Brothers had probably all been affected by her hormones. The females as well.

Wrath lifted himself up, his muscles straining, his arms trembling. “How are you?”

Beth opened her mouth to answer, but only a croak came out.

“You’re going to want my vein still,” he said, brushing a strand of hair back from her face. “You need it.”

“What about—” As her voice cracked, she cleared her throat. “What about you?”

He looked gaunt, his cheeks hollowed out as if he’d lost twenty-five pounds—but he shook his head. “My only concern is you.”

The image of him grew wavy as tears speared.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “Oh, God … I’m so sorry.”

“About what?”

“This … whole thing.”

He shook his head. “This would have happened sooner or later.”

“But I—”

Wrath dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her softly. “No more of that. We go forward from tonight. Whatever happens … we f**king deal, okay?”

There was no time for her to reply. Abruptly, the needing geared up once again, that tide rising, the heat uncoiling in her sex and driving right into her heart.

“Oh, God,” she moaned, “I thought it was over.”

“Not yet.” He didn’t seem surprised at all. “We’re not finished…”

iAm was standing over the stove down in the kitchen when he sensed his brother’s appearance. He didn’t even need to turn around from the pot of stew he’d thrown together: the air in the room changed—and not in a good way.

Trez was also not alone. And he knew that not because he caught Selena’s scent … but because he caught his brother’s.

iAm cursed under his breath as he stirred. The motherfucker had bonded.

Fantastic.

Hell, iAm had had some hope that, with all the hormones flooding the household, whatever sex those two had gotten down with had been the result of someone else’s needing.