MIRA

✨Chapter Seven ✨

"Yes," he replied, simply. With one more sweep of his hands, he pushed the sleeves of her dress off her shoulders and few inches down her arms, effectively locking them in place and exposing more of her chest. One arm slid around her waist and held her body to his. He placed the other hand over her heart, to touch the place where her pulse had quickened while he kissed her. Warmth spread outward from beneath his fingers. Her skin was soft to the touch. Rillan leaned down again, placing small kisses around her jawline and down her neck.

Mira felt Rillan's kisses like the fluttering of butterflies against her skin. When his hand moved from over her heart, to caress her breast, she sighed. He hooked fingers into the bodice of her dress, and one n****e was caught between the cool, slender digits. It swelled, becoming a hard nub, and pressed against the fabric of the dress. His fingers tightened around that nub, squeezing and pinching.

She was so distracted by that pinch, Mira almost didn't feel the sharp teeth pierce her skin just above her breast. She cried out in surprise and pain, but he couldn't stop. After piercing pain where his teeth had entered, she could only feel Rillan's mouth moving against her skin. It was like a long, slow kiss. Even this is gentle, she thought, idly. I wonder what it tastes like. Time nearly stopped while he took her blood from her breast. Mira lifted her hands to his head and her fingers stroked into his hair.

His fingers had not stopped squeezing and twisting her n****e. It was a strange combination of pleasure and pain. The bite and then pressing lips and stroking tongue on her flesh. The pinching and fondling of her breast. Mira closed her eyes and listened as he made suckling noises at her breast. She heard soft moans and gasps as well, and it took her a moment to identify that they were coming from her mouth. When he released her breast, she could feel his absence. Somehow his taking from her had seemed completely right, at that moment. She was a little dazed. When she felt his lips press against hers she was surprised at first. Then she found herself wantonly leaning into the kiss. Her hands still in his hair urged him to go farther. She could taste warmth and copper and she realized it was her blood in his mouth.

Rillan straightened, and waited until Mira opened her eyes before speaking. "It's pleasure and pain," he said. "A very potent combination."

Mira agreed with a silent nod, watching him lick his lips of the fresh blood, in fascination. "I don't know what I expected."

"You expected I would rip your pretty dress, and take everything you had to offer." Rillan sighed, disappointed. "You expected an act of violence. In a week, you might have gotten what you expected." He leaned down to where his teeth punctured her skin and tongued around the holes, lapping at the trickle of blood that still oozed. Mira shivered again, in pleasure. Her skin burned where his tongue touched her. "They do you and your sisters a disservice sending you here unprepared," he said in between strokes of his tongue on her skin.

Mira didn't reply. She couldn't have formed words if she wanted to. Besides, he was absolutely right, she had not been prepared for any of this. She had not been prepared for the darkness of the cave or how lonely she would feel. She had not been prepared for his gentle touch. She had definitely not been prepared for the arousal she was now feeling. Her arms reached for his neck, wanting to hold him to her breast. Rillan's fangs caught the edge of her dress and pulled down, freeing both breasts. He took a ragged breath before taking one n****e into his mouth and sucking.

Shrugging her arms out of the sleeves, Mira reached for Rillan. She found the ties to his shirt, and tugged. The knot untied and a portion of Rillan's chest was exposed to her touch. Mira traced a fingertip down the center of his chest and found the next tie, just above the buttons of his vest. In her haste, she pulled a little harder than she intended, ripping the fabric of the shirt and popping one of the buttons on his vest. She didn't hear the sound, there was rushing in her ears, like water. All she noticed was that it was easier to remove both the shirt and vest at the same time, pushing them down around his arms as Rillan had done with her dress.

Rillan raised his arms to circle her waist, not realizing that she hadn't quite finished with his shirt. His muscles flexed and the sound of ripping material was too loud for either of them to ignore. For a moment, they both stopped, a little surprised. Rillan released her n****e from his lips, looking down at his shredded shirt and bare chest. "You're stronger than you look, girl," he said, smiling. Then he laughed. It rang through the cavern, and echoed in Mira's ears. The terrible intensity which had been constant in his expression broke with that laugh, and she couldn't help but smile along with him.

"Lord Tiernay, are you mocking me," Mira asked, coyly pushing her lips down into a frown. Rillan licked his lips and grinned at her. A day ago, the sight of his fangs bared like that would have scared Mira almost to the point of running from her duty. But now, she grinned back, laughing with him as he shifted his weight to sweep her into his arms and swing her around to the bed. He laid her down gently, and pulled her dress completely off her body. He took only the care needed to make sure the dress didn't tear as he removed it, then tossed it away into a corner. As he finished undressing himself, Mira closed her eyes and waited, not exactly comfortable, but not frightened anymore.

She could almost feel his gaze on her skin. He was watching her chest rise and fall, listening to the shallow breath. Rillan still hungered for her blood, but he wanted to taste the rest of her first. He knelt at the edge of the bed, and spread Mira's legs apart. Bringing his face close to her foot, he licked the heel. Mira felt his tongue tickle her insole, then gasped when the warmth of his mouth engulfed her big toe. He sucked and licked that toe, then the other four before dragging his tongue up the inside of her leg. Rillan stopped just short of her s*x, then repeated what he'd just done on the other leg, again starting at the toes and teasing his tongue up Mira's thigh.

Rillan stared at the pink folds as he raised his hand to spread the lips. With one finger, he barely stroked the nub at the top of the long slit, causing Mira's body to writhe. Her fingers clutched the silken blankets in anticipation. Rillan trailed his tongue along the inside of her thigh and down into the dip just beside her s*x. He listened to her moan hungrily as he worked his way with agonizingly slow strokes closer and closer to her center, He took his time liking her outer lips and then dipping into the valley beside the soft folds of her vulva. Her clit protruded proudly from its little hood and quivered, begging him to suck on it.

Rillan delighted in the sounds of her pleasure. There was something about still being capable of pleasing her that made him feel less of the beast he believed himself to be. Each time his tongue touched her gently needy moan erupted from her lips. He wasn't even sure she realized that she was making the sounds. But he never wanted her to stop.

Her s*x dripped with desire and Cullen finally gave in and let himself taste her. His tongue dipped deftly into her center. In one long stroke from her core to her clit she came for him. Rillan watched as Mira's body trembles and her breath caught in her chest. He sat up to stare at her face and reached down to tease her swollen clit as she convulsed. Her back arched up off the bed and her hands gripping the blankets.

When the waves of pleasure subsided she stared up at him in wonder. He smiled as he looked down into her eyes. Mira wondered at the fact that the smile seemed so superficial. He wanted more of something. She sat up and stared into his eyes. She blushed a bit under his gaze. Rillan reminded himself that the minute she saw the other side of him she'd beg for death as all the others had. He had given up thinking that the next would be different a long time ago. Enjoy this moment, he said to himself. She's sweet and willing. She believes she can save you right now. Let her, enjoy her.

Mira couldn't even begin to imagine what caused the emptiness she saw when she looked into his eyes. But she desperately wanted to do something to change it. She reached up to touch his face and he closed his eyes, leaning into her hand. Then his hand came up to the back of hers. "Make me feel like that again," she asked timidly.

The smile came back to his mouth and he turned to her hand, kissing her palm, before pushing her back down on the bed. "As you wish," was all he said.