“You’ll get used to me.” Curling over her, I sucked a nipple into my mouth and plucked at it with my teeth. When she started squirming and ordering me to move, I released the nipple with a pop. Slipping my arms around her thighs so they rested in the crook of my elbows, I slowly withdrew before sliding back in, wanting her to feel every inch. I couldn’t move my eyes from the sight of her body taking my entire length again and again.

“I don’t want gentle, Salem.”

“And I don’t want you in pain.”

“Yes, you do. Because then even once it’s over, I’ll still be able to feel you every time I move.” A mischievous smile curved her lips. “And you like that idea.”

My nostrils flared. Yep, that appealed to the possessive streak in me more than I cared to admit. She was playing a dangerous game here. I nipped at her mouth punishingly. “You shouldn’t push me, Ava.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet to warn me.” And, yes, she patted my chest.

I growled. “Careful.”

Clenching around my cock, she whispered against my mouth, “Make me feel you.”

And then I was hammering into her; it was rough, fierce, and wild. She arched into every thrust, her nails digging into my back. I’d needed this since laying eyes on her three months ago. Needed to feel her around my cock, needed to hear her moaning my name, needed to wipe away every memory of any other guy from her mind.

Right now, I needed to make her come so hard, I’d be burned into her skin.

I adjusted my angle slightly, so that I was hitting her g-spot with every thrust. Her eyes widened and her legs tightened around me. “I hope you like the feel of me inside you, baby, because there’ll be no one else after me. You’ll never take another person inside you. You’ll never feed from anyone but me. And no one will ever drink from you but me. Only me.”

Without warning, I bit down hard on her neck, feeling her blood – so potent and rich – flood my mouth. She tasted so fucking good, it made my head spin. She screamed as her body clenched and pulsed around my cock, milking me. My come literally exploded out of me.

A small set of teeth suddenly sank into my shoulder. Fuck. I’d heard that Sventé saliva was powerful enough to throw someone into an orgasm, but I hadn’t imagined it would be like this: heat and need slammed into me, seemed to fill my cock until I thought it would burst. And then it did, and I emptied myself inside her again as I growled her name into her throat.

As I waited for the aftershocks to ease, a deep sense of satisfaction settled in my gut. I’d finally claimed her. We’d exchanged blood; she was in me now, and I was in her.

It wasn’t until I’d settled us both into my bed that her eyelids flipped open. “Sleep, baby.” Holding her close, I watched as her dreamy post-climax high began to wear off and discomfort filled her. She was used to keeping things casual, didn’t know quite what to do now. It was almost funny. Her mouth bobbed open, as if she needed to say something to dispel the awkwardness but wasn’t sure what.

Eventually, she spoke. “Hey, I heard that after sex, some female spiders –”

“You don’t need to feel awkward, Ava,” I told her softly, amused in spite of myself. “You don’t need to say anything. All you need to do is sleep. Okay? Sleep.”

It took a few minutes for her body to finally relax, and it was at least another five minutes before she dozed off. I brushed her hair away from her face, deeply content to have her exactly where she belonged. She looked even more innocent while she slept.

To me, it was no little thing that she had allowed herself to fall asleep beside me. It was a sign of trust. People were vulnerable in such a state, but Ava was not only trusting me not to take advantage of that, but to keep her safe. And I would.

CHAPTER SIX

(Ava)

“Sex with Salem is like being at a concert,” I told Fletcher as we browsed through the clothes in one of the stores; he hadn’t stopped questioning me since we met outside our apartment building. “There’s the buzz of anticipation, the thrill of knowing you’re about to experience something amazing, the agonising wait for the show to begin, and then suddenly everything goes wild and you never know when it will end.”

Fletcher sighed dreamily. “I had a feeling all that intensity of his would make him a rock star in bed.” He added another skimpy dress to the pile hanging over my arm. He was truly a fabulous shopping partner – or ‘wardrobe assistant’, as he preferred.

As I’d made the decision to remain permanently at The Hollow, I now needed to stock up on clothing. Everyone knew that if you wanted help shopping, you went to Fletcher. It was like he hunted the clothes, sniffing out the right styles and sizes. He was also brutally honest without being insensitive, and he could help you look racy without appearing slutty.

“I’m glad you two finally had a tumble,” said Fletcher. “All that longing and sexual frustration that rolled off both of you like fumes was giving me migraines.”

I rolled my eyes at the drama queen who, like Sam, was a Brit.

“Is it something you intend to repeat, or was it just a nice jump to keep you going for a while?”

“It wasn’t a one-night stand.”

“Really?” he drawled. “So are we talking a fling or something serious?”

“Serious.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why is doubt and anxiety fairly wafting from you? Are you having second thoughts? Because I really don’t think he’ll back off.”

“No, it’s just…I worry that we’ll clash a lot. I’m very independent, and he’s seriously overprotective to the point of being interfering.”

“True. And that won’t stop or ease off,” he warned.

“Why do you say that?”

“Salem’s the type of person who expresses himself with actions. So if he cares about someone, it’s only natural that it will manifest itself into protectiveness. For him to let go of that would be like cutting off his avenue of expressing his feelings. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. I never thought of it that way. What else do you sense around him?”

Fletcher went back to browsing. “Not much. In fact, most of the time, I can’t pick up anything from him – which gets on my bloody nerves, because I don’t like being thwarted. But sometimes there’s a crack in his walls. Like when he’s around you.”