Free Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2) by Angeline Kace

on her back, the other curled around the base of her head, guiding her to meet my lips.
    I lose myself in the dance of her lips, the tango of our tongues. She consumes me in a way I never dreamed possible, a way the beginning stages of an unhealthy addiction reveals itself.
    Control. That’s what rules my decisions, my actions, my life. But with Brooke, all that is forgotten as soon as she steps foot into my room. I’ll gladly give it up to lose myself in her.
    I stroke her tongue a few more times before I regain enough composure to pull away. When I do, her eyes reflect everything I’m struggling with: desire and pain at the loss of our connection, love, affinity.
    “Don’t look at me like that when we’re at the Tomics’ house,” I say.
    That one line snaps her back to the task at hand. She narrows her eyes at me.
    “They can’t know how you feel for me. It will make you look bad.”
    Confusion molds into anger as her forehead creases. “I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t want to be a part of this oppressive world.”
    I clasp her hands. “I know, Slatki, but we can’t turn back now. This is our best option. Our only option.”
    “But she’s going to bite me.” Her face conveys everything she associates with the word bite : intimacy, fear of sharing that with a stranger, feeling unsettled about being on the receiving end.
    “It won’t be like it was when you bit me. It’ll only serve the purpose of nutrition for her.”
    Brooke doesn’t seem appeased. “Yeah, but what if it hurts?”
    I raise an eyebrow at her. “You want me to bite you?” This is insane, but I can’t stop myself from asking.
    Surprise, and then something deeper and warmer flashes across her face, replacing all signs of fear. “Yes,” she whispers.
    I’m being selfish. This is more for me than it is to show her the bite doesn’t have to hurt. I want it, though.
    I study her body, trying to find the ideal place to not only bite her but that will be concealed by her dress and whatever she might wear tomorrow. “There are rules against what we’re about to do. Are you sure you want to do it?”
    “I know it’s forbidden to let you bite me, but I want my first time . . . to be with you.” Her neck muscles flex as if she’s anxious.
    “What you’re about to feel . . . you won’t feel that when Mrs. Tomic bites you. The only thing similar will be the pinch and burn as my teeth sink in, but once that fades, nothing will be the same.” I lock eyes with her. “Do you understand?”
    I’m offering her a way out, but also an experience the two of us might never share again. I hope she gives it to me.
    It’s unheard of for an active Društvo to allow a Zao Duh to bite them. And it’s against everything the Pijawikas believe in to ever allow themselves to be bitten by a Zao Duh.
    “Bite me,” she says.
    “You said we leave in fifteen minutes?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That leaves us eleven. Turn around.”
    She does but tilts her head back to look at me.
    I grab the zipper on the back of her dress and slowly unzip it, surveying the delicate skin underneath. The cut of the dress is somewhat low, so I go beyond her bra line.
    Dear God, she isn’t wearing one. My heart leaps and my mouth waters.
    This is actually perfect.
    I release her zipper and place my hand under the material. I glide it across her silky skin to the side of her rib and stop at the base of her shoulder blade. “Right here,” I say as I lightly pinch the skin.
    “Okay,” she says on a heavy breath.
    I ease the dress slightly down her shoulder to offer enough give for me to reach the spot.
    I wet my lips. Anticipation skips down my stomach to my groin.
    I drop my head to a lick away from her skin, and she shivers when my breath strokes her on my exhale.
    I can’t wait any longer.
    I latch my mouth over her flesh, gently grabbing her skin between my teeth before I extend my fangs.
    She quietly whimpers when the skin breaks, but then her blood meets my