Free Bound by Blood: Two Novellas of Paranormal Romance by Sarah Bella

The women went out and worked and the men stayed home and tended house. Men raised our young, and women were the primary breadwinners. They were viewed as weaker – and it was true, at least partly.
    Physically, female vampyres were significantly stronger than men were. I never understood the science of it, but it had something to do with our blood. Feeding from a female vampyre was much more beneficial than feeding from a male was, too. You gained more power, more strength, everything.
    I bided my time waiting for her, watching her walk up and down the aisles. I watched her sample lube flavors and hold the lingerie up to her chest for his approval. Long minutes passed while I checked out the other three customers in the store until we were alone, the three of us.
    When she and her boy toy walked up to my counter with a double dong, I raised my eyebrow. Usually girls who came in with their boyfriend, husband or donor left with a basket full of vibrating things, not something they would use to penetrate their lover. The double dong gave me more questions than answers. Was the other end for him?A girlfriend?Was she into threesomes?Could I get in on that action?
    I could picture her, splayed on her back on my checkout counter, writhing while I fucked her with that toy. While I made her boyfriend watch.
    He set the dong and a tube of cherry flavored lube on the counter.
    I suppressed a shudder. The return to reality and the lube were both nasty – more cough syrup than cherry.
    I could tell she was the quiet type. She didn't seem to have much to say unless he asked her a direct question. She met my look with one of her own, cocking the edge of her mouth up in a know-it-all smirk.
    Fuck if I didn't want to see those pretty lips wrapped around my tit.
    He's temporary, her eyes said.
    I know.
    I didn't say a word – couldn't say a word, just slipped my card in the bag with the dong, knowing she'd take it out before they got home. Hopefully, it'd get tucked safely away in her cleavage, not lost in the bottom of the duffle bag she appeared to call a purse.
    I'm not the kind of girl who waits around. Normally, I would have propositioned her then and there; I would have blatantly made my desire clear. I don't like to wait around and let my next meal come to me whenever it's ready. I like to feed when I see something that gets the juices flowing.
    This girl was different; while the urge to feed existed, the immediacy wasn't. I was desperate to have her, but not desperate to have her now. I just didn't need to feed now – there would be plenty of time for that. I knew she was mine, meant for me.
    I didn't hear from her right away. I really thought I would. I didn't hear from her the first weekend, or the second one either. By the time a month had gone by, I decided I was wasting my time thinking about her when I masturbated.
    I hadn't fed since she came into the shop. The imagined feel of her warm blood easing down my throat put me off feeding from any others. It would be decadent; I knew it. I would wait for it.
    In the meantime, I started to show signs of needing to feed. Flat, lank hair wouldn't cooperate and my skin had grown dull. Even my eyes looked glassy. My fangs were quick to punch out and slow to retract– my body's way of telling me to put them in something. Even the humans would notice if I didn't feed soon.
    I was pining, I realized, for her. No other would compare. A connection had been made in the seconds we'd spent together. I knew I had met my blood mate. Funny, until I experienced it, I thought they were just legend, like a soul mate, something people said they had in one another to justify their sappy attachment.
    To think one person existed, whose blood was so perfect for you, someone whose blood was literally created to serve you was intimidating. It was scary and intense. And a turn on. The power in knowing my blood was the only blood she'd ever need, that no one would service her like I could – I drank that