Free The Sanction by Reeyce Smythe Wilder

contractions around his own need prompted his kiss and
the acceleration of his hips, and before long, he stiffened,
releasing his seed into her belly, and leaving with her another
piece of himself in the process.
    She clung to him, trembling like a
leaf. Soft and pliable, he did not release her. Still impaled upon
his shaft, he felt the first teardrop upon his shoulder. Fingers of
steel gripped onto her thighs and took her to a large chair to one
side. He sat, and did not allow her to move. She contracted around
him again. His lips found hers. The tears she wept were very salty
and very warm. They streamed down her face and mingled in their
kisses. For a long time he held her like that, unwilling to release
her just yet. She did not make a protest. When at last he pulled
away and leaned back, it was to simply look at her.
    “ Feed,” he said tenderly.
She nibbled her plump, cherry lips and cast her gaze aside. “Are
you not hungry?”
    “ No.”
    She lied. He knew it to be so. A heated
cloak descended upon his orbs and he leaned forward to nibble the
lobe of her ear. Lower still he went. His teeth pinched at her
exposed neck. Her nipples went rock hard. He grinned wickedly. When
he spoke, his voice was laced with temptation. “Bite me, vampire.
You know you want to…” His lips danced upon her flesh. She
shuddered in delight. And moved away. The scowl on his face matched
his confusion well.
    “ I – I cannot.”
    Graeme considered her in silence as she
pulled the tapestry away from the window. Sunlight bathed her form.
Peeked, dusky nipples shone a reddish mahogany. Her skin was still
very much blushed with the afterglow of his touch. “What do you
mean you cannot?”
    She blinked away the last of her tears
and met his eyes. There was a new determination there now, and
Graeme did not like the way she jutted out her chin and stood there
so defiantly. His eyes narrowed. One week she had given of her
unselfishly. One week he had come to her night after endless night
to find her ready and waiting and as eager as he. Now, she would
fight him again. The thought was a maddening one.
    “ I do not wish to feed from
you again.”
    Her words washed over him like a dash
of cold water. Stunned, he stood his full height. On his body he
boasted several of her bites – on his chest, on his inner leg, on
his back. There was not found a place on him she had not marked.
The pleasure he received from the sensation it evoked brought him
to the peak of sexual fulfillment every time. And now, she did not
wish to feed from him again?
    “ What nonsense are you
talking about, leech?” he snapped impatiently. “You are a vampire.
You drink blood. It is by your own tongue you have admitted the
need to feed each day. Now come here.”
    She stepped back. Tension whipped at
his core.
    “ I – I want to,
but…”
    “ But what?”
    She turned her back pointedly, whether
in defiance of him or to hide the hurt he glimpsed in her eyes, he
did not know. “If I am to be ransomed soon, it is in my best
interest to stop strengthening the bond.”
    His glower deepened. “What
bond?”
    “ You are my mate. Each time
I feed from you, the more of myself I want to give to
you…”
    He snorted. “I do not feel such a
bond.”
    Her shoulders slumped forward. Her
whimper was laced with agony. “It is because you have not marked
me. You have said it yourself – you are my mate, but I shall never
be yours.”
    I shall never be yours. Hearing her say
the words forced his chest to constrict agonizingly.
    But you belong to me. The fates have
decided! He hesitated. His plan was already set in motion. He had
to ransom her. His duty to the horde was more important that this
vampire – more important than how he fancied he felt in her arms.
He stiffened his resolve and observed her from the
distance.
    A bond. He sniffed. Marked or no, if
there was indeed such a bond he would have felt something by now,
wouldn’t he? So what if at times he had considered