Chapter 553: Getting Rough
Soft firelight filled the room with flickering shadows, highlighting every curve of Ashlynn’s body as Nyrielle pinned her to the soft satin bedspread. Midnight blue energy swirled within the vampire’s eyes and her pupils quivered with hunger, fixed on the jumping pulse in Ashlynn’s soft, delicate neck while the sound of her lover’s racing heart thundered in her ears like a herd of wild horses, ready to carry her restraint and leaving behind nothing but the primal desire to feed.
"The night we met," Nyrielle said, closing her eyes and turning her head away from Ashlynn as she fought to control herself, restraining her hunger and the darkness that lurked behind it through sheer force of will. "The night we met, I made a promise to myself that I would never hurt you the way he had," she said as visions of Ashlynn’s battered body flickered through her mind.
She’d fought back her hunger that night as well, even though the bruises and scratches that covered the young witch’s body had blended to create an enchanting tapestry of the perfect prey, weak and vulnerable, ready to fall under her spell and under her fangs. Nothing in the world was as tempting or as intoxicating as the blood of a witch, but Nyrielle refused to reduce the woman she’d selected as her partner for the rest of their lives to little more than a convenient delicacy.
"You’re worried that you’ll hurt me," Ashlynn said, reaching up to capture Nyrielle’s face between her hands, turning her lover’s gaze back toward her. "But Nyri, my love," she said softly as she ran her fingers gently through the other woman’s soft, silky hair. "I’m not as weak as I was then. I, I don’t mind if you’re a little rough," she said, biting her lower lip and squirming in embarrassment as she put her feelings into words.
"I want you to take me," she whispered. "I want to struggle, to feel my own power and to feel your strength meeting it. I want... I want you to want me," she said, pulling Nyrielle down on top of her and using both legs to wrap around the other woman while her arms wrapped around her lover’s slender shoulders, pulling her in tightly so she could whisper in her ear. "But I don’t want to feel like a crystal ornament that you can only touch delicately..."
"You want me to be rough with you," Nyrielle said, her hand trembling slightly as she reached out to brush a lock of hair away from Ashlynn’s face. "But you deny me the chance to feed," she said, parting her lips to reveal a hint of fang. "Ashlynn, my darling, if you tell me ’no’, I will always listen, but this... If I am to be ’rough’ with you, but I must constantly restrain myself..."
"Oh," Ashlynn said, her face heating in embarrassment as she realized her mistake. She’d told Nyrielle ’no biting’ but that hadn’t been entirely what she meant. Only, to Nyrielle, the moment Ashlynn withdrew permission for her lover to take so much as a nibble from her, it was as good as fitting her with shackles. Nyrielle had promised Ashlynn that she wouldn’t feed from her without her permission unless she had a great need to do so, and no matter how intense their actions in the bedroom were, they wouldn’t rise to a ’great need.’
"Then, I take back when I said ’no biting,’" Ashlynn said. "I mean, no biting yet," she said, reaching up to cup Nyrielle’s delicate face. "I want you to be forceful with me. I want you to overwhelm me until I beg for your bite. I want you to take me and make me ache for you, but I don’t want it to be easy. Is that... too much?" she asked hesitantly.
"No," Nyrielle said, smiling wickedly and flexing the fingers of one hand to reveal nails that had grown longer and sharper. "But are you taking back what you said about no ripping of clothing as well?"