Cursed Read online

  “Then you…” She bit her lip and looked down at her hands which were clenched in her lap. “You said you wanted to see how hot and wet my pussy was,” she said in a rush.

  “Gods…” Stav felt his entire body clench with longing. “And did I?”

  She nodded. “You put your fingers…”

  “I penetrated you? Put my fingers deep in your pussy?” he asked, seeing that she was having a hard time finishing.

  “Yes.” Charlotte’s cheeks were bright pink now, a testament to her embarrassment. “And you…you fucked me with them. It felt…” She blushed even harder. “It was really good.”

  “Gods,” he groaned hoarsely again, flexing his hand into a fist. He could just imagine slipping his fingers deep into her sweet, wet channel, pressing until he felt the end, feeling her clench around him as she called his name and begged him to fuck her deeper, harder, faster… But as embarrassing as Charlotte clearly found this admission to be, there was clearly more to come. He could see it on her face. “And then?” he asked.

  “And that…that was it.” Charlie lifted her chin but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Then I woke up.”

  “No you didn’t,” Stav said softly. “I can see it in your eyes, Charlotte—the dream didn’t end there. What happened next?”

  “I…I…” She made as if to get off the couch but clearly she couldn’t. “Hey—why am I stuck here?” she demanded.

  “The truth-saying couch senses what your mate has sensed,” Nar’sa answered softly. “That there is more to your tale. Until you tell it all, you will be unable to leave the couch.”

  “But I don’t want to,” Charlie protested, looking nearly panicked. “I mean…I can’t…I just can’t.”

  “You’ll have to—the couch will make you,” Stav told her quietly. “It is working on you now—I can see it on your face.”

  “I…I won’t…” She shook her head firmly and bit her lip. He felt a sharp pain go through his own lower lip and a thin trickle of blood ran down her chin.

  “Charlotte…” He looked at her worriedly. What admission could be so bad that she would rather hurt herself than let it out? “Please,” he murmured, brushing her hot cheek lightly with his knuckles. “Please don’t hurt yourself anymore. Just tell me.”

  Plainly Charlotte couldn’t hold out against the compulsion of the truth-saying couch much longer. “I…I…” Her mouth worked helplessly. “All right but it’s…really embarrassing and you probably won’t like it.”

  “Just tell me,” Stav urged again. “What did I do next in your dream?”

  “I…you…you wanted to kiss me…to taste me. Down there.” She nodded between her legs, her cheeks flaming red, plainly miserable at the embarrassing confession. “I wasn’t sure. That’s not…something I’ve ever been able to enjoy much. Or that any guy I’ve ever been with has ever enjoyed doing. But you wanted to do it and you were already on your knees in front of me and the instructor was telling me to open for you and I couldn’t help it,” she finished in a rush. “Oh, God…” She buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I just told you that.”

  Stavros couldn’t believe it either. “That’s what you were so embarrassed to tell me?” he asked incredulously.

  “Human guys…some human guys don’t like to do that,” she said defensively. “I don’t know what Kindred like—I don’t care what Kindred like.” Her eyes flashed defiantly. “But it’s not something I’ve ever dreamed of before and I don’t know why I dreamed it when I dreamed of you. It’s just…it’s embarrassing.”

  “I do not know why human males would not want to taste their females,” Stav said seriously. “But Kindred do not just like it—with us it is a need.”

  “A what?” She looked at him uncertainly.

  “A need,” he repeated. “We need to taste our females between their legs—need to mark their pussy with our scent. Need to give them pleasure and make them come…”

  “God!” He had been holding her gaze with his as he spoke but now Charlotte tore her eyes away, her cheeks flaming. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this.”

  “I just want you to know you don’t have to be embarrassed to tell me your dream,” he murmured. “Tell me, Charlotte, in your dream did you enjoy being tasted?”

  Slowly, she nodded. “I…I did. I knew I shouldn’t but it made me so…”

  “Aroused?” he finished for her gently.

  “Yes.” She looked away. “But it was just a dream. I mean I would never…”

  “I would.” Lifting her chin gently, he looked at her until she reluctantly met his eyes again. “It would be my very great pleasure to taste your pussy, Charlotte,” he murmured. “But for now, I will settle for this.”

  Tilting her chin a little to one side, he licked up the salty droplets of blood that had slipped down her chin when she bit herself. Then he tenderly bathed her cut lip with his tongue, healing her with the essence his body naturally produced as soon as he got near her.

  When he pulled back, Charlotte was looking at him with an uncertain expression on her face.

  “So…” Stav said softly. “That was the end of your dream? That I tasted you and made you come with my tongue?”

  But to his surprise, she shook her head again.

  “No. Because you didn’t make me come—not with…with your tongue, anyway.”

  “Then how?” he asked, intrigued all over again.

  “You stopped licking me,” Charlotte said softly. “And then you pulled back and your fangs…”

  “Yes?” His voice was getting deep and growly again but he couldn’t help it.

  “They were so long and sharp. Like they were last night after we…after,” she murmured. “And you said…you said you were going to bite me.”

  “What did you say?” Stav growled. His cock was throbbing and his fangs were aching. His whole body felt tight as a wire. Gods, if she said what he thought she might say…what he hoped she would say…

  “I told you to do it.” The words came from her in a rush. Then she slowed down and looked at him. “No, I…I begged you to.” Her eyes were wide and uncertain as she admitted it. “I wanted to feel those long, sharp fangs in me so badly. I…” She looked away, clearly embarrassed. “I don’t know why. It was only a dream. But when you bit me…”

  “Yes?” Stavros was holding himself rigid now. It was all he could do to keep from reaching across the truth-saying couch and dragging her to him. He wanted to crush her in his arms and kiss her ruthlessly, wanted to bare the slender column of her throat and sink his fangs deep in her flesh, injecting his essence until she moaned his name and begged for more.

  “When you bit me,” she repeated softly. “I…I came. So hard.” She sighed and looked away. “Then I woke up.”

  “Gods!” Finding he could move at last, Stavros got off the couch and paced to the other side of the room. He didn’t trust himself near her right now. Not after she’d admitted to wanting his bite. He had never desired a female so badly before, never wanted to sink his fangs into willing flesh and inject his essence until he met Charlotte. Now it was all he could think about even though he knew it was wrong.

  “Stavros?” Nar’sa said softly, making him jerk. Their counselors had been standing unobtrusively to one side, observing so silently he had completely forgotten they were there.

  “Yes?” His voice came out a ragged growl and he had to clear his throat and try again. “Yes?” he asked in a slightly more normal tone.

  “How does Charlotte’s dream make you feel?” she asked softly. “You seem greatly affected—are you troubled by her admissions?”

  “No, I…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Yes,” he admitted at last. “Both troubled and aroused. I never thought to find a female who would wish for my bite.”

  “As Charlotte never thought to find a male who desired to taste her,” Ta’no said softly.

  “Do you see the good that comes of speaking your desires aloud?” he and Nar’sa asked together.