"No." He was stern.
"Come on. You know you want a piece of me." She tapped her neck with her index finger.
"Candace…"
"Bite me already!!!"
She grumbled and shoved her neck into his lips. Now that she knew it didn't hurt any more than a needle jab for a flu shot, she was no longer hesitant. She was ready for him.
Dante inhaled sharply as the warmth and scent of her skin touched his lips. The hunger that he thought had waned from his temporary pause suddenly flared back up again.
It was so acute that he could not hold back his need to lavish caresses and kisses on the woman he cherished with his entire being. Against his will, he reached out for her.
He shut off his sharp rational mind and fell into the depths of his emotions as he began kissing her soft creamy neck, suckling it and leaving a dark red bruise mark.
Candace shivered in his embrace as waves of desire began spreading out from his suckling kisses, expanding outward in radiating rings of ecstasy.
Dante marveled at Candace's reaction to his kisses.
She had no fear!
And because she had no fear, he took a deep breath and let go of his own fears.
Candace was right there with him. He didn't have to be afraid of drowning in that scary place where emotions overwhelmed him.
As his fangs grew, his craving for her increased until it was all he could do just to maintain his human form.
At the moment when he could no longer hold back, Dante closed his eyes and slowly sank his fangs into the warm throbbing carotid artery that flowed through her neck.
The moment his fangs sank into Candace's skin, she felt that slight sting which vanished almost immediately from the pain killer that he released into her body.
And then she could feel the familiar warmth of his liquid venom flowing into her bloodstream. It started at the point where he bit her and within seconds had raced throughout her entire being.
Candace gasped and moaned with ecstasy as she felt Dante sucking on her neck and taking her blood into his own body.
She wound her fingers into his blue hair, clutching reflexively. Her body was heating up from the venom and she was shaking with the joy of it.
Dante pulled back, his lips stained with the color of her blood. He licked her wound clean of blood and then reached out to heal her skin.
Within seconds, her bruised puncture wound was completely healed.
"Was it painful, Love?" He touched her with tender fingers.
"No. It was very pleasurable." She smiled.
He shook his head as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
"I'm very sorry. That's also part of the venom's effect that I have no control over."
"What do you mean?"
He reached out and gathered her head into his chest.
"My vampiric venom has certain—properties, one of which triggers dopamine which caused you to feel pleasure. The feeling of happiness and pleasure is all chemical and it's all fake." He choked on his words.
"Fake?" Candi murmured. It didn't feel fake to her.
"Yes. It was evolved to keep prey happy and not struggling while they are being fed upon. I'm so very sorry."
Candi frowned. "How is my pleasure from you biting me any different than my pleasure from you kissing me, or doing any other intimate things with me?"
Dante paused as he thought about her question. For once, he was truly stumped.
"I don't know. Maybe you being happy on your own is different than you being happy on demand because I injected you with venom?"
Candi shook her head. "But I was the one who insisted on being bitten. Wouldn't that be me who was doing the demanding?"
Dante was silent. The woman was doing it again.
She was taking what was so very wrong and turned it so very right. How was this possible?
She reached up and kissed his lips.
"Don't underestimate your charms. It's not your venom. It's your lovemaking that gave me great pleasure."
We haven't done anything but kiss…"
"Well," Candi smiled. "We've barely just begun to get to know each other. We could explore and find out more."
He held her with great care.
"Listen to me, Candace." His eyes were serious.
"You are not just some generic prize that the Crown Prince gets, and you are not some random winner of a contest. I have been pursuing you, and ONLY you, since the very beginning."
He touched her cheeks with tender hands.
"It didn't matter if I became the Crown Prince or not, you have always been MY chosen bride."
"But—"
He shook his head.
"There are only two more weeks of the event, after which, win or lose, you will be my bride."
His eyes danced with promise.
"At that time, you couldn't stop me if you tried, but right now, I want you to focus on the next event. It will take all your efforts and concentration so don't be sidelined by all this other baggage."
Candi nodded. This was the Dante that she knew. He was back in charge again.
"Are you less hungry, now that you've taken some of my blood?"
Dante pursed his lips.
"I didn't take very much, just a couple of sips. It was only so I could find you and connect with your specific genetic marker."
"You could have taken more. I have plenty of blood."
"No Candace. You are my wife, not my prey."
'Raspberry pie.'
"What?" He stared at her, not comprehending what she said.
"You heard me."
"I heard you said Raspberry pie. Are you hungry my love? Dinner is being served at the moment. We should go check it out."
Candi laughed.
"I was just testing out our telepathy."
Dante blinked. "I didn't think to test it out in that manner."
"Well how do you vampires test it out?"
Dante blushed and looked away. "It's mostly something along the veins of—". He turned back to her, his mesmerizing green eyes focusing in on her.
'Come to me.'
Candace found herself unconsciously moving towards him.
He snapped his fingers and she blinked reflexively.
"What happened? Weren't you going to test it out?"
Dante sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. Just—if you ever need me for anything, I want you to call me, no matter the time of day or night. Will you promise?"
"I promise."
He seemed happier once he had been able to extract that promise from her.
'Dante.'
"Yes Love?"
'Kiss me again.'
Dante smiled and lowered her back onto the bed.
"Your wish is my command."
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