Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) by Bella Klaus (best motivational books txt) 📗

syrup and chocolate sauce. Sitting between the plates was a steaming pot of coffee.

My mouth watered. “You ordered this for me?”

He pulled out a chair and guided me in the seat. “I never want you to go hungry.”

Warmth filled my chest, and I stared up at him as he took the seat opposite mine. Even though they had supplied two cups, Valentine didn’t reach for one, instead tilting his head to the side with a fond smile.

I cut a generous chunk of the shakshuka-covered eggs and took my first bite, and hummed as my mouth filled with a burst of roasted tomato and garlic and paprika. Valentine’s eyes softened. Had a diet of my blood changed him so much or was it the regeneration of his heart? Or was he trying to make up for everything he’d put me through over the last few days?

This reminded me so much of the time Valentine took me to the Dorchester Hotel and ordered a hazelnut gelato, only to slide it across the table and chuckle as I ate it. I should have known back then that he still loved me, but three years of forcing myself to forget about him had clouded my judgment.

Things would be different now, and nobody would get in the way of our future. The sooner Valentine got rid of Kresnik, the sooner we could spend the rest of our lives together.

After finishing the eggs, I moved on to the waffles, which were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Valentine’s gaze lingered on my mouth as I licked chocolate and syrup from my fingers and lips.

“Are you full?” he asked in a voice that curled around me like smoke.

I rubbed my belly. “My stomach is.”

Valentine’s chuckle was low and deep. “You’ve changed, Innamorata.”

“You’re not such a gentleman these days yourself.” I fidgeted in my seat, the lace of my bra and thong suddenly too scratchy. “Let’s just say I’ve had an interesting few days.”

He rose from his seat and pulled me to my feet, his gaze falling from my lips to my neck to the lace of my bra. “That demon bastard has exquisite taste. Stay away from him.”

“There’s only one king for me.” I rocked forward on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss on his lips.

“As it should be.” He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me into his strong body. “Over the next few days, you might feel a craving.”

“For what?” I slid my arms up the contours of his chest and over his collarbones.

“Thrall.”

My hands stilled. Hades had mentioned that I needed to get the thrall out of my system, but I thought he was just saying that as an excuse for keeping me in Hell. “Am I addicted?”

The silence that stretched between us was answer enough. I swallowed over and over, thinking about everything Coral told me about becoming addicted to vampire bites and how it had degenerated into a dependence on thrall that had led to a life of abuse before she ended up selling her youth to faeries in exchange for synthetic thrall.

His strong arms tightened around me. “It will be impossible to say until you go a few days without a bite, but I intend to summon you to my side for regular doses.”

“Valentine,” I said with a sigh.

“It couldn’t be helped.” He drew back, pressing a kiss on one cheekbone and then the other. “If Kresnik caught you with that magic—”

“He would have killed me, I know,” I muttered.

“Kresnik would have had you injected with vampire blood before removing your fifth ventricle and turning you into a preternatural,” he said.

One of the mushroom-shaped lights drifted toward us, catching my gaze. I couldn’t even disagree with Valentine because I’d seen Kresnik order an infirmary filled with people to be injected with vampire blood.

“Wherever you went, he would have found you in search of your phoenix magic. The best place to keep you was powerless and with me.” Valentine’s arms travelled down my back and massaged the globes of my ass. “I had to make sure you were never a target.”

I tilted my head up and met his eyes. “Alright.”

Valentine brought his lips down to mine in a soft kiss. Perhaps this was him trying to tell me he could be as sweet as he was when alive. I was just happy that my blood had removed Kresnik’s influence and the return of my magic had brought Valentine back to himself.

He slipped his hand around my waist, pulling me into his broad body, pressing his arousal into my belly. Warmth surged between my legs, accompanied by a pulsing heat. Maybe this was part of the addiction he had mentioned earlier. It didn’t matter because Valentine was willing to supply an abundance of what I needed.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing us closer, and parted my lips in a moan to let him slip his tongue in my mouth. Valentine lavished me with licks and caresses that I felt between my legs.

“Please,” I murmured into the kiss.

“Tell me what you need,” he rumbled.

My mouth dried and heat flared across my cheeks, but the furnace in my core burned hotter than any hesitance for dirty talk. “I want you to make love to me.”

“Do you want my fangs?”

“More than anything,” I said with a moan.

He ran his tongue down the side of my neck. “It’s time to wean you off the thrall.”

Chapter Five

I drew back from Valentine, meeting eyes that glowed like pools of blood reflecting in moonlight. Everything about him was seductive—even the way his black hair swept off his face and curled around his brow, reflecting the red lighting of our hotel room.

The four-poster bed loomed behind us, its silky red sheets promising a morning of decadence. Valentine stared down at me, parting his full lips as though I was a Rayas 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape and he desperately wanted a taste. “I could spend the entire week fucking you and it still wouldn’t be