Lucien’s POV.

Her blood was still warm on my lips when I walked out, a phantom burn trailing across my mouth where she had trembled against me. There was something about the way she tasted that ignited something deep inside me.

The kiss hadn’t been tender. It wasn’t meant to be. It was punishment, possession, and a reminder. And yet… the way her lips shook beneath mine, and the way she tried to hold herself back, to restrain instead of fight, it only fed the blaze in me.

Her ...