A Shot in the Dark

Summary: In the wake of Kamilah showing up at the Shadow Den, MC (Cam) gets some terrible news, and she and Adrian steal an emotional moment alone. This assumes that the MC did not sleep with Adrian right after Lily was turned, but has kissed him.

Note: I am guessing this will become very non-canon compliant when the new chapter drops Friday, but this idea just wouldn’t leave me alone, so here we are. 🙂

Kamilah barely says a word once they get out of the Shadow Den. Her lips are pressed in a tight, terse line. Every so often she flashes Cam a look when she falls behind, and Cam hurries to catch up. The air is tense, and it makes her stomach twist with worry. All Kamilah has said is that Adrian is in trouble and they need to get to Raines headquarters immediately.

Even Lily is oddly silent, though she keeps giving Cam questioning looks. Cam wishes she had answers for what is inevitably going to be a terrible situation. Sure enough, when they get to the building and follow Kamilah down to the lowest level, she finally explains: Adrian has been accused of masterminding the feral situation.

Cam opens her mouth to protest, but Kamilah holds her hand up, cutting her off. His missing key card had been found, Kamilah says, near the entrance into Marcel’s castle where the ferals had stormed in. Everyone in Adrian’s clan had escaped unscathed. He’d recently Turned Lily without authorization.

“He didn’t do this,” Cam finally blurts out. “He wouldn’t-“

“I don’t believe he did this either,” Kamilah says firmly. “But what’s been brought up suggests otherwise.”

“But-“ Cam begins.

Kamilah sighs, an irritated sound. “Cam.”

She stops abruptly, and Kamilah continues. Cam agrees, without hesitation, to speak to the Council, to defend Adrian and confirm his whereabouts recently. She asks to see him, prepared to argue and beg, if need be, but Kamilah surprisingly agrees and leads her to the room where he’s being held until the Council decides what to do.

Kamilah lets her in, saying she’ll be back soon, and she and Lily head back the way they’d come from. The metal door slams closed behind her, making Cam jump. Her heart clenches when she sees Adrian, standing across the small room, his back to her. He turns his head.

“Cam?” he says in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Cam makes her way to him. “I asked to see you.”

Adrian frowns, though he doesn’t pull away when she squeezes his hand. “You shouldn’t have. You shouldn’t be here. I can’t protect you when I’m-“

He stops, his jaw clenched.

“I know,” Cam says. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Adrian sighs heavily. “I’m fine.”

His expression tells a different story. Cam slowly steps closer, until they’re nearly pressed chest to chest. She slowly lifts her free hand up to his cheek.

“I know you didn’t do this. Kamilah knows you didn’t do this,” she says softly. “You wouldn’t.”

Adrian stares at the wall just behind her, until she lets go of his hand to rest hers on his chest. His eyes flicker down to meet hers, and his hands come up to rest on her hips. They come together slowly, an unspoken understanding between them, his lips finding hers in the dimness of the room. He makes a low noise in his throat when she threads her hands in his hair and presses her hips to his.

Cam jumps slightly when she feels his fangs prick at her neck, and glances up to find his eyes are red and burning into hers. He guides her towards the bed in one of the corners of the room, kissing her slowly as he sets her on the edge of the mattress. She whimpers quietly when Adrian pulls her shirt over her head, then kneels in front of her. His mouth trails along her shoulder, her collarbone, across the lacy edge of her bra.

Every touch of his fangs to her skin makes her press into him, reach for him, until he finally lays her back and settles himself over her. It feels incredible, electric, the sharpness of his fangs on her, but she really just wants to kiss him right now, wants his lips on hers. She gently guides him back up, kissing him hungrily.

His tongue traces her lower lip and she opens up to him immediately. Cam slips her hands under his shirt, running her fingertips up and down his back. The thought keeps popping into her head that this could be it, this could be the one and only time she’s with him like this.

She blinks furiously, feeling her eyes starting to tear up. Adrian lifts his head up, pressing a gentle kiss under each eye. He smiles at her reassuringly, then slowly kisses back down her neck. Cam holds him there, her fingers in his dark hair. His fangs are a little more insistent against her this time.

“I want you to,” she whispers.

Adrian looks up again. “Are you sure?”

She nods. “I am.”

An almost hesitant expression crosses his face. “Have you let anyone feed on you before?”

Cam bites her lip. “Just once. Lily, at the Shadow Den.”

Adrian looks at her thoughtfully when she’s done explaining Lily’s bloodlust.

“You are truly incredible, Cam,” he murmurs.

She shrugs. “I just did what I thought would help her.”

She nudges him back down, a half-smile crossing his face at her eagerness. His lips are warm against the tender skin of her neck. Cam sighs when he flicks his tongue against her pulse point, then sucks lightly. Her hands run over his hair, and she gasps when he quickly sinks his fangs into her.

It stings, but it also feels incredible, sensual and arousing. She’d wondered if it would be this way with him, if it was different depending on who was feeding on you and how you felt about them.

“Mmm,” she moans, closing her eyes and tilting her head back.

She tries not to move too much, but she can’t stop herself from squirming a little at the sensations rushing through her. The sounds he’s making against her neck shoot straight to her belly, and her breathing grows ragged.

“Oh, Adrian,” she whimpers. “I…mmm…don’t stop…”

Eventually he pulls back, pressing fluttering kisses to her neck and making goosebumps erupt across her skin. She watches as he pricks his fingers and seals her wounds, his fangs retracting and his eyes fading back to their familiar warm dark brown. There’s something oddly erotic about kissing him after that, the way she can faintly taste her blood on his tongue. Cam wraps her legs around his back, flushing when she feels him twitch against her.

“I want you so much,” she confesses.

She hopes he knows that she means more than just here and now, even though she’s been aching for this too.

Adrian presses a kiss just below her ear. “I want you too, Cam.”

His smile, soft and sincere, nearly disarms her, before he helps her sit up. Her hands shake slightly when she reaches for his clothes, pulling his shirt off, undoing his belt buckle, pushing his pants over his hips until he kicks them off. Adrian’s hands are steady, gentle and methodical. He kisses her skin as it’s exposed to him, laying her back on the bed when she’s down to nearly nothing.

“You’re beautiful,” Adrian says in a low voice, his eyes and his fingertips roving over her.

Cam flushes at his words and the way he’s looking at her, reaching for him until he leans back down over her. His erection presses against her dampening underwear, and she rocks into him instinctively, fumbling with the waistband of his boxer briefs. Adrian gets them off, then presses a kiss to her shoulder.

“We have time, Cam,” he murmurs.

“But-“

He brushes his lips over hers. “I wish we had more. But we don’t have to rush.”

“Okay,” she breathes, trying to calm her racing heart and impatient hands.

Adrian‘s mouth is warm and soft across her breasts, and she groans when he gently nips at her skin. The dusting of hair on his chest and stomach tickles her pleasurably as he moves over her. A quiet bubble of laughter sneaks out, and Adrian looks at her quizzically.

“It tickles,” she murmurs, and the corners of his mouth tilt up.

He slides his hand low on her stomach and into her underwear, watching her reaction. Cam swallows hard at the look on his face when he rubs his fingers over her sensitive flesh and presses them into her warmth.

“Mmm,” she moans, her hips rocking into his touch.

He keeps kissing her, slipping another finger into her and gradually increasing his rhythm until she’s gripping his shoulders, her nails leaving half-moon indentations in his skin. Adrian stops his motions just long enough for them to get her underwear off, and he looks at with affectionate amusement when she wraps her legs around his hips and brings her arms around his neck. She knows he said they don’t have to rush, but she wants him so badly.

“I want you. I don’t want to wait,” Cam murmurs shakily.

Adrian kisses her deeply, running his hand through her hair.

“It’s alright,” he murmurs back.

He kisses her again, groaning and dropping his head forward when she runs her hand over his length. Cam burrows her face into his neck when he presses into her, inhaling sharply. Adrian stills, letting her adjust as he stretches and fills her. When she arches into him and digs her fingers into his back, his muscles flexing under her touch, he begins moving.

She moans his name as he slides in and out of her, holding onto him tightly and moving with him. Adrian presses his lips to her neck, softly sucking and biting. Cam feels his fangs lightly scrape against her skin, and it makes her moan louder. The little jolts of pleasure it sends through her aren’t quite like anything she’s ever felt before.

Adrian lifts his head up just enough to say, “I’ll have to remember you like that” in a husky voice in her ear.

The idea that this won’t be the only time and thinking about being with him again makes her shudder faintly, and cling to him tighter. He groans when she scratches her nails down his back, her free hand threading in his hair and pulling his head up so she can kiss him.

She’s close, and as much as she wants to just let go and come apart underneath him, she’s also desperate for this not to end. As if he can read her mind, Adrian thrusts into her harder, making her gasp.

“I’ve got you,” he murmurs. “Let go, Cam.”

She bites back a sob, her every muscle tightening around him and her eyes squeezing shut when she comes. Adrian thrusts shallowly in and out of her, then spills into her with a moan. The room is still, everything quiet but for their breathing and the pounding of her heart in her ears.

Adrian kisses her slowly, and Cam makes a noise of protest when he goes to move. He presses his lips to her neck, then lowers himself against her. His weight presses her pleasantly into the mattress.

When Cam closes her eyes, she can almost pretend that this happened somewhere else, in his bed or hers in his guest suite, that they can lay curled up together. She can almost pretend that the knock at the door can be ignored, that she can stay here and he can gently tease her about her apparent affinity for his fangs on her skin.

But the knocking is booming and harsh, and then Kamilah is calling through the door and telling Cam that she has to go now, because the rest of the Council will be here any second. That makes both of them move, and they get dressed quietly. There’s no time for any reassuring words, just barely time for Adrian to kiss her briefly and whisper fiercely for her to stay safe.

Cam hates leaving him in that room, hates the loud metallic clang of the door behind her, hates following Kamilah back to the elevator. But as much as she really, really hates seeing the board room with every Council member but Adrian sitting in it, it also fills her with a fierce determination to get him out.