"Mmm, mine," she said, lowering her head to trace a path up his collarbone with her tongue.

"Absolutely," Gabriel agreed, then gave a grunt of surprise when Rowan raked her fangs across the same skin she had just canvassed so tenderly. Blood welled in the thin cuts, and Rowan latched on eagerly, suckling at the crimson liquid that contained the essence of him. In it, she could feel the quick pounding of his heart, a beat echoed with increasing intensity between her legs. She raised her knees on either side of him, cuddling his hardness against her, digging nails that had lengthened into claws into his hips to hold him there.

Gabriel braced himself on his elbows as he gave more of his weight to her, recovering from his initial shock to urge her on, holding her head to him as his lifeblood flowed into her. She knew it was bringing him pleasure. It was the way of it, exchanging blood for a pleasure that would only intensify the longer she drank. But she had no desire to drain him at all, only to draw out the side of him she sought tonight. Wild called to wild.

And she was going to make certain that the Wolf couldn't hide.

He knew what she was after. And though he was determined to keep that part of him tightly leashed, once Rowan began biting him he knew he was going to lose the battle.

Beneath him, Rowan stopped sucking in favor of flicking the tip of her tongue over the shallow wounds. He never would have believed that such a small movement could make him so hard, but the sensation was so intense that he knew he wouldn't be able to let her continue much longer. He felt the dagger points of her claws at his hips, felt the escalating beat of her heart as surely as he felt his own.

As surely as he felt the beast within racing to the surface, breaking free of the cage he tried to keep it in while he walked as a man. Her scent, so rich, like a crisp October night lit by a harvest moon, filled his senses. The comfortably shabby trappings of his apartment seemed to vanish around him, leaving nothing but this feeling of rushing ever faster down a river of liquid sensation. Rowan's claws dug in harder, the soft gasps of her breath a fascinating counterpoint to the aggressive way she urged him on.

She rose up to nip at his ear. Again, a quick bite, then that delicious suckling that seemed to pull at his very center. His Wolf pushed forward, snarling, wanting out. He felt his own claws come out, felt his every perception sharpen hundreds of times over. Teeth lengthened, sharpened. Anything remotely human faded away. And instinct ruled all.

He wanted to taste her. The desire came quickly and refused to depart, until Gabriel was consumed by it. He rose above her, letting her see what she had asked for. Letting her see the need she had inspired. The beast that lurked beneath his skin rippled over it now, not quite shifting, but blending with the man. And Rowan, her eyes green fire as they burned into his, traced the tips of her claws down his chest with a feral growl of approval.

"My arukhin. My Wolf. I want you inside me." Gabriel's breath caught in his throat as one of her hands slipped into the waistband of his jeans, then wrapped around the hard length of him to give a testing stroke. His hips moved in time with her strokes as she picked up the rhythm, pleasure and tension coiling in his lower belly until he had to make her stop. He wanted to savor her tonight, not just give in to the hot rush of lust he felt every time he got near her. The last time they'd been together it had been all about urgency, need. Those things were still very much there, but this time there was so much more. They had exchanged the words.

Now he would show her exactly how deeply he felt them.

Gabriel claimed her mouth for one more bruising kiss before slowing the pace, then he began to gently kiss and lick down the length of her. Rowan put up a gentle struggle at first, groaning her frustration.

"Gabriel," she complained, trying to drag him back upward. "I want you now."

He raised his head only to grin at her. Considering the state he was in, it was a look that might have sent many women running for the door. With Rowan, however, this was what she understood. What she knew.

What she wanted.

"Just relax, love. We're both going to enjoy this."

She heaved a heavy sigh and gave him a frown he found ridiculously sexy, then tossed herself back on the couch. She did not, however, relax. He could sense her tension without even touching her, running right beneath the surface of her skin. Gabriel chuckled. This really was going to be his pleasure.

Slowly, deliberately, he worked his way back down, dipping his tongue into the hollow of her neck, where her pulse beat fast and strong. He licked along her collarbone, then kissed a path down the center of her chest to nuzzle right between her full, perfect breasts.

"Are you feeling relaxed yet?" he asked placidly, then smiled when she muttered an obscenity in response as her pulse continued to flutter. "Hmm," he continued. "That didn't sound like it. Let's see if you like it better over here."

He scraped his teeth up the mound of one breast, pausing to sneak a look at his mate before he began to lend to it in earnest. She'd shut her eyes, fully focused on his mouth and what he was doing with it. Still watching, he flicked the tip of his tongue over the taut bud of her nipple once, twice, relishing her breathless little gasps. Then he fastened on it with a long, hard pull. Rowan's hips jerked beneath him, and those gasps quickly became moans.

Gabriel turned his attention to the other breast, licking and teasing until Rowan's entire body was a thrumming live wire beneath him.

"Really, sweetheart, you're awfully tense. I suppose I'll have to try something else," he growled. She gasped and arched into him, making the insistent throbbing between his legs intensify. He needed to be in her, and soon. But first he wanted to give her this.

He licked a hot path down her stomach, swirling his tongue around her navel, then traveling lower still until he reached the delectable scrap of fabric she'd chosen to tease him with. It was a lacy scrap of nothing, leaving just enough to the imagination. If, that was, he had any interest in imagining anymore.

The thin straps on either side of it snapped easily, and Gabriel tossed it to the floor without looking to see where it landed. He was far more interested in the thicket of dark red curls that nestled at the apex of Rowan's thighs, already slick with moisture. Again he watched her as he slipped a finger inside her tight sheath, sliding it slowly in and out. Desire had made her skin incandescent, her entire being shimmering with her own, singular magic. Her cry was music as she writhed against him, begging him without words for more. He closed his eyes, savoring the sweet scent of her. He knew she would taste like honey, like succulent nectar. More, he would gladly give her.

Gabriel parted her curls, lowered his head, and began to feast.

The first touch of his tongue was nearly enough to make her come.

The second sent her over the edge.

Rowan gave a hoarse cry, gripping the cushion beneath her and pressing her hips against Gabriel's wicked mouth as her orgasm burst through her, as wild and unexpected as a summer storm.

"So sweet," he breathed against her, making her shake as he plied her with both his tongue and his finger. Perhaps it was the sight of his dark head between her thighs, or the rough scrape of his night beard against her sensitive skin, but the shaking soon subsided. Impossibly, almost immediately, Rowan began to tighten again. She knew she would be quick to reach the peak again, and this time she wanted to bring Gabriel with her.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and gave it a rough tug. When he finally looked at her, she only said one word: "Now."

Gabriel slid up the length of her, half-man, half-wolf, muscles corded tightly with desire. Somehow he'd gotten his jeans off in record time, and it seemed that every fiber of her being cried out in thanks as skin connected with skin. She lifted her hips, urging him into her heat. On a shuddering breath, he slid into her, and Rowan arched against the exquisite intrusion. He filled her completely, the thick length of him stretching her so lightly that the slightest movement provoked a tidal wave of sensation. His scent, like the forest after a rain-storm, enveloped her. All thought vanished, to be replaced by simple want and need.

Rowan drew her legs up higher, until she had taken all of him into herself. Gabriel's eyes were glazed with pleasure, she saw, and it satisfied her on a purely primal level. Then he began to move, buried his head against her neck with a groan, and satisfaction tumbled into the bottomless well of desire that was only for him. She would have echoed that groan if she'd been able to breathe at all. But his long, controlled thrusts had robbed her of speech as well as thought.

Their harsh breaths synchronized as they moved together, slow at first, then faster as the intensity of the sensations rocketing between them increased. Rowan heard her own soft, panting cries at the peak of each rough thrust, helpless to do anything but clutch the fabric of the cushion beneath her and silently will him to ride her as hard as he could. She heard the ripping sound as her claws tore right through the ancient couch, but couldn't bring herself to feel the least bit guilty. She was racing toward that blinding flash of light at the end of a long, hot tunnel, and she clung to Gabriel for life itself.

Without warning, Gabriel withdrew on a guttural snarl. Rowan didn't even have time to voice her displeasure, though, before he had flipped her to her stomach, risen to his knees, and resumed making love to her with a ferocity that she had never experienced. This was the animal in him, claiming her fully for his own. And as he gripped her hips, holding her still while he slammed into her again and again, Rowan gladly gave over all control in favor of what he gave in return, feelings so intense they threatened to drive her mad. All of her focus narrowed to a single point in space, each powerful thrust making her flex ever tighter, and everything inside of her was coiling, coiling.

Sensing she was nearly there, Gabriel slipped his hand between her legs, seeking out the swollen bud of her sex, and pressed against it, hard.

Rowan came apart, bucking back against him with a broken cry. The release was blinding, tearing through her like a tornado, obliterating all of her but for the part that was simply feeling. Gabriel was caught in it, roaring when he emptied himself into her. His tight grip loosened as his tremors subsided, and Rowan heard him gasping for breath. She could still feel his pounding heartbeat in the most intimate part of herself. For her part, she simply collapsed beneath him. No part of her body seemed capable of holding her own weight any longer, so she gave in to the delicious lethargy stealing over her, knowing Gabriel would take care of her.