She collapsed atop him, a warm and pleasant weight on his chest as his body shuddered with aftershocks. He was still hard inside her, even after the staggering blast of his release.

Her fingers lightly caressed his bare chest, tracing the contours of his muscles. He sucked in a slow breath when he felt her lips press warm and wet at the base of his throat. His cock twitched reflexively, along with every nerve ending in his body.

He wanted to feel more than her kiss at his throat.

Holy fuck, he wanted it with a certainty he could not deny.

Brynne went utterly still now.

He knew she must sense the change in his body. Hell, she had to be able to hear the sudden throb of his pulse, hammering in anticipation—in need of what only she could give him.

She reared back, silent. Barely breathing.

Her hot amber gaze was filled with deep affection as she stared down at him. But he saw anguish there, too. And when her eyes drifted away from his face and down to the exposed column of his throat, he saw a longing in her that rattled him to the core.

She wanted this too.

She wanted him, in the same irrevocable way that he wanted her.

As a mate.

Bound together by blood.

When she would have retreated even further, Zael slowly shook his head. He reached up, sliding his palm to the back of her neck. Her pulse was racing, throbbing as heavily as his.

“Don’t run away from me now, Brynne. Come back here where you belong.”

She didn’t resist him as he pulled her to him and swallowed her broken moan with his kiss. Her fingers delved into his hair, clutching at him as their mouths came together in a heated, hungry joining.

The slight abrasion of her fangs against his tongue sent a current of white-hot need licking through every fiber of his being. He dragged her deeper, thrusting into her mouth as his cock began to thrust inside her sex.

She moved with him in an increasingly urgent rhythm, until they both were lost to the frenzy of their desire for each other.

And the deeper need that refused to be denied.

Brynne tore away from his kiss, breathless and panting, her eyes shining more fiercely than stars. Behind her parted lips, her fangs gleamed.

He smoothed his hands over her beautiful, transformed face. “You’re mine, Brynne. My blood already knows it. So does my heart.”

He tugged her down to him, and this time when their kiss ended, instead of pulling back, Brynne lowered her head to the side of his throat. Her tongue brushed like silk across his carotid.

Zael growled in response, his pulse hammering in permission and demand.

She answered with a pretty moan that vibrated straight into his marrow.

And then she closed her mouth over his vein and sank her fangs into his flesh.

 

 

CHAPTER 32

 

Brynne moaned as the first taste of Zael’s blood rushed into her mouth.

Quicksilver and exotic, it was nothing like the pungent copper red cells of the humans she had fed from all her life. But then, she should have known Zael’s blood would be a powerful, intoxicating force. Like the male himself, his blood dominated her senses, owning her from the very first taste.

Each sip she took from his vein streaked into her system like liquid fire, awakening her every nerve, fiber and cell. She couldn’t get enough. Drinking from him made her feel as though she’d been dying of thirst for centuries and was only just coming to life for the first time.

He had done this for her—awakened her, brought her to life. Dragged her out of the shadows and into a brilliant, irresistible new light.

He’d done all of that for her from the moment they met.

Now this.

His blood would live inside her forever. That bond was unbreakable. It settled on her so profoundly, she wanted to weep with the power of it. Wherever either of them went now, together or apart, she would always feel him. She would know his joy and sadness and every pain.

But in a troubled corner of her conscience, she also knew that if the day should come that he looked at her in all her monstrous worst and felt regret for this moment—for having brought her into his life, she would feel that too.

Right now, all she felt was his love.

Her heart overflowing, she licked her tongue over the punctures her fangs had made, sealing the wound. Zael’s arms were warm and strong around her as she lifted her head to look at him. He held her in a sober, unblinking stare. His blue eyes had never seemed so dark or so solemn.

For a moment—one terrible, brief moment—she worried that she would see doubt in his handsome face. Or worse, the beginnings of the revulsion she dreaded might one day come.

But the bond told her something different. So did Zael, as he tightened his hold on her and flipped her beneath him on the bed.

His mouth came down on hers in a kiss so primal and raw, it nearly unraveled her on the spot. He was wild with passion now, and she felt every measure of it in the bond that now linked her to him.

“Oh God, Zael.” Her voice was little more than a broken, panting sigh.

It was all she could manage. She had neither breath nor voice as he spread her out and began a fevered exploration of her body with his lips and wicked tongue.

Her pleasure exploded now that it was combined with his. The blood connection to him multiplied her ecstasy, and the power of her desire twined with his was almost too much to bear. She arced off the mattress as his mouth latched on to her clit. Hot and wet and relentless, his tongue licked and sucked and teased her swollen bud. When his finger slid inside her sheath and began to thrust in time with his mouth’s torment, she spiraled toward a pleasure she could not contain.

Her orgasm crashed over her like a tidal wave. It swept her high and left her shattered, totally at his mercy.

And he gave her none.

She was still soaring, every nerve ending electrified and vibrating with bliss, as he prowled up the length of her body, then entered her on a low snarl of possession. He drove deep, deeper than she thought possible. Her head tipped back on a gasp, her hands fisting in the sheets as he rolled his hips, hard and fast and claiming.

“Look at me, love.” His rough command brought her searing gaze back to him. “Watch me take you. Know that you’re mine. Tell me you feel it.”

“Yes, I’m yours. I feel it, Zael.” She stared up into his eyes, swamped with pleasure and emotion. And so much love. It filled her with a growing, powerful light. His light, inside of her now. “Oh God, Zael. I feel…everything.”