“Will I hurt you?” she inquired.
“No. You’ll know what to do.”
“I hope so.”
When her fangs pierced his skin, Aidenjerked and shredded the sheets in his grasp. He released thetattered remains to clutch the back of her head when he felt hisblood leaving his body. It was the first time another vampire hadever fed from him, and it wasMaggie.
Wrapping his other arm around her waist, herolled to pin her beneath him. Her fingers dug into his back whenhe sank his fangs into her shoulder.
Tears of joy spilled down Maggie’s cheeks assomething mystical strengthened between them until it bound themtogether. Thoughts and emotions tumbled so rapidly through her mindthat it took her some time to realize they weren’t just hers, butalso Aiden’s. He was a part of her, and she was a part of him.
She clung to him as his blood filled andsated her for the first time in her life. She’d never realized howstarved for blood she’d been, until now.
Aiden cradled her head as the pathwaybetween them opened, and her mind mingled with his.Complete.The anger, emptiness, and misery he’d battledreceded as the peace Maggie gave him returned. He retracted hisfangs as she continued to feed on him, her happiness swelling andgrowing within him.
Releasing her bite, Maggie grinned when sheopened her eyes to meet Aiden’s leaf-green ones. She’d worriedshe’d never see their beautiful spring hue again, but there it was.The colors were also fading from his flesh as he regained control.He was back, and he washers.
When she ran her hands over his back, shewas so lost in the new sensations, that she didn’t at first realizesomething was different about him. When she did, she had to touchhim a few more times to make sure. “Aiden, your scars; I thinkthey’re gone.”
“That’s because you’ve healed me,” he saidas he kissed her again.
CHAPTER 50
“I was preparing to leave my apartment attwelve to meet you that day,” Maggie said as she gazed at the woodsfifty feet away from the back patio. The leaf buds on the treeswere no bigger than a dot but clearly visible to her. However, shenever would have seen them yesterday. She inhaled the warm airredolent with the ripe smell of the frost melting from the dirt. Itwas the first day that felt like spring as the sun warmed the earthand her.
They’d decided they would have to getdressed and out of bed if they were going to get any talking donetoday. It had taken almost a day for them to reluctantly separateand dig some clothes out of the closet. Thankfully, though she knewsome of the others were still around—she couldhearandsmellthem—they had left the two of them alone.
“Amazing,” she murmured as a breeze stirredthe branches. “I can see and hear so much now. There are scents Ican’t describe.”
“It will take some getting used to,” Aidensaid and placed his hand over hers. “But you’ll get there.”
She smiled as she turned her hand over tosqueeze his. The wicker chair she sat in faced his. “I have nodoubt.”
“So you were preparing to leave at twelve,”he prompted.
“Oh, yes,” she said as she recalled whatthey’d been talking about. “Anyway, I was leaving at twelve. I knewI’d be early, but I couldn’t wait anymore.”
“I was already there.”
That didn’t surprise her. “This bond, I feelit now, and it is so strong; how did you ever let me go?”
“Because I love you too much to cage you ifyou preferred to be free of me. You had to make your own choicesand be happy, even if what made you happy wasn’t me.”
“But it is you, it always has been! Youknew, when you let me go, there was a possibility you might losecontrol if I didn’t come back?”
“Yes.”
Maggie believed she’d loved him before, butnow her love for him grew stronger. He’d sacrificed himself forher, and she had no doubt he would do it again.
“Ethan told me a mate cannot live withoutthe other.”
“True,” he said. “Which is another reason Ilet you go. If I wasn’t what you wanted, I wasn’t going to forceyou to tie your existence to me.”
“You are what I want, you always have been.I needed time to figure that out because I was afraid of losingeverything I’ve worked for. I grew up with nothing, Aiden, to riskit all terrified me.”
“I know, but I promise you, Maggie, Iwillgive you a future filled with love and security.”
“I believe you,” she said. “That’s why I wasplanning to go to the hotel. I was about to walk out the door whenmy boss, Pablo, called me.”
