When he licked her vein again, Mollie tilted her head to give him better access to her throat. A rumble of satisfaction vibrated his chest against her back, and she knew he recognized what she offered him.
His fangs slid into her flesh, piercing her vein above where he’d marked her last night. But as soon as he broke her skin, he retracted his fangs and Mollie moaned in disappointment.
“Would you like to taste my blood?” His warm breath tickled her ear when he asked this. “More of it than you did earlier?”
Mollie’s heart jackhammered at the question. Did she want to drinkblood? The few drops she’d already tasted were sweeter than she’d expected, but the idea of drinking blood was repulsive. But if it was so repulsive, then why did it sound so enticing? She knew what it felt like when he was feeding on her, but what would it feel like to also drink fromhim? It was a question she had to have the answer to.
“Ye-yes,” she stammered. If she didn’t like it, she could always stop.
Mike froze, uncertain he’d heard her right. Before she could change her mind, he released her hair, lifted his wrist to his mouth, and bit deep. His blood spilled free, and he held his arm before her.
Mollie gazed at the streaks of red sliding down his skin before taking his wrist and drawing it toward her. She’d never pictured herself doing anything like this, but then she’d never expected to be having sex with a vampire either.
Mollie brought his wrist to her mouth and licked the trails of blood from his skin. The second his coppery, yet sweet and potent blood hit her tongue again, Mollie’s eyes rolled back, and a wave of ecstasy crashed over her.
When her hand gripped his wrist tighter and her small teeth bit down, Mike nearly lost control and ejaculated inside her. Somehow, willpower kept him from doing so, but he couldn’t stop his vampiric nature from taking over. His eyes fell to the new marks he’d created on her, and he sank his fangs into them.
With Mollie’s blood filling his mouth and her pleasure cascading over him, Mike lost the last tenuous thread of control he’d maintained. Giving himself over to the ecstasy of her, he pounded into her, and she eagerly met the unrelenting rhythm he set. When his hand dipped between her legs to caress her clit, she screamed against his wrist as she came apart. Mike plunged into her once more before pulling free and spilling his seed against her back.
Chapter Thirty-One
Mike cradledMollie against his chest as her breathing gradually returned to normal. She stretched like a contented cat before rolling over to face him. A smile lit her eyes, and they twinkled in the twilight. He traced the contours of her cheek before sliding his thumb over her swollen, red lips.
“You’re my mate, Mollie.”
He hadn’t planned to tell her, but he was walking a thin line, especially now that they’d exchanged blood. He’d just found his release and tasted her, yet his body clamored to be inside her again and to turn her. She had to be prepared and understand that he would destroy anyone who tried to take her from him.
Her smile vanished. “What?”
“Do you remember what I told you about vampires and their mates?”
The haze of euphoria slid away as she recalled their conversation. “You said when a vampire finds their mate, they mate for life, and their mate can be a human.”
“Yes.”
“But you also said they could not remain human, and the vampire would be driven to make them immortal.”
“Yes.”
She didn’t know how to respond to him or what to say. She’d been jealous of the possibility of another woman out there that he would spend his life with, but sheneverexpected that woman to beher. And she’d never considered becoming a vampire.
She couldn’t deny she was falling for Mike, and she would have considered dating him if they made it out of this alive, but not binding herself to him foreternity.
“You don’t have to say or decide anything now,” he said. “I couldn’t change you until we were off the island.”
“Change me?” she squeaked.
His hand stilled on her face as he sought to control his emotions over the terror etching her face. He had dumped this on her while she was dealing with so many other things; she had every right to be freaked, but her response roused his demon instincts.
“If you agree to it. I’m not telling you this because it’s set in stone that I will change you. You will decide that, Mollie.”
“Then whyareyou telling me this?”
“Because you have to understand why Doug felt the need to leave and why I’ll be more volatile if you’re in danger. The mate bond is forged through an exchange of blood and sex between vampires, but what happened between us has accelerated my need to complete the bond. Iwon’thurt you”—he prayed he could keep his word and not snap and force the change on her—“but I can become a threat to others. Doug understands that as we’ve seen it happen before.”
Mollie’s brain felt like it had joined the circus and was swinging from one trapeze to the other while she tried to sort through his revelation. “How do youknowI’m your mate?”
“How do you know the sky is blue?”
