“You were hypothermic when I found you,” he said, the words making him wince. “You’d suffered several broken bones and fractures, and frostbite covering half of your body. Internal bleeding was another concern. I thought…” Darius closed his eyes and shook his head.
I heard the words anyway.
I thought I’d lost you.
“How did you heal me?” I asked him.
“Unfortunately,El Lobowas not here to make his chicken soup. So I had to settle for the next best thing.” He tapped his wrist.
Vampire blood.
“It didn’t require much. Our blood bond is strong, Gray. You respond to my blood in a way I’ve never seen in other bonded—” He cut himself off, flustered. “Well, in any case, it seems to have done the trick.”
What had he meant to say? Bonded pairs? Bonded mates?
I didn’t know much about vampire society, or how things like mates actually worked. I knew it was an intense commitment. Knew that a vampire would die before he let harm come to his mate. And I knew that while vampires might experience many partnerships and, frankly, sexual encounters, he only mated once in his entire immortal life.
When we’d first made the blood bond, I’d assumed it was more transactional—a legal and binding contract.
But now?
Mates? Was that what we were becoming? Is that how he saw me?
The idea sent a little thrill down my spine.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For saving me.” My hand trailed up his arm to his face, my fingers brushing across his lips, his jaw, taking him in one slow, deliberate touch at a time.
His golden eyes sparkled.
“Hello, little brawler,” he whispered, brushing his lips across my brow. His whiskey-and-leather scent washed over me in a soothing wave.
“So it’s… really you?” I whispered. “This isn’t a hallucination?”
“It’s really me,” he said, lowering his mouth to mine.
The hot press of his lips was familiar, yet overwhelming, like the first sip of water after a lifetime of thirst. I tasted him slowly, terrified that the moment I let my guard down, the realm would shift and he’d morph into another monster, or burst into flames before my eyes, or liquify into a pool of blood in my mouth.
But none of those things came to pass. There was only Darius, his kiss growing more insistent, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, his touch light as he slid a hand beneath my shirt.
I let out a soft moan.
He paused, breaking our kiss. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“I’m sure. Better than ever.”
Darius resumed our kiss and cupped my breast, thumb grazing my nipple, the barest touch sending a pulse of heat to my core.
I sighed in his mouth, and he deepened our kiss, his touch growing more possessive as he slid his fingers down the front of my underwear. I was already wet for him, arching to get closer.
“Do I feel real enough yet, love?” he teased, nipping my bottom lip as his fingers slowly sank inside me, his thumb ghosting over my clit. “Because this,” he breathed, dragging his fingers all the way out, then thrusting them back in, hitting mejustright. “This feelsveryreal to me. And very hot. And very,verywet.”
My core throbbed, pulsing with need and desire as his fingers slid in and out, teasing me into a white-hot frenzy.
I grabbed his arm, digging my nails into his flesh. He was no longer that first sip of water, but the very last—a drink I desperately needed to consume before it disappeared forever.
“Real,” I panted. “Definitely real.”
“Are you sure? Perhaps you’re still hallucinating.”
