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“Gods, your blood smells incredible.” My fangs grazed his skin. My heart hammered in time with his. I meant to pull back, to stop myself from acting on instinct, but gods … I nuzzled against him like a cat.

“Do you want to bite me, Aura?” His breathless voice was taunting, amused. I didn’t respond. “What’s stopping you, my wolfsbane?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Why, because it’ll become sexual? I think that ship has sailed.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re such an ass.”

He grinned. “We agreed to see where this goes. You’ve ignored your instincts for long enough. So, I ask again, what’s stopping you, Aura?”

What was stopping me? I kissed the spot where his pulse hammered beneath my lips, then sank my fangs into the vein. As his sweet blood flooded my tongue, his body tensed beneath me. His arousal filled the air and blanketed my initial fear that I’d hurt him. I took one gulp and pleasure rushed through me. It was far more potent than the last time.

I couldn’t stop my hips from moving as I took more slow, controlled swallows. I listened for his heartbeat—strong and steady. “Aura,” he called, his hand squeezing my ass. “Aura, I’m going to— You need to get off. I’m— I’m close.”

I retracted my fangs and caught every drop of blood with slow, intentional licks along his neck. My tongue found the hollow of his throat, and he drew in a breath.

“Fuck, Aura. I’m⁠—”

“Knot me,” I whispered against his neck. My head buzzed with giddy anticipation. I moved over him with increasing speed, and he gripped my hips trying to temper my speed while simultaneously goading me on. We were both high on the effects of the bite, then I felt the pressure building where we were connected.

I rocked even harder against him as the pressure threatened to split me from the inside. The sensation was almost too much, until his knot rubbed against the sweetest spot inside me that had me almost seeing galaxies.

I muffled my cry of ecstasy in the crook of his neck, and he did the same, grunting against me while his body twitched, and he spilled into me endlessly. I was still dizzy with pleasure when I found myself lying on my side, his fingers stroking through my hair and our bodies still locked together. I wiggled my hips, testing, and felt a grin stretch across my lips.

He kissed me and whispered, “I love you, Aurelia Nygaard. Even if you can’t find it in your heart to love me back just yet. I may have enough for both of us.”

Tears stung my eyes, my heart squeezing painfully and pleasantly. “You truly are an arrogant prick,” I whispered with a light chuckle. A beat of silence passed between us before I added, “I want you to bite me.”

He pulled back to look at me, eyes wide. He kissed my nose, his lips as light as a butterfly’s wings. “You don’t have to say that just because.”

“I want you to bite me,” I repeated, firmly.

A gentle smile curved his lips. He shifted, and his knot rubbed against where we were connected again. I grit back a moan, and his overwhelming adoration wafted into the air. “Where?” he asked.

I pointed to my neck. “We can match.”

He laughed. “What if I keep it to a more discreet spot for now. I don’t want to cause you more trouble, especially when you’ll be going before the public.”

“I don’t give a fuck about the public. I’m not hiding anymore.”

Something snapped in his eyes, something like pride and admiration. He rolled me onto my back and lowered his head again. My fingers crawled into his hair as he peppered my neck with kisses, and I prepared for pain, for memories, for fear. Instead, as his teeth sank into the flesh between my neck and shoulder, there was a jarring sensation that bordered on discomfort and pleasure. A surge of overwhelming desire sparked through me, stealing my breath. I was rapt, swept up in so many emotions I was sure I would shatter. And by the gods, I was willing to be utterly destroyed if I could feel this euphoria forever.

He was mine. Mine. I didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it. I felt him everywhere at once—we were twin flames as waves of energy resounded through us. It was like light passing through a prism, scattering in a rainbow of emotions I didn’t know how to contain.

His name was a gasp on my lips as he released the tension of his jaw and kissed over the bitemark. My hips rolled of their own accord. A fresh wave of pleasure crested over me as he reciprocated with shallow thrusts as much as the knot would allow.

It wasn’t long before we both tipped over the edge again, spent and overflowing. He shifted so I was atop him, and tears streaked down my face as I lay in his arms, his knot still firmly in place. “Well fuck,” I mumbled, my voice thick with emotion as the sweat cooled on my body.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I feel different.”

His head nodded atop mine. “Like something’s clicked into place.”

“Yes.” I swallowed. “And if it wasn’t clear, I love you too, Sylvan. You’re mine, and I’m yours, and I will decapitate anyone who says otherwise.”

He chuckled. “Mine. Yours. Bonded mates. I like the sound of that. Decapitation aside.”