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They had this in common, a love of the outdoors. Civilized life had a lot to offer, no question about that. But give him a full night spent in one of the Nine Realms’ many beautiful forests, and he was a happy man.
Of course, the last time he’d hiked for a few hours with Regan had been one of the happiest of his life. The rest, all which had happened at Raven’s Overlook, he wouldn’t think about right now.
Instead, he took her hand and led her through the living room to the sliding glass door and out onto the walkway overlooking Dark Gorge.
The air was fresh and cool, even chilly. But he felt hot from stem to stern and he knew it was because of Regan. His drive toward her had his sex ramped up, no question about th
at. Yet, this felt like more, like a new kind of power had begun to flow through him, a steady vibration of energy and heat, making him glad he wore only the tank right now, and not the Guard coat. He was warm enough as it was with the leather pants and thigh boots. The cool winter air helped as well.
Even Regan didn’t seem cold as she leaned against the sturdy wood railing and settled her gaze on the forested cliff opposite. It was early December now, not quite winter, but his elevation was low enough he rarely saw snow at his cliffside home. But the mountains were capped permanently now at least until mid-March, even April, depending on how cold the season would prove to be.
He moved next to her, then gently took her wrist in hand.
She met his gaze, hers as direct as ever. “You can feed as well if you need sustenance. You know I’m willing.”
He nodded, but his chest tightened as he looked down at her. What he really wanted to do was take the vein at her throat. But the thought of drinking from her neck hardened an already stiff arousal. At least the leathers kept him snug and not too exposed, but he had it bad.
He caught her chin and kissed her again, another soft touch of his lips to hers. “Thank you. And I’ll take you up on your offer.”
She shifted to make reaching her wrist a simple thing. He lifted her slender arm until he had the right angle above the collection of veins at the base of her palm. His fangs descended and his breathing took another difficult turn. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this worked up before a bite.
He didn’t strike, yet. Instead, he took a long look at the night sky in a complete three-sixty to make sure there were no Invictus around.
Seeing nothing to mar the view of the stars, he reverted his attention to her arm. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his head and with a helluva lot of practice, struck to the right depth. Forming a seal over the punctures, he began to suck.
But the long groan that left Regan’s mouth did little to mitigate his other growing problem.
CHAPTER FOUR
Regan had fed plenty of vampires over the course of her centuries of living. And she’d fed Ian when they’d dated. But it had never been like this.
A soft vibration flowed over her entire body, full of desire and latent with power. More than at any other time in the past twenty-four hours, she felt in her bones she was a blood rose. Her destiny had come to her, maybe because of Ian, to provide a mastyr with blood rich enough to end forever his chronic blood starvation.
She was essentially a woman of service, so even if she hadn’t cared about Ian as much as she already did, she would have felt grateful to be able to help out.
Thank you, Regan. He lifted his gaze to her, his nostrils working like bellows as he continued to drink from her.
She smiled. “You’re welcome. It means a lot to me that I’ve taken away your pain.”
He suckled for another minute, then eased away from her wrist, though he didn’t seal the wounds. He was about to use his finger to paint the lines on his skin, from his wrist to his elbow, when she stopped him.
“Allow me.” The vibration grew stronger. “Can you feel that?”
He still held her arm in a gentle clasp. His color was heightened despite the chilly air on the deck. “I can. What the hell is this between us, Regan?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But I want you to seal the wrist wound. I think I need to do something else here.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
Using his tongue, he swiped over the two punctures on her wrist and the small incisions faded to nothing. “What do you have in mind?”
She offered the index finger of her right hand. “Bite me here.”
His eyes rolled in his head at her not-so-subtle command. His scent sharpened and she loved it, loved he was so into her. She planted her left hand on his bare shoulder. “I need to create the marks, so make it good.”
“It’ll hurt.”
