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“I shouldn’t want you like this.” She pressed her hands to my chest, but she didn’t push me away. “Not this quickly.”
“I think you should,” I purred, then inhaled her sweet scent into my lungs. A hint of her arousal sharpened her signature, and I groaned. “You’re already wet for me, aren’t you?”
The darkness in her writhed at my touch, and she shuddered. My dick strained behind my jeans, testing the quality of the zipper and its ability to keep me contained.
“What are you doing to me?” she asked. Those blue eyes were hypnotizing.
“I can take it away. The darkness.” Cupping her face, I strummed my thumb over the line of her jaw. “Tell me you want this.” I canted my hips into her, letting her feel the length of my arousal and how ardently I wanted her.
“No,” she breathed.
I growled, feeling the exact opposite through our connection. Grabbing her ass, I hauled her up until she wrapped her legs around my waist. The curves of her tits were right in front of my face, her necklace resting just above them. Her arms twined around my neck and her fingers tangled in my hair. In this position, her center settled right over my aching cock.
“How about now?” I rumbled and nipped directly over our mating bite.
Lorn’s breathing became harsher. “No,” she rasped.
I rocked into her pussy and grunted with the effort to hold myself back from ripping her clothes off. I was an asshole, but not enough of an asshole to go that far without consent.
My mate got off on the challenge, and she was making me work for her affection and the right to touch her.
Little did she know I would dedicate myself to that task for the rest of our fucking lives.
“I might not be what you think you want, but I'm exactly what you need,” I challenged.
“You’re wrong.” Her fingers tightened in my hair, the bite of pain only turning me on further. “I want you, Tye. But the others… they’re going to be upset enough that we figured out how to claim each other as mates when it hasn’t worked for them.”
“What hasn’t worked?” I pulled back enough to study her.
“The mating bites. I haven’t been able to reclaim any of them since the day our connections were destroyed.”
I wanted to wipe away every trace of sadness and depression I sensed in her.
I stilled, holding her against me easily while I tried to understand.
“Every time they bite me, the bond flares and then dies. It never works. Maybe ours worked because we’re both tribrids.”
Jesus Christ,that explained a lot. No wonder she was worried her mates were going to kill me. As if they needed extra motivation.
“Lorn,” I said gently, trying not to smile at how simple the answer was.“ The reason our mating worked has nothing to do with being tribrids. You’re a shadow touched, witch, and vampire while I’m shadow touched, shifter, and vampire. Our bloodlines don’t make a difference, just like it won’t matter that your other mates are full-blooded shadow touched. But just like your powers grew and changed, just like you crave blood, the way you claim a mate has changed as well.
“Unlike the shadow touched, when vampires and shifters mate, both people have to choose each other.”
Lorn’s gaze fell to the mark she’d left on my neck. The slight indent where her teeth had sunk into my throat was my favorite scar. My favorite mark among all the tattoos inked across my chest and arms. That simple crescent had changed my life.
“The reason our mating worked is because you bit and marked me back. Fate may have brought us together, but you chose me as much as I chose you. And I’ll happily wear your mark until the end of time.”
Her blue eyes swam with tears and relief, and she leaned down to fuse her mouth to mine. Her kiss was my undoing. Soft pink lips caressed mine with a desperation I couldn’t resist. She nipped my lower lip, then sucked it into her mouth, and the sensation made me buck against her. I plunged my tongue into her mouth, showing her the way I wanted to thrust inside her tight body.
Grinding down on my cock, she squeezed her legs around my waist as if she wanted more. The bite of her nails as they traced over my shoulders and down my back made me groan. That darkness inside her responded, and she shivered in my arms.
The longer the veil was open, the more the darkness would grow until it was too much for her to contain. I kissed my way down her neck, nipping at her skin as it trembled out of her to shake the walls.
“Tye,” she begged.
“I’ve got you,” I promised. “Do you trust me?”
Chapter Eight
