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I saw red at that point. My damn knee was possibly sprained or maybe even broken, and my hands were scraped, and I’d hurt myself, damn it.
“You deliberately tripped me!”
“You’re ridiculous. If anything, you did that on purpose to mess with me.”
“Oh, please! If I’d wanted to ‘mess’ with you, I’d have grabbed you. Like this…” I lunged for him, wanting nothing more than to feel my hands around his damn, scrawny neck. As I touched him, though, all my resolve to fight him flew up toward the sky. If the fog hadn’t obscured his face, I would have sworn this was an omega under me, making those sweet little mewling noises. All I could smell was cinnamon apples, and I wanted to eat him right up.
Only one thing was wrong. My brain was screaming at me that this wasn’t an omega, or even a beta. They took a lot of care and attention, and I certainly didn’t want to bring one in the kind of rough and tumble life I led. And neither did I need a two-faced, traitorous, lying sack of shit like the gorgeous man under me, who was so damn beautiful it made my stomach clench. Why did he have to look so fucking adorable and so in need of protection? He was an Alpha, damn him.
I looked right into his eyes to tell him that and to remind him how much I hated him and wanted to avenge myself on him. But what came out was, “I’m going to make love to you. If you don’t want this, you better say so now, or else I won’t be responsible.”
All I got in response was a deep, heartfelt moan. I took his sweet mouth with mine and the fog vanished—at least the one in my head.
He was my sweet, adorable mate that I would never leave and would cherish and protect with my life. His scent was strongest at his throat, so I moved my mouth down to suck up a mark on him there to prove my ownership. At this rate, he’d be covered in my marks before I was done. It would be a good look for him.
The question was, what the hell was I going to do with him now? The idea of anyone taking him away from me was like a giant fist clenching my guts and ripping them out. But I couldn’t keep him—could I? No matter what I felt, he was another Alpha, and it just wasn’t done. What about the fact he had betrayed me all those years ago? Wasn’t all that enough to make me want to trade him for a fat purse of gold just as soon as I could arrange it?
Fuck no, it wasn’t. None of that even gave me any pause. Maybe Grimora was right. Maybe some kind of blood magic did exist, and we had it. A double dose of it. Hell, I’d seen much stranger things in my travels. All I knew was that I wanted to make love to him, here and now. I wanted to knot him and make him mine, and I was damned tired of waiting.
“I want to make love to you. If you don’t want that, then speak now while I can still stop myself.” I was pretty sure I could still stop myself anyway.
“I-I want it,” he said against my ear, and the words enflamed me. “I want you.”
“I don’t want to hurt you. Let me take you inside out of this mess and find us some privacy. And some oil. We’ll need a lot of oil.”
I looked down at his pretty face, and he was blushing a deep shade of pink. This would hurt him—I knew it would hurt and I never wanted to do that. He wasn’t an omega, made to take my knot. Would this so-called blood magic help us? I didn’t have any answers, and I shook my head to try to clear away the last bit of fog, both inside and out.
I scrambled to my feet, and then gathered him up in my arms to pull him up to his. Limping only a little—I really had hurt my knee, although I supposed not quite as badly as I’d said. I took his arm and made my way toward the light of the cave. I expected to find Grimora where I’d left him in front of the fire, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was quiet inside, with only the sound of distant snores coming from deeper inside the passages of the cave.
“Grimora,” I called softly, but received no answer. However, as I went closer to the fire, I saw a scrap of paper on a stack of furs and went to retrieve it. It was a note from the old wizard.
Here are some furs for you to pull into the shadows if you seek a bit of privacy. You may also have some use for the contents of this bottle. I’m spending the night near Banshira.
I showed Brandon the note and the bottle of oil it had been attached to, and together we arranged the furs in the shadowy area beyond the fire. I began to take off my clothes, but I could tell the urgency was gone for Brandon. I thought he was feeling self-conscious.
“Did you change your mind?” I asked softly, still taking off my pants.
“No, I-I still want to. It’s just—I just feel…”
“You don’t have to do this.”
I really hoped he would, but it had to be said.
Chapter Nine
Brandon smiled and touched my cheek with cold fingers. Now I started feeling scared, because what if he hated it? Hated me? What if he regretted this when it was done? I didn’t want to take advantage of a moment of weakness.
He smiled—a little too bravely for my liking—and toed off the boots. Then he took off his shirt over his head and slid down his trousers. He stood there in the firelight looking like something out of one of my dreams. I ran my hand over the muscular, rounded globes of his ass, thinking only of how beautiful he was. How hard and lean. This was no soft, silken-skinned omega in front of me. This was an Alpha, and he was all mine. All that power and strength at my disposal, and not because I overpowered him, but because he wanted to be with me.
He drew my hand up over his heart, and I could feel it pounding away in his broad chest. The idea that it could ever stop… It was a damned devastating idea, and it made me sick.
“Grimora said this could help you. Do you believe it?”
“I-I don’t know. But whether it can or not, I still want to make love to you. It’s all I’ve wanted since I was sixteen years old. It’s all I want now.”
“I’ve never…penetrated you before. Except with my finger. This would be different, Brandon.”
“I know. But it’s time we stopped dancing around this. It’s what we both want.”
