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“Are you sure?” he snapped. “This male body you’re toying with wants you, my God that side of me wants you desperately, but not near as much as my Iridescent side wants your blood. The desire is intertwined, I can’t control it, it’s primal and I can’t have one without the other.”
Shocked by his confession, she raised her hand and softly touched his face which was far exceeding human warmth. She swallowed hard, a finger trailing over his lips to his fangs. She held her breath as she placed her palm flat to his chest and she could literally feel and hear his heart drumming. She searched for words, direction, her mind racing. Finally, she whispered. “I understand.”
“Do you? Because I’m one hungry Iridescent,” he said with an urgency in his voice that made her shiver. “I don’t want to force you…I want you to submit, it needs to be consensual, but I must mark you soon,” he paused, “because if I don’t, another Iridescent or even Scarface could take you from me.” He cocked his head a bit unnaturally. Don’t take too long, my love, else we both lose.”
Donja couldn’t find her voice, she could only stare at his golden eyes which were completely mesmerizing. She wandered his face down to his fangs, sharp and curved beneath his partially open lips. She closed her eyes, terrified of being bitten, but more horrified that another, like Scarface, might take her. Summoning strength now motivated by fear, she found her voice. “So, once you bite me, I will be safe from the others.”
“Yes.”
“That’s the consequence you spoke of.”
“It’s the only thing that can save you…save us both.”
She closed her eyes and she wanted to believe him.
“Then do it.”
“Are you sure? Once I taste the blood, there’s no stopping the beast within me. I will mark you.”
“No, I’m not sure, but if this is my fate let it be you. I only ask for your word that my family will be safe from all this. Promise me, Torin. Give me your word that even if it is hopeless that you will try, fight the Council…for me, for my family if it comes to it. Look me in the eyes and tell me it’s so.”
“You have my word as long as they don’t find out and try to expose us, but hear me, Donja. If that happens, I may fight for you, but there is no force on earth that can save us, so you need to be diligent and you must keep their suspicions at bay.”
“I will…I promise.”
His lips trembled, something building within. Suddenly, he pulled her to him so fast that she gasped and before she could as much as protest, she felt a prick on her neck that forced her body to stiffen. Her heart drummed mercilessly, and she felt him tighten his bite, clamping down as he pulled her to his rock-hard body. She grasped his shoulders, shackled, digging in with her nails, fighting the urge to scream. A sudden fire coursed through her veins. The heat within intensified and with terror mounting, she pelted his shoulders with her fist, and in her mind, the word ‘predator’ echoed. She struggled, carelessly beating him with her fist, but he held firm. Suddenly a moan escaped her lips and as a searing heat settled in her pelvis, her eyes rolled back, then fluttered. Her fist relaxed. She raised her hands to his head and tangled her fingers in his hair. She moaned again and arched her neck offering her life for it no longer mattered.
He released her and pulled back, satiated with blood dripping on his chin.
She grabbed his face, primal desire overriding anything previously felt. “I need you,” she pleaded with a sultry tone.
He pulled back. “No, baby no,” he whispered, “I know you’re hot, I can smell you dripping and I want to taste it so bad it’s killing me, but it’s not the way of my kind. We have to wait.”
“For what? I’m on fire,” she moaned fighting for his lips.
He held her back. “We must wait, it’s our way.”
“I don’t care of your way,” she mused, fingers entwined in his hair. “I need you,” she pleaded.
“No, you’re not thinking clearly, it’s the fire of the antigens binding your cells.”
“I don’t care,” she moaned and as her breaths increased to a fevered pitch, she fought harder, the need within intensifying.
“But I do,” he said grasping her hands, “I must petition the Council. You deserve their blessing, rose petals, wine, a blood sacrifice and protection for life, should I ever be killed.”
She pulled free of his grasp. “Blood, is that all that’s important to your kind? You do function as a man, don’t you?”
He took her hand and pressed it to his groin. “Does that answer your question?”
She pulled her hand away but not before feeling enough of him that she gasped.
“Any doubts?” he whispered.
“No, none,” she whimpered, desire squelched by his size which had her second guessing the possibility. She swallowed hard and raised a hand to her neck, then checked her fingers which were clean.
“You’re not bleeding,” he said. “Iridescent fangs are coated with a toxin which numbs the skin and nerve beds and when I withdraw, antigens seal the site instantly.”
“Amazing,” she said, a bit more composed though deep inside, her need of him lingered. She shivered, and her eyes trailed to the dark hair on his chest. She bit her lip. “Why did you bite my neck, Gage bites Makayla’s groin?”