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“Are you done?” Zuri stood, empty plate in hand. She was pretending she wasn’t turned on, but Marisol didn’t need Elena’s super senses to see the flush on her skin and dark interest in her eyes. “My wards have held here. They’ll hold in my apartment.”

A vein in Elena’s forehead appeared like a lightning strike. “I said no.”

“And I said you don’t fucking own me,” Zuri fired back, but her tone was closer to turned on than angry.

Elena slid off the counter with the grace of a leopard and Marisol’s pulse all but shot out of her body. Elena took her time running her hand over Zuri’s throat before running her fingers up the nape of her neck. Slow, purposeful, controlled.

When Elena made a fist and yanked her head back just enough to expose her throat, Zuri gasped. Desire throbbed hard between Marisol’s thighs. All Elena had to do was beckon her with a look, and Marisol was on her feet and moving toward her.

“You’re mine,” Elena growled, arm sliding around Marisol and clutching her to her side.

Marisol couldn’t form a single word. All she could do was stare at the power vibrating off Elena and soundlessly beg to be bitten. With her silence as acceptance, Elena turned back to Zuri.

Lips parted and eyes pleading for the same release building in Marisol’s body, Zuri didn’t shrink from Elena’s stare.

“Mine,” Elena repeated, fangs inches from Zuri’s parted lips.

Zuri flared her nostrils, expression hardening. “Fuck off,” she replied breathlessly.

Chapter Forty

Pressed to the kitchen counter,Zuri refused to bend. “You’re not going to bite me,” she said, leaving no room for debate.

Elena stared back at her, fangs bared and eyes bright. She was aching to release her shadowy wings. To bite her. To make her beg for her. Zuri knew it, and she would die before giving it to her.

They were at the most exquisite impasse, and this time, Elena was going to be the one to break. She would not give her a fucking inch.

Staring down a predator she knew could eviscerate her, Zuri waited for Elena to back down without a shred of concern. But then Marisol’s soft lips were grazing Zuri’s collarbone and her resolve wavered. Anger drained from her as if Marisol was pulling it out of her like venom.

Damn it, Bambi.Zuri circled her arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

Her soft lips on her skin and Elena’s obnoxiously hot grip on her hair was magic. She shouldn’t want this so much. Wanting was dangerous. Wanting made it impossible to see reason. To choose herself over them.

Teeth scraped her throat, Marisol’s sigh was warm against her skin, and Zuri closed her eyes to revel in the sensation.

Fuck.

Roaming down Marisol’s back, Zuri’s hand slipped into the waistband of the borrowed leggings and palmed her ass. Discovering she wasn’t wearing any underwear shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it jolted Zuri with adrenaline just the same.

“Are you going to miss me?” Marisol whispered against the shell of her ear, all soft and worried and sweet. For fuck’s sake, why did she have to be so sweet?

If Zuri didn’t know better, she’d think that Elena had conjured this woman up in a lab. She was too perfect. But she knew Elena too well. She’d be gloating if she’d orchestrated this on purpose.

Zuri nearly confessed that she would miss her. That she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say goodbye. That she wasn’t sure of fucking anything. But she couldn’t make herself speak.

Instead, she tucked her finger under Marisol’s chin and brought her to her lips. She kissed the words she didn’t want to say. Showed Marisol the turmoil dancing in her chest with the sweep of her tongue and the pull of her teeth.

“Mine,” Elena growled, sending a rush of searing desire pulling hard between Zuri’s thighs. She hated what Elena could still do to her. What she’d always be able to do with her aggravating caveman bullshit.

Marisol cursed against Zuri’s kiss, forcing her eyes open. Elena’s hand had slipped into the front of Marisol’s leggings. The sight of Elena moving under the dark fabric made Zuri forget why she’d resisted. Made her want in the most dangerous and reckless way.

With her free hand, Zuri gripped Marisol’s face and pulled her back to her mouth. She kissed her hard. Harder than she had before, fingers digging into her soft skin hard enough to bruise.

Moaning in response, Marisol opened for her and begged her to go harder. To go deeper.Jesus.

Tongue obscenely deep in Marisol’s mouth, she moaned. The sound vibrated in Zuri’s core and spurred her on. When she let go of Marisol’s face to slip in under the bottom of her shirt, Marisol whimpered at the loss.

Breaking their kiss because Zuri wasn’t sure she’d survive another moment of Marisol’s eager mouth, she stopped herself from panting. Looking at her was no better. Freckled skin already flushed, and bottom lip between her own teeth. She was gorgeous.