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I jumped at first, surprised by the feeling of teeth sinking into my flesh, but Wolf opened the floodgates of his bond once more, throwing all the desire and lust and longing through me.

I could feel how turned on he was. Could feel the core of heat in his own body, growing and growing with the taste of blood.

Ofmyblood.

Somewhere in the mix of Wolf’s hardness grinding against me and the pull of his mouth against my throat, I moaned.

Wolf moved against me again.

My hands slid under his shirt, grazing up his bare back on either side of his wings.

He took another drink. Another.

It was a dangerous wave of submission, of heat and truth and wanting.

And it all ended too soon. Wolf’s fangs retreated from my neck.

I tightened my legs around him, arching my back to get closer to him.

He kissed the bite of my neck until I couldn’t feel the pinch of his teeth lingering.

Still, I wanted more.

“Huntress,” he said, pulling away and pushing himself up with his arms. I instantly missed the weight of him. “I–” Hestopped himself, but I could feel the emotions before he had a chance to hide them from that thread between us.

It was different than lust. It was sweeter than desire.

“Thank you,” he said. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my forehead.

“Wait,” I said, trying to pull him back to me as soon as he moved away. “You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do.” His words were harsh enough for me to freeze. “It’s not that I don’t want to take this further, because trust me, Huntress, I do.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I breathed.

The darkness crept through the bond. “I can’t. Not here. Not like this.”

I wanted to ask more questions, but brutal embarrassment stopped me. Hells, could I not scrape up even one last ounce of dignity?

I let Wolf retreat, let him sit with his back to me, grateful that the rain had now slowed so I didn’t need the shelter of his wings.

I had let a vampyrefeedfrom me.

And I actually fucking enjoyed it.

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

“It’s not worth it,” I argued. “We can find The Golden City without giving away our location to everyone else in this damn forest. You said it yourself. It’s too dangerous.”

“We’ve been out here for days,” Wolf responded, expanding his black wings. “I’m running out of patience. We don’t even know if we’re heading in the right direction.”

He had a point. If Wolf could get a vantage point of vision from the sky, we could shave days off our journey.

Weeks of endless wandering could be saved.

“Fine,” I breathed. “But don’t stay up there long.”