Page 7 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

I raise myself on the tiptoes of my bare feet and tenderly kiss that lip that he’s so brutally biting. The metallic taste of his blood floods my mouth, but I don’t stop. I sweep my tongue across the broken seam until he finally releases his grip on his lip and surrenders it to me.

I grin as I suck that lip brutally into my mouth, running my tongue across his wound as if my saliva can heal him.

He whimpers in submission. “I would do anything for you, my queen.”

I suck again, pulling a painful groan out of him. And suddenly, this man—this alpha is on his knees before me. I barely have to crane my neck down to keep the kiss going with how large he is. But I’m still in shock to see him practically bowing in front of me. He truly sees me as his queen.

“I’ll kill for you. Die for you. Spend the rest of my life groveling at your feet for all the mistakes I’ve made.”

Gods, he’s so close. So close to fucking loving me. So close to letting the words slip out, killing me, and dooming us all.

And yet, I trust him completely, even though he lied.

He’ll do anything to protect me. There is no way he’s going to let his witch curse cause me to die.

He’ll stop himself short of actually loving me.

I don’t know how he’s doing it—magic, maybe.

There is so much I don’t know about him being a witch.

He’s a witch—a thrill shoots through my body. I want to know what that means. What he’s capable of. What it would feel like for him to unleash himself on me. The word doesn’t terrify me if it’s attached to him.

I kiss him again, knowing that we need to get going.

We need to be running, not making out in the forest. Nyx could discover us at any second.

But each time I kiss him, the intensity grows until I’m barely clinging to control.

My primal instincts take over. He’s my mate, and after everything we’ve been through, I need him more than I need to breathe.

I need this moment with him. I need him to feel alive. I need him.

Fuck me, show me who you really are.

Ambrose’s eyes widen into large golden orbs. I must have actually sent my desires to him. Oops .

I grin, catching his lip between my teeth.

“You’re the devil,” he says seductively in my head.

My chest rises and falls hard with each breath as the anticipation rises. And then the bastard winks at me, and I’m putty in his hands.

Power shoots out in every direction, almost knocking me on my ass as it pushes through me. But Ambrose grabs onto my hips, holding me steady as darkness descends all around us.

I gasp, unsure what the hell just happened. My fingers cling to the soft fabric of his shirt.

“Open your eyes, my queen.”

I shudder, not even realizing that I had closed them. But I obey, opening my eyes to see the sky has descended into night, lit by thousands of stars and a full moon. It’s incredible, but it shouldn’t be dark. It’s mid-morning at best, not nightfall.

“How?”

“Me.”

I blink my eyes wider, not believing he or anyone is capable of such magic.

“It’s a shield to protect us. Like a bubble surrounding us. No one will be able to find us while we’re here.”

“The blackness? The moon?”

“A natural part of my magic since I’m the alpha of the Moonlight pack. It’s the easiest form for my magic to take—moonlight.”

“It’s beautiful.” I look at him again. “You’re beautiful.”

“Afraid of me yet?”

“No.”

He smiles, but it’s not a full smile I’m used to from him. He’s hiding all his pain from me, but then in a blink, it’s gone as if I imagined it. “That’s right, you’re not afraid of anything.”

I frown. “I’m afraid of a lot of things. But never you.”

He sighs. “Then maybe I’m not doing it right.”

In a blink, absolute darkness surrounds us. The moon and stars blink out, and I can’t see the hand in front of my face, let alone Ambrose.

I shiver, knowing he’s near. I can still feel his warmth, and the magic he’s using caresses me like a warm blanket, even though my heart begins to thunder in my chest. “I’m not afraid of you, Ambrose. You’re my mate. My equal. My love—”

His lips crash down on mine like I knew they would the second my mind started to mention the word love. I grin, finally getting what I want—all of him.

He growls. “You’re naughty for taunting me.”

“And you’re cruel for holding back on me.”

I still can’t see him. It’s like a blindfold has been pulled down over my eyes, but I don’t beg him to let me see. I trust him. He has my life in his hands. He could kill me with his hands or his heart. A bite of his teeth or his words. Either way, my life is completely his to decide.

He angles my head to kiss me this time, his tongue sinking deep into my mouth until I’m about to combust from the kiss.

I need, need, need…I’ll probably die from lack of coming at this point.

Or maybe my impending orgasm will be what kills me.

But my death will come because of this man.

Now or in a hundred years, it doesn’t matter.

And I’d willingly sacrifice it for him again and again for one more night with him.

I shiver as I feel his sharp nails scrape down my back. His fingers are now claws, but as I feel no fur beneath my hands, I know he hasn’t fully shifted, just enough to let his wolf play with me. The nails travel back up my back and then over my shoulder before sinking into my thick sweatshirt.

I hold my breath in anticipation.

“This smells like him ,” he growls before shredding the front with a simple swipe of his claws.

My skin bears itself to the cool air. I wasn’t wearing anything under the sweatshirt, and my nipples pebble.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry I let him take you. His scent is all over you. He—”

“He didn’t touch me. These are just his clothes. He didn’t touch me. You didn’t fail me.”

“I’ll never forgive myself either way.” Another swipe of his claw, and the sweatpants I’m wearing fall to a heap at my feet. I’m naked. But it’s so dark that I doubt even his sharp wolf eyes can make out my body.

“I could stare at you all day.”

I blush. “You can’t even see me.”

“Look down.”

I do, and then gasp. My body is glowing. The runes that were marked into my upper body during the Moonlight initiation are glowing brightly as if highlighting every curve of my body.

“Not fair,” I say when I can’t see him.

“Hmm, who said anything about fair?” I nearly jump out of my skin as he plants a tender kiss on my bare shoulder from behind me. I don’t know when he moved, but when he pulls me back against his body, I can tell that he’s naked too.

I run my hand up and down his thigh. “I want to see you, too.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” I breathe.

“But I’m enjoying teasing you so much.” A crisp breeze runs over the front of my body. An unnatural wind that starts at my toes, curls around my cunt almost like a hand would, before swirling over my nipples in a teasing motion until their peaks are hard and stiff.

It takes me a second to register what just happened. “That was you?”

“Yes, my queen.”

My head falls back against his shoulder as the wind runs over my body again. If my brain could process anything, I might realize how immense his magic is, but all I can think about is how incredible it feels. How incredible he is.

Golden light draws my attention forward as a crescent moon takes shape as if being drawn by hand in the air. The light begins to dance outward in intricate runes, illuminating the muscular man beneath the design as it slowly lights up all of his features through the darkness.

I gasp at the sight of him, almost losing my balance and falling backward, but a gust of wind pushes me upright in a warm embrace.

I raise an eyebrow as my lips curl up. “Now you’re just showing off.”

He grins back. “Is it working?”

I lick my lips, my eyes running up on down the hardened body in front of me. “Yes.”

My chest rises and falls as his darkened eyes fall to my chest. We both are silent for a moment, just staring in the darkness that Ambrose created for us.

We are in our own little world. Nothing exists here but the two of us.

No curses or vampires or pack problems. No worries of danger lurking nearby. No tragedies to mourn. Nothing but us.

“I need this,” I send to him. “Please.”

“I need this to last forever.”

I suck in a breath. I need that too, but that seems impossible. It seems like a fantasy that neither of us will live long enough to experience. We may be mates, but we’re fated to break a curse. And we’ve yet to realize the consequences of breaking it.

He steps toward me as the wind he created swirls around my body, heating me to my core. I close my eyes as a hand reaches out, stroking my cheek. I don’t know if it’s his actual hand or the wind that touches me, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all him. All intense. All I want.

“I could stare at you all day. The runes on your body mark you as a Moonlight pack member, as mine ,” he growls out that last word.

I shiver as his hand runs down the curves of my body, and then I’m pulled into a deep kiss.

Our bodies press together as we both put everything into the kiss.

His tongue sweeps through the seam of my lips, and I open wider, letting him in deeper.

His large hands grab onto my hips, pulling me against him until I can feel his thick cock, desperate to enter me.

I grab onto his hair, refusing to let him go, no matter what.

I won’t let the outside world in. I won’t let the intrusive thoughts win.

There is no stopping this moment. The world could be burning all around us, and it wouldn’t matter.

I need my mate. I need Ambrose. I need to love him and let him love me in the only way we can until the curse is broken.

I moan around his lips as his hand sinks between our bodies, rubbing over my sensitive bud.

“I can’t believe you’re mine.”