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D om mentally disconnected after he and the other Feard listened to Remi’s newspath. He leaned against the headboard and gazed into the distance while putting the info in order. On this side of the gateway, an unknown Immortal had given Maddy to Malacour. He handed her off to Serita. Then the trustee Scourge’s Mind Rat employee, Praevus, had chopped his boss into little pieces and stolen the prize—Maddy. One puzzle solved.

Ely added his tidbit. Sent by the OC, he’d found and lost Malacour. Tough break.

But somebody had extincted Praevus. Two mysteries. Ike and Praevus extincted. Malacour, the apparent rebellion leader in Angor, was in the wind. But he couldn’t ash a Scourge. That left the same suspects. The OC, Michael, and Luce. Harmony was a powerful Immortal with major responsibilities, but her skills were nowhere near those of the others.

Realizing he was spinning and nowhere near getting answers, he shifted and kissed Maddy’s cheek. Dom shared the news with her, interrupting her read on Blood Leeches. She probably knew more about the malady than he did. Of course, he’d never cared to know the deets about stricken Immortals.

He wondered again whether he’d ignored Gareth’s descent into madness or his friend had hidden it well. Whatever his history, Dom had already decided he would be more attentive to Maddy.

While her nose was in the book, he studied the human-turned-Scourge. Or was she? Too many oddities. Still, it was hard to dismiss the wings, fangs, and inability to get through the gateway. At the very least, she was a hybrid of some kind.

With her chin tilted down, her hair fell around her face and her expression changed with each passage she read. Sometimes she bit her lip. Sometimes she wrinkled her forehead. Sometimes she nodded.

Dom didn’t know when it had happened, but it had. He loved her. The connection he’d felt the first time he’d seen Madeline huddled in that abandoned car in Stupool had only grown stronger. He could no longer deny it. Damn . He didn’t want to deny it. A thin but unbreakable thread from his heart reached toward her. If Madeline accepted him, it would bind them together, tethering one to the other. He no longer ignored the truth. They were mates.

Ohngel was right. Dom didn’t have to understand the particulars of bonding. When it happened, it happened. And he was good with that. Fuck . He was ecstatic. Maddy completed him.

Once he spoke those words to himself, a door he had shut long ago opened. Dom no longer wanted to keep Madeline at arm’s length out of fear. Rather, he wanted to live beside her as long as he could. He suddenly understood why Ohngel was goofy for the witch Indigo.

Rumors had floated around Vast that many millennia ago Immortals had formed bonds with their true loves. But no one stepped forward to bear witness, to fess up. At least not during his existence. So the belief faded, becoming a rumor. A myth. But every bone, every nerve, every inch of his flesh shouted out for Maddy. Something ancient in his psyche told him it was the mating call.

And Fate had a sense of humor, didn’t it? His best friend had developed a malady. Now, the female intended as his mate was oddly infected.

While Maddy was still lost in her book, Dom explored his options. One, he could allow her to sink further into her malady, confining her so she couldn’t harm others. Perhaps he’d need to do this later. Two, he could desert her to the illness as he had done Gar, eventually sending her off to extinction or a life of Ordeals. That was a no-go. Three, he could find out how to undo her troubles. Unlikely.

Or, four, he could bind Maddy to him and give her his blood in the way of Scath’s vampires. Could it eliminate her cravings? Or could it be the last step in her deterioration?

He knew one thing for certain, though. The OC would not tolerate a violation of his law.

Enough thinking! In his heart, he knew Madeline was his mate. He’d bind them together without exchanging blood. Perhaps the mating alone would help her. Decision made.

Dom twisted toward her to find the book closed in her lap, a finger marking a spot. She was ogling his neck while she licked her soft, enticing lips.

When Dom rolled toward Maddy, she scrambled out of bed. “Stay away from me. I’m having a moment.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about biting you.”

Dom reached out, locked onto Maddy’s wrist, and dragged her back onto the bed. “You’re strong. I’m strong. We’ll be careful.”

He rose onto his knees, slipped the thin nighty over her head, and yanked the matching panties down her legs, tossing them to the floor.

Dom hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his loose-fitting black pants. Off.

Instead of going for her, he leaned against the headboard, his heavy cock jutting out. “Let me distract you.”

Her throat bobbled as she swallowed and mimicked his pose, her thighs spread.

Though he wrapped a hand around his aching, swollen dick, he didn’t move his fist. Tilting his head to the side, he rasped, “I expect a show.” When she didn’t move, he added, “I’m waiting. Touch yourself.”

Maddy’s fingers shook as they trailed down her stomach toward her sex. When they dipped between her folds, she moaned, her eyes fixed on Dom’s hand.

He grinned, loving a good challenge.

“Knees up, Maddy. I want to see everything. That’s it. Now stroke yourself.”

Dom’s lids were half-masted as he slid his own palm from crown to base, at first slowly and then quicker. When her fingers played back and forth through her pinkened, moist flesh, he whispered, “Faster.”

She complied, despite the blush on her cheeks.

“Take a breast in your other hand.”

“Like this?” Madeline taunted him, flicking a nipple. Then she alternated between pinching it and circling it with her finger.

Damn .

“That’s nice.” His hand stroked faster, his balls like heavy weights.

Madeline stared, her mouth falling open to bare her fangs.

Gorgeous. Thirsty for him alone.

“Oh, yeah. Put your fingers deep inside. Stretch yourself for me.” Dom moaned, his hand tugging on his dick.

Madeline licked her sharp, pointed teeth as she invaded herself, penetrating her sex with two fingers while she continued to massage a breast with her other hand. “This feels so good, Dom.”

She is hotter than hell, spread out for me. Her breath hitching. Her lips parted. Her skin pink. Even the fangs are sexy.

She fucked herself harder, faster as Dom pumped his swollen cock until it was about to break.

When her hips bounced in time to her hand rhythm, she arched off the bed, her head banging against the headboard.

“Fuck. Pinch your clit with those soaked fingers.”

“Dom, I can’t last much longer.”

“I’m thinking of my cock stroking in and out of your tight pussy.” He fisted himself hard. Up. Down, stopping for a moment to massage his aching balls. Frantically, Dom’s ass rocked in time to Maddy’s motions. His hand felt so good as he watched her enjoy herself. He imagined her wet mouth sucking him, her tongue licking his aching shaft. His nads tightened. He was close. His cock thickened. “Come with me. Damn. You’re beautiful.”

She shouted his name, an orgasm jolting her off the bed.

“Fuck. Yes.” Dom’s stomach clenched as he worked himself. He popped his hips forward when he spewed.

****

W ith her breathing jagged, Madeline dragged a willing Dom flat to the mattress. She rolled on top, straddling his thighs.

He grinned, licking his lips. “I’m gonna need inside of you.”

She gripped his still hard cock, rose onto her knees, and dropped down inch by inch until she was full.

They both moaned.

When Madeline leaned over his broad chest, Dom cradled her breasts. Lifting his head, he sucked a nipple into his mouth. Then the other. He licked and nipped, driving her crazy.

She drew back to focus on him, rising onto her knees until only the tip of his shaft was inside her. Then, both hands clenching his shoulders, she dropped hard.

With a groan, Dom said, “Damn good.”

But since he had to be in control, he flipped them until she was the one on bottom. Her nails drew blood on his arms. She thought about licking it, but her attention was elsewhere. “Move, Dom.”

“Oh, yeah.” When his hips undulated, he created an intense friction inside her.

Hell, yes.

Tilting her chin up with a finger, he captured her lips. His tongue invaded, pushing in, sliding out, keeping time with his hips.

When it slid across her fang, drawing blood, Madeline tasted Dom for the first time. An accident. Surely it didn’t count, but the sample was delicious. She jolted back, fearing what she would do next. “No.”

He settled his weight on her. “Be my mate.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Dom was deep inside her, offering her what she wanted. Him.

“This is us Madeline. Do you love me?”

“Oh, yes. So much I can barely breathe.”

“Then accept me as your mate. I’m waiting for you.” Dom slid almost out of her. He tilted forward again. In. Out. Slow.

Trembling with need as his tight grip bruised her hips, she nodded. When she did, a wave of energy slammed into Madeline. It was a live wire. That was the only way she could describe what happened. She gasped as the power blasted through her.

Dom threw back his head and roared, his body trembling atop her. Recovering, he gripped the back of her head, pressing her lips to his neck. “Feed,” he ordered.

Madeline kissed the pulse in Dom’s neck. Unable to control her thirst, she bit, her fangs penetrating skin and vein. Pop . His blood flowed into her mouth, warm, succulent. It flowed down her throat, feeding her, pleasuring her, giving her life. His blood was ecstasy, but it was also connection. Love.

As she drank deep, Dom’s hips slammed forward. Backward. With his shaft hard as steel again, he pistoned into her while his balls slapped against her flesh and the bed shook with their fury.

Her orgasm built while she gorged on him, their bond growing stronger and stronger. She sensed the tie that connected their hearts. Separate but not alone. Two but one.

She released Dom’s neck, crying out his name, her body shuddering, tightening on his cock like a vise.

He pulled out to his crown and thrust in hard and deep, grinding, pounding into her, every stroke a pleasure. “Yes. Maddy. Yes.” He gripped her hips as he shouted, his black wings punching out, surrounding them in darkness as they struggled to catch their breath.

When her breathing steadied, she shouted, “No. Oh, no, Dom. What have I done?”

****

S ated, Dom sank his weight on top of her. With a grunt, he drew his wings to his spine and rolled to the side. Then it hit him. In his desire to take the pain from Madeline, he’d allowed them to break the law. And the OC would know.

“What have I done? I’ve condemned us,” she said, tears dripping down her cheeks.

“It was my fault, Maddy. I offered myself.”

She wiped moisture off her face. They lay quiet for some time until she said, “We’re in deep shit, right?”

“The deepest.”

“I feel ... strange.”

Dom shot up onto his elbows. “I hurt you. Are you okay?”

“I’m not hurt. The intense thirst is gone.” She glanced at his pulse. “I still want to bite you, but the feeling is more of a wish than an uncontrollable craving.”

“Is that all?”

She clapped a palm over her heart, thinking. “No. I just can’t process the feeling. I’m changed. I don’t know how. It’s too much to think about. I need time.”

“Stand up. Let’s see your wings.”

Madeline popped off the edge of the bed, unfurling her wings. “Look. Are they better?”

“Turn around,” said Dom.

When she did, he touched her feathers. “The same. Nope. Wait. Something’s different.”

“What? Tell me.”

“Your wings are more ... exotic than ever. They’re the same except, here and there, you have streaks of midnight black.” His brows pulled down tight. “My color.”

She curled a wing around her waist until she could see part of it. “They’re kinda pretty.”

Letting it snap back, she opened her mouth and dragged a finger across her teeth. “Ouch. Still got fangs. Oh, no. I’m so selfish. Open your mouth.”

Dom complied, showing her his teeth. “No sharp pearlies.”

“Your wings. Let’s see.”

He rose from the bed and snapped out his midnight wings. Still the same.

“Thank God,” said Madeline. “You didn’t change. You’re not a Blood Leech.”

“I told you. Maladies aren’t infectious.”

But they had broken a law, and they would be called to account.

He tumbled them to the bed, pressing her head on his chest. “You’re my mate. We’re bound together. That’s what’s important.”

“How do you know? I mean, I felt something, but...”

Dom searched inside his body. He envisioned a thread. “Our hearts are tied together.”

He felt her lips curl up against his skin. A smile. “Are you okay with that?”

“I love you, Maddy. We were already one.”

But what should have been a cheerful moment was shadowed by gloom. Though he wanted to protect Maddy, he had, instead, put her in jeopardy.