Page 94 of Demon's Desire

It was like coming home.

Nico drifted, basking in Onyx’s purring contentment, as soothed as his mate. Relaxed down to his bones.

“Thank you,” Onyx murmured after a while.

Nico squeezed him. “My pleasure.”

Onyx snorted. “It damn well better be.”

“How are you feeling?”

Onyx wiggled around to look at Nico. “Calm. Safe. Really fucking good.”

Nico’s face split into a grin.

“Smug bastard.” Onyx shoved Nico’s shoulder. “Don’t get cocky. I’ll probably turn around and freak out about the next thing in record time.”

“Bring it on. You don’t have to be perfect. In fact, you better not be, or I’ll feel like the weak link in the bond.”

Onyx narrowed his eyes. “Neither of us is weak.”

“No. We’re not.” Nico’s stomach flipped. “So…what happens now?” He understood what Harper meant when he’d said he couldn’t imagine waiting to mate. Nico was ready.

Onyx hesitated. “Do you mean now that we’ve admitted we’re mates?”

Nico nodded, holding his breath.

“Mates…” Onyx bit his lip. “My anger over what the quest for mates did to my relationship with Luc and the others was the reason I never wanted one. But all that feels irrelevant. Finding you is aboutus, nothing else. That baggage can’t touch our bond. I want you more than anything.”

The hairs on the back of Nico’s neck stood, tingles racing down his spine. “I want you too.”

Onyx’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure? You said you didn’t want immortality.”

“I didn’t.” Nico didn’t see this as choosing immortality. He tried to explain. “Like you said, it’s about us. I’m choosingyou. I want you however I can have you. For as long as I can haveyou. I never wanted to be a vampire, living forever bound to a sire, and eternal life itself had no appeal, but that’s not what this is.”

“You’re right, it’s not. You’ll be bound to me far more tightly than you would have been to any vampire.”

“That’s not a drawback. I want toseeyou Onyx. I know what I’m getting into. The bond’s already there. I can feel it. Can’t you?”

Onyx’s eyes sparked, and he gave a tiny nod.

Nico’s heart stuttered. “I want more, not less. No less thanall of you.”

It finally seemed to sink in. Onyx’s eyes turned shiny, his lips parting. “Me too. You’ve been calling to me since we met, I just couldn’t see it for what it was.”

Nico pulled Onyx tight against him. “Same, and I don’t want to hold back. You don’t have to be ready, but I’m all in. Whenever you want to mate, tell me, and we’ll do it.”

Emotions twisted Onyx’s face. “I want to mate you now. I never imagined going from indifferent to craving the bond so fast, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast. I need to claim you, Nico. To mark my territory. Make sure you can’t get away. And keep you safe.”

Nico’s stomach dropped. He’d come too close to death, and he hated that he still had to deal with the fallout. “I want you to keep me safe, too. I was terrified, and fucking heartbroken when it seemed like I wasn’t your mate after all.”

Onyx cupped Nico’s cheek. “I can’t have you heartbroken. Let me put your mind at ease,hmm?”

The sinking feeling fled. Nico’s chest was full and warm, as if Onyx’s demon fire had found its way into his heart. “Yes, mate me, Onyx. I’m yours.”

Onyx pulled him into a kiss, licking into Nico’s mouth. Nico opened, savoring the sweet taste of Onyx’s tongue and thelingering hint of sex. He ran a hand through Onyx’s hair, and Onyx’s fingers flexed against his jaw.

Their kisses were languid and sloppy, neither of them in a hurry. Yes. This was what Nico needed. Warm panting breaths, orchids and sweet wine, his mate’s warm skin rubbing him everywhere.