Page 47 of Love the Way You Lion (Rise of the Resistance #3)

The Cat And The Blade Get Wild

TALIA

D eli is every bit as fucking hot, and wild as she’s made out to be.

Not that I’ve talked with him about it, but I’ve seen the marks, scratches, and bites.

I’ve also heard the rumors that floated around this place before she rang him up.

Deli does not disappoint. She overshadows her reputation by miles.

She shook the hell out of me and I’m trying to keep the serpent from fucking this all up.

I’d like to repeat this a few hundred times and my fangs itch like crazy.

I’m hungry and I want to feed.

Taurus, however, smells Rafe’s blood. My senses are giving me enough input to determine that my primary has turned to watch him.

His hunger is enormous, and I imagine that with four predators in the room, all aching for a feeding, he’s amped into oblivion.

He’s not used to not being able to tear in anymore.

I feel a fang scratch my thigh, and everything inside clenches when I’m distracted by the scent of my blood.

She nicked me when I shifted. It sends the primal into overdrive.

I need blood—want, drink, feed. I shake my head, trying to clear it to no avail.

She said that doing what she does gets her what she wants.

What does she want, I wonder?

“What do you want, Deli? What do you need?”

Her head lifts, and I see emerald-gold eyes full of swirling colors and four pointed fangs glinting in the moonlight. She was trying to hide the kitty, to keep me from seeing that she’s struggling with her primal side. I hiss again, and she snarls, tossing one word into my mind. ~Feed. ~

My response gets delayed by the sense of Rafe turning his gaze to Taurus.

I feel both demons in the air and a torrent of emotions in the room that are trying to vie for dominance.

He lifts his arm and licks the blood off it, almost as if taunting my primary.

He ambles, his gait deceptively laid back for the primal energy he’s emanating.

Taurus growls low, advancing, following the scent of the open wound.

I smell his blood now, and I wonder if he opened a wound on his arm.

What are they doing?

“Who do you want?” I murmur to Deli, unable to stop watching the clones and unsure if she meant what it sounded like she meant. I can’t cross a line she hasn’t offered.

My ethos won’t allow it.

~I want your blood and I want it now. Bleed me—do it, drink from me. ~ She snarls the command, almost hitting a roar, and I get the panther in comparison now. She’s like a big game cat, prowling and hunting, and I’m the prey.

I lose my ability to pay attention to the boys, letting the fangs drop and rearing back. Relief floods through me as I hiss low, then strike, watching the blood flow from the artery I opened before I gulp.

~Yes! ~ she cries into my mind.

Her fangs sink into my skin, tearing as she draws. I feel her drawing, as hungry and demanding as I am. The drinking rockets another climax through me, and I feel it ripple through her. She tastes like a fine cabernet, spicy and sweet at the same time.

It’s unexpected, yet delicious, and I want more.