Page 55 of Princess Redeemed

“Take me,” I say.“Please.Take me one last time before you go to her.”

“I don’t wanther,” he growls, his jaw clenched.He’s clearly fighting the urges of his own body.“I loveyou, princess.Only you.And you’re carrying my child, for God’s sake.”

“Then take me,” I beg again.“Give me something to remember.”

He closes the distance between us.“Stop talking like that.This isnotthe end of us.”He grabs me and kisses me.

Hard.

Hard and passionate and aggressive.He’s marking me.Marking me with this kiss.He’s thinking that if he brands me hard enough, he can escape what is in his destiny.

He’s wrong, of course, but my need for him is too great to resist.I begged him to take me, and I want it as much—probably more—than he does.

His mate be damned.

33

Rogan deepens the kiss,and outside in the ether, rain begins to fall, a steady rhythm that matches the drumming of my heart.

It seems right, in some way.Right that the clouds above us are crying because Rogan and I are holding back such tears.Above us the droplets fall on the dead, saying goodbye to them.

And here, Rogan and I are saying goodbye.Our paths are now unknown, and that knowledge weighs heavy in my heart, overtaken only by the longing for this man I love.

Rogan’s kiss becomes more desperate and—if possible—even more aggressive.

Again I feel like he’s branding me, making sure I stay his no matter what happens.

He doesn’t need to worry.I’m not the one who’s bound to another.His heart will follow where his body takes him, but my heart will always be his.

The only person who will suffer when his true mate comes to claim him is me.

I break the kiss, my fangs still descended.“Mine,” I growl before I plunge my teeth hard into his pectoral, right around his nipple.His blood trickles slowly compared to the carotid, but I didn’t do this for nourishment.I’ve already taken enough blood for now.

No.

This ismymark.Mybrand.The mark of my canines on his flesh.It will leave a scar, and no one—not even the woman who’s above us somewhere en route to her mate—can take that away.

I seal my lips around his flesh as I continue to partake, and though I don’t want to let go, I eventually do, sealing the wound with my saliva.I look at the mark—my mark—and while I’m not at all happy, I find myself smiling.

Rogan will always bear the mark of my teeth here.Right here, where any new lover he takes will see it.

I meet his gaze, his irises swirling with passion.“Take me,” I demand, my voice a low growl, as I roam his body with my fingers and revel in the hard planes of muscle.

He responds eagerly, matching my aggression, gripping my hips and pulling me flush against him.The heat radiates from our bodies, filling the room, making it difficult to breathe.

Still, I manage to inhale—inhale his spicy masculinity, his animal musk.

His hard cock grazes my tummy, and its warmth against me invigorates me further.

“I’m going to fuck you, princess,” he snarls into my ear.“I’m going to drill my cock into you so hard that you’ll never believe I could ever love another.”

I close my eyes, let his words infuse me as if they’re part of the rain above, nurturing the fallen.Nurturing me.

He’s wrong, of course, but he believes what he says.I have no doubt.

While his love for me may be real, the overpowering need to mate with me is not.It was manufactured.

The heat between us is real, though.At this moment it pulses through me as if it’s alive.