Page 10 of Property of Mako (Kings of Anarchy MC: Louisiana #1)

The Line I Shouldn’t Cross

Mako

Yes, I’d killed before.

Hell, I’d lost count over a century ago.

This was the second time she’d witnessed what I was capable of, but something about ripping that bastard’s heart out while Lyra was watching…

that stayed with me as we drove back to her place.

I wasn’t ashamed of it—he’d earned every second of what I gave him—but I hated that she’d again seen what I really was capable of and without warning.

Not the charming, “brooding” vampire she seemed to think I could be—the monster. A killing machine.

The rain was light, tapping on the windshield, but my hands were still slick with blood in my mind. Her silence was a weight between us the whole ride home. I kept glancing at her in the passenger seat, half-expecting fear. But she wasn’t afraid.

She was looking at me like she saw through me—through to a soul I no longer possessed.

And that terrified me more than fighting off every Covenant enforcer in existence.

* * *

We got inside, and she immediately kicked off her boots. I stayed near the door, watching her move around like she needed to burn the adrenaline out of her system. It was late, but she made herself a cup of coffee.

“You should rest,” I finally said.

She shot me a look. “And let you just… brood in the corner all night? Not happening.”

That almost made me laugh. Almost. “You’re bleeding.”

Her hand went to her arm, where a shard of glass from the chapel had cut her. I was beside her before I could think, fingers curling around her wrist to check. The scent of her blood hit me like a freight train—warm, human, laced with something that was hers alone.

I swallowed hard, forcing the hunger down. “It’s not deep.”

“You sure? Because you’re staring at it like you’re about to?—”

“I’m not going to bite you,” I assured her, my voice lower than I intended. Then guilt hit me because she had no reason to believe me—I’d done it before. “Not this time.”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t move away. A damp ringlet of fiery red hair fell over one eye.

Inwardly, I groaned at her fearlessness. That was the problem. She wasn’t afraid.

And every second I spent this close to her made me more aware of how badly I wanted to close the gap.

“Let’s get you taken care of,” I said as I pointed toward the kitchen where I knew she kept a first aid kit.

After washing the gore from my hands, I patched her up at the kitchen table, my fingers steadier than they felt. The whole time, her eyes stayed on me. I could feel the heat radiating off her, the thump of her pulse under my fingers.

“You’re quiet,” she murmured as I gathered up the trash and disposed of it.

“I’m thinking.”

“About what?”

I should have lied. I should have told her it was about Lily, about the Covenant, about the lead we’d just lost. Instead, I walked back toward her and spoke the truth. “You.”

Her breath caught.

That was the first crack in the dam.

The second was when she stepped closer instead of backing away. My hand drifted from her wrist to her hip before I realized I’d moved. She didn’t flinch. Didn’t tell me to stop.

If anything, she leaned in.

Though deep down, I knew it was a lie, I told myself I could walk away. That I’d just… get it out of my system. I’d lasted years without actual intimacy.

But when her fingers brushed my jaw, light as a whisper, the decision was made for me.

I leaned down and kissed her.

It wasn’t slow. It wasn’t gentle. It was the kind of kiss that stole the air from your lungs and left no space for reason. She tasted like coffee and rain and the kind of fire I hadn’t felt in a hundred years.

Her hands slid into my hair, pulling me closer, and the sound she made in the back of her throat was enough to unravel every last shred of restraint I had left. I backed her against the counter, lips trailing to her throat, but stopped before my fangs broke skin.

Because I was afraid if I bit her now, I wouldn’t stop.

That was when I realized the truth. The thing I’d been trying not to see since the moment I saved her in that abandoned warehouse lot. That call that was like a whisper and a melody at the same time. The way her blood sang for me. Beckoned me.

Yet the most telling thing of all was the way I couldn’t get in her head. I’d made excuses, but I knew the truth.

She was mine.

Not in the possessive, arrogant way some immortals throw the word around. No—she was my mate. The one the bond had been waiting for, all these long, empty years.

And that made her the most dangerous thing in my world.

Because for someone like me, a mate was a liability. Mates weren’t only yours to protect—they were impossible to let go. And she was human. One day, she would grow old and die. When that happened, I would die. Because I would not want to live without her.

Unless… but no. I’d never ask that of her. This wasn’t a life that was deserving of her goodness and light.

I pulled back, breathing hard, hands braced on either side of her cheeks. “This is a problem,” I muttered.

Her eyes searched mine, lips still parted. “Why?”

“Because I can’t lose you,” I vehemently admitted, and the words burned coming out. “And now I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt you, and I will incinerate this world before I let them take you.”

Her breathing became labored, and her hands fumbled with my clothes. Without pause, she removed my shirt that was stiff with the enforcer’s drying blood. It hit the floor, and she gasped as her fingertips traced the scars on my chest. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I replied.

Like magnets unable to stop the pull, our lips collided again. Within a heartbeat, I had her undressed and carried her to her room.

Gently, I rested her back on the comforter.

My hands greedily touched her body as my lips followed close behind.

She was all smooth alabaster skin, sprinkled with little freckles on the bridge of her nose and across her shoulders.

Using my tongue, I played connect-the-dots with the ones on the slope of her shoulder.

Without meaning to, I found myself nuzzling her neck. Her fingers were tangled in my hair as I licked over her racing pulse. It took everything in me not to let my fangs descend and plunge them into what I knew would be nirvana.

“It’s okay, if you want to,” she whispered, her voice raspy with need. “I trust you.”

Fuck, I didn’t trust myself.

“It’s not a good idea, Lyra,” I insisted as I settled between her parted thighs.

The more I tasted her blood, the harder it would be to let her go when the time came.

Because I knew that was what I had to do.

It would mean a lonely and cold existence for the rest of my days, but I refused to force this life on her.

When a vampire found its mate, with each successive taste of them, the need to drink from them eventually became overwhelming.

I’d seen it a few times over the years. If they didn’t complete the bond, it would drive a vampire to madness after a time because mates were rare within our ranks.

Which was why I vowed I would practice herculean restraint with her.

She framed my face with her dainty yet callused hands. Then she pulled my lips to hers and tilted her hips in such a way that she was sliding her wet slit along my length. As our kiss grew more desperate, so did my need.

“Please,” she whispered into my mouth as she wiggled beneath me, leaving no room for misunderstanding her desire.

With her riotous curls in my grip, I stared into her beautiful eyes and reached down to rub the head of my cock through her wetness. When I knew it was well-coated in her slick fluids, I started to slide it inside her welcome heat.

“Sweet fuck,” I blurted out as I worked my way deeper until I was seated fully in her sheath.

It had been a long damn time since I’d fucked anyone, but I knew that wasn’t what this was.

Every cell in my body was screaming at me to claim her, mark her, own her—because it knew that she was made for me.

Sweat broke out on my forehead as I fought for the strength to hold myself back. As a human, she was fragile to a vampire that got lost in the throes of sexual madness. I never wanted to hurt her.

“Calix,” she begged, her nails scoring my back as she clung to me.

I swallowed hard, then I withdrew and plunged back inside her.

“Yes!” she cried out as her eyes rolled.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I insisted through gritted teeth.

“You won’t, I promise. Please, Calix, it’s been so long,” she breathlessly pleaded while trying to move beneath me. “Fuck me.”

She didn’t understand that I could very well hurt her, though I would never want to.

Yet when she said, “ Fuck me ,” my resolve shattered, and I gave her what she asked for.

Relentless, I drove into her over and over.

With each thrust, I ground my pelvis against her clit, causing her to squeeze my shoulders and claw at my back.

“Oh God, right there! Don’t stop, please don’t stop,” she chanted as she found her rhythm, and it complemented mine like I knew it would. After all, we were literally two halves of a whole.

Her tight pussy clenched around my hard shaft, and I knew she was indeed close.

Her little mews were music to my ears. Though I knew this was what she wanted, she had no idea how much I was still holding back.

Resting on one elbow, I used my free hand to roll her pebbled nipple between my thumb and forefinger as I watched her expressions as they lit up her gorgeous face.