Page 33

Amaros released her knee, brought his hand to her face, and cupped her cheek, forcing her to meet his gaze instead of the mark. “You have not failed, little angel.”

She shook her head. “They are monsters. They’ve done so...so much to us in there. They didn’t care if it caused us pain or took us days to recover. But we couldn’t complain because we had volunteered for the experiments...for the money. And they used it to steal everything from us... me .”

Anger and rage heated her core as her new teeth lowered into deadly points. She wanted to return to the lab and rip each one of the scientists’ throats out.

He pulled her away from the mirror and held her body against his. Amaros held her so tight that the layers of fabric between them seemed to vanish. “You are alive and thriving in a way they never comprehended. But I promise you, they will pay. I promise you.”

Gripping the material of his shirt in her hands, she stared at him and saw the truth of his words radiating in the depths of his ash-gray eyes. “I’ve always been alone in this world, Amaros. I’ve never had anyone. No one with me to fight for me.”

You have me. Amaros cupped the back of her neck with one hand and drew her to him. He rested his forehead against hers but never broke their eye contact. “You have me. And together, we will raise an army at your side.”

At first, she thought he referred to the Prime who served them until she felt his other hand between them, inside of her robe, pressing against her flat lower belly. She understood.

“But they put them inside me.” Why wasn’t he denying the babes?

“They may have placed them there, but now they are created anew in my venom and grow stronger daily from your blood.”

Warmth spread from where his hand caressed her and rose to surround her heart. Even though she’d never had one, she knew the sensation and the emotions she felt: family.

She no longer suffered as she had in the days that followed the horrible procedure, even though there were only snatches of memory she had about that day. But there was one horrible thing she’d never forget.

When she’d run from the Wall, she never expected to survive. Every second that passed, it felt like the tiny beings were eating her from the inside out.

It made it hard for her not to worry. “Will they hurt me? Feed on me?”

“Never. The bond they have with you can never be severed.” He pulled her closer, his lips brushing over hers as he said, “ Our bond will never be broken, mate.”

“Mate?” But they weren’t truly mates yet. She may be a novice, but she knew what act would seal them for all eternity as mates. Michaela tried to seal her lips with his and deepen the kiss.

Amaros evaded her kiss. “Soon.” He slipped his hand around her hip and smacked her bare ass. “Now we have kept the leaders waiting long enough. I requested their attendance over an hour ago, and no one wants to deal with cranky-ass Vampires forced out of their beds at dawn.”

He gave her a push towards the shower.

She groaned but continued across the spacious bathroom toward the shower. “I hope robe apparel is the new breakfast fashion. It’s all I have to wear.” She untied the belt and let the robe drop to her feet.

He growled as his gaze devoured her svelte curves. “I’ll ensure something is brought up for you before you are finished with your shower.”

“You could always join me.” Michaela gave him a teasing smile as she stepped into the large glass stall.

“If I did, breakfast would be canceled.” In a blink, he was beside her, gripping the glass door. “Trust me, little angel. You are not the only one in need.” Amaros leaned in and nipped one of her taut nipples, then was gone.

The stall was filled with swirls of black smoke and her whimpers.

She quickly grasped the lever and turned it halfway, instantly thankful that the first water splashes came out ice cold. She wouldn’t be able to tolerate it for long, but at the moment, it helped ease the tension of lust winding tight in her core.

The vamp is going to drive me insane.

~YH~

As much as Chanin wanted to fuck his mate, he had to hold off. Restrain himself. And damn, if it wasn’t killing him to do it.

They were walking the last few miles through his territory and back to their home. The few Pack members from his security detail had peeled off to check in, rest, and tangle themselves in a warm bed.

Morlie’s soft hand was linked with his, and the only thing he would allow himself was a steady brush of his thumb on the back of her hand.

The heady complexity of her gently woodsy-violet scent with the sweet muskiness of vanilla undertones was pure madness.

Not only because he desired her with a need that could rival the multiple deep-sea earthquakes that practically split the planet in half, but the lunar pull was virtually at its zenith and drawing Morlie into heat.

He doubted that Morlie knew what was happening to her body. She was constantly rubbing her shoulder against his or turning into him when she was listening to him with her full breasts pressing into his arm and her tight nipples grazing his bicep through the soft fabric of her shirt.

She wore leggings and a fucking athletic tank top for their trip, two thin pieces of material that would allow a single swipe of his nail to slice the outfit open and rid her of it.

Jeans would have at least offered him a semblance of a challenge.

The ribbed nylon-elastic blend top conformed to her bare tits, letting them jostle and sway about with each step she took.

The delicate, pale color complemented the medium-brown of her skin, but all he could focus on was how it hid the outline of her areolas.

But her nipples, they had been stiff and tempting his mouth since they left the dragon-shifter territory.

He wanted to find the nearest tree, no, every fucking tree, and slam her up and against them and reacquaint his mouth and hands with her pert, soft flesh and suckle hard on each stiff peak until his mate shook with the need to come.

Then he’d dropped to his knees and worshiped her with his mouth and drowned in all her wetness until she came on his tongue.

His cock was a steel pipe attempting to split his zipper open and ready to drive into her. But his wolf wouldn’t let that happen until it sank its teeth into her she-wolf’s flesh.

Mine .

Chanin’s wolf wanted out. Wanted her.

It was the reason he ensured they walked hand in hand instead of shifting to their wolves for the jaunt home like the wolves who accompanied them.

It would have taken them less fucking time, but Chanin couldn’t risk it.

Not yet, not when he still had a big problem on his hands. In lockdown in the territory.

Because once he permitted himself to let his wolf out around her, his beast would force her to shift and claim her. That was best done when they were at full strength and power during the full moon. Even if it couldn’t be seen in the sky, every wolf would feel it.

Midnight tonight.

“Your sister appears to have integrated into the Drahk way of life.” Kai and Aodh seemed like a safe topic. Not that he ever spent his time thinking about other shifters, but he wanted to distract Morlie.

“She has. Even before I left, I could see how they were beginning to honor and respect her. Now, Kai smiles more than she did when we were behind the wall. I think she was always so worried about me. It is nice to see her relaxed and married.” Morlie giggled.

He squeezed her hand. Chanin had wondered about something since the ceremony. “Is that something you want?”

“To be happy?” Her lovely golden-brown eyes, now flecked with amber evidence of her wolf, met his as she frowned.

“No. I damn well plan to ensure your happiness above all else.” He reached up and grazed his knuckles over the silky skin of her cheek, needing to touch more than her hand.

But he pulled away before his touch strayed lower, to the column of her neck and the swells of her breasts.

“A wedding. You still have your mother’s ring. ”

He’d seen the pride reflected in the big man’s eyes and shining in the marks that declared Aodh a dragon-shifter when Kai, by Morlie’s suggestion, had placed her father’s ancestral ring on Aodh’s finger.

Chanin couldn’t fit Morlie’s mother’s ring, not even with all the Mage magic in the world. However, he’d get them steel rings made if it fulfilled a dream of his mates.

“Oh, no.” She emphatically shook her head.

“I am happy for Kai. My sister talked about it all the time before our parents got sick. She’d ask our parents to recount their wedding story or talk about other weddings they had attended before everyone was forced underground.

” She shrugged. Being sick for so long, my mind no longer dreamed.

It only focused on one thing: survival. I didn’t want to die. ”

Lifting their joined hands, he kissed the back of hers. “I’m glad you didn’t die. That you made it beyond the wall in time.”

“I’m your mate. That means I’m yours forever, right?” She smiled up at him, her gaze more amber than brown, evidence that her wolf was close to the surface.

“Right. Grr—” His wolf’s growl broke forth from his mouth, but Chanin bit it off. He turned away momentarily and inhaled, isolating his olfactory sense on the rich soil beneath their feet and the fresh, cool air of the early morning, filtering out Morlie’s musky violet-vanilla scent.

When he felt a little more in control and, his throat not so tight and his words rough, he turned back to her. “Kai being with child. Is that something you want?”

He caught the tint in her cheeks before she cast her eyes away, staring at the ground as if she were concerned with their steps. Morlie’s steps were as sure as his own. As shifters, they were unlikely to trip over roots and debris along the woods' floor.