“Do you trust me?” The question was harder, flatter.
And I realized what he was asking.
I thought of the tiger girl. I thought of Greenland. I thought of Josh and his big family, and the way he laughed and joked with his brothers. He would lose all of that if he went into exile with me.
“I can’t ask that of you,” I whispered. “Josh, I can’t ask you to give up your life—”
His fingers went under my chin, held my gaze to his. “The first thing any relationship needs is trust.”
If I said yes, there would be no turning back. I ran a hand down his arm, caressing his skin. “Just promise me that you won’t regret this a few weeks from now, when we’re exiled.”
He growled low in his throat. “Marie—”
“I trust you,” I said softly.
“Good,” he replied, just as softly. Josh leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose, oh so gently. “I love you.”
I smiled, closing my eyes at his tender touch.
So I missed it when he grew fangs and sank them into my neck.
I gasped, jerking in surprise at the bolt of pain.
He held me close as his teeth pulled out of my skin, then he began to lick slowly, sensually. “I’m sorry. I can’t turn you without it hurting a little.” He tugged at the collar of the pajama top I was wearing, exposing the shoulder closest to him for his attention. “The first bite usually doesn’t take.”
A little twinge of anxiety flared through me. “Oh . . . ?”
He continued to lap at my neck, and his tongue felt oddly . . . rough? That was a little strange. Not in a bad way, just strange. He continued to stroke my skin with his tongue, and in between lapping, delicious swipes of his tongue, he commented, “Sometimes it takes a lot of bites. Sometimes it doesn’t take at all.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a weird mixture of disappointment and anxiety. “So I guess . . . you’ll have to keep biting me?”
In response, his teeth sank into my skin again, this time just above the collarbone. I jerked in response, pushing at his shoulders. It hurt, even though he shortened the bite and began the soothing licking a lot faster. “I have to do this, Marie,” he said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you, but it can’t be helped.”
I nodded shakily, my skin hot and uncomfortable where he’d bitten me. He carefully licked each wound, taking great attention with it.
I was glad it was dark, since I didn’t want to watch. I shrugged my pajama top a little lower, letting it hang at my elbows and revealing a large quantity of bare skin to my lover. Then I tugged at the metal collar still around my throat. “I wish I could take this off. I keep thinking about what happened.”
“Don’t think about it, love,” Josh said softly, kissing my shoulder. “I’m here with you now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Let me take care of things.”
More than anything, I wanted him with me. Whatever happened, we were in this together.
I let my hands fall from the collar and relaxed, trusting him.
He continued to lap at my bare skin, and it soothed the pain. It also made my pulse start to pound, centered right between my legs. I blushed at the thought. Was I supposed to be turned on by him biting me? Probably not. I said nothing, determined to let him concentrate. “Is . . . is it your saliva? That does the turning?”
“It’s a lot of things,” he murmured, pressing a kiss on my bare shoulder. “But mostly the bite.”
“H-how does that work?” I hated the wobble in my voice when he moved to a new, bare patch of skin and began to nuzzle at it. I felt dread at the thought of his bite, yet anticipation at the sensual licking afterward. “Is it like a venom of some kind, like a snake? Or—”
“Shhh,” he told me, and kissed my shoulder. At my shiver of response, he sank his teeth into my skin.
I whimpered, resisting the urge to claw away. But then he was pulling his teeth free, and he began to lick the spot on my skin for long, long moments.
“Maybe it’s something in the saliva that mixes with the blood,” I said in a low, husky voice. Each swipe of his tongue was making my nipples get harder. I tried to distract him—and me. “And that’s why you need to . . . lick me.”
I was getting hot and bothered just at the thought of all that licking. The bite wasn’t bothering me nearly as much now, especially since it came with all that decadent, sensual rasping of his tongue.
Josh leaned back into my neck and inhaled my scent. He groaned low, then leaned in to lick and suck at my neck. “Ah, Marie, I can smell how turned on you are.”
I froze as he nuzzled my neck, preparing the next spot. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Just ignore me.”
“Hell, no—it smells amazing. I want more of it.” His hand slid to caress one of my thighs, stroking along the inside of it and sending my nerve endings flaring madly. “Let me touch you, baby.”
I nodded, swallowing hard as his other hand skated down past my neck and over my shoulder, tugging down the wide vee of the borrowed nightshirt I wore. “Who gave you this?”
“I—I don’t know. One of the twins?” I hadn’t paid much attention to it. I’d been too distracted by the thought of Josh lying hurt, Josh possibly dying.
“Don’t like it,” he growled against my neck, and pressed a hot kiss there even as he ripped at the nightshirt. Buttons popped off, clinking as they smacked the wall and floor. The shirt parted, exposing my bare breasts to the low moonlight. He growled low against my throat and reached to cup one of my breasts, his big hand encircling it.
I gasped, shuddering against him. That felt so, so good. His thumb flicked over the peak and I whimpered. I almost didn’t notice when he sank his teeth into the curve of my neck and quickly withdrew, lapping and sucking at the skin. His thumb continued to roll my nipple, teasing the stiff peak as his other hand slid up my thigh.
I moaned, tangling my hand in his hair.
He hissed when I touched his temple. “Watch the wound.”
I jerked away. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”
He just continued kissing me. His hand gently pinched the inside of my thigh, close to my sex. “Stay still.” His voice was low, husky, and thick, as if he was struggling to keep control.
I moved my hand down to his thigh, digging my nails into his jeans when he pinched my nipple and sank his teeth into my neck again. It stung and burned, but between the licking and his teasing caresses, I was having a hard time caring about the bite.
The hand on my thigh slid farther up, and he cupped my sex. “I love how wet you get for me,” he growled.
My hips pushed against his hand involuntarily.
He growled low again and sank his teeth into my collarbone once more as two fingers slid down to my clit and stroked. I jerked in his arms, whimpering again.
Josh withdrew again, lapping at the bite as his fingers stroked through my slick flesh. “Quit jumping.”
“I can’t,” I panted, arching a little when he rolled my nipple against his thumb again. “Feels . . . too good.”
He chuckled, giving my burning skin a long sweep with his tongue that made me moan again. “Flatterer.”
“Stop . . . touching me . . . if you want me to stop . . . jumping,” I said breathlessly. His fingers stroked up to my clit and began to circle, and I spread my legs wider. “Oh, God, that feels . . . ”
“Good?” he prompted between licks.
My fingers dug into his clothed thigh. “I want to touch you.”
He pressed a kiss to my neck. Once, twice. “I can see that we have a small problem, then. Because I’m not going to stop touching you, and you’re not going to stop twitching, are you?” His fingers stroked and circled at my clit, and I arched against him. “So what should we do about this . . . ?”
“Get naked,” I breathed, writhing when his hand squeezed my breast. God, that felt incredible. “Get naked and have lots of sex. Bite later.”
“How can I resist such a demanding woman?” he said, nipping at my shoulder again. He slid his hand away from my sex, making me whimper in protest. “Get on your knees.”
A hot bolt of desire rushed through me at the command. I got on my hands and knees in the center of the bed, full of need and energy. My entire body throbbed with want, and I looked over at his silhouette in the darkness, trying to see him. I only heard the clink of his belt and the rustle of his jeans as they fell to the ground.
