It should be a sin how fuckable all of my matches are.
“Small talk seems to do it for you,” I note teasingly.
“Youdo it for me. Fuck, I just…”
His breathing is growing rapid. I frown when I notice he's shaking slightly.
“Bael?”
“Can I please hold you for a bit?” he whispers hoarsely.
Again, with the please. It's like he knows just how weak I am for it.
I step into his embrace, going breathless when he drops back and rolls so I’m beneath him on the big bed. He buries his face against my neck.
“I fuckinghatelosing myself like that,” he admits quietly, squeezing me against his deliciously hard chest. “I had no idea if I’d hurt you, but I couldn't get a grip to find out. I was just trapped in a dark corner somewhere in my head with no control and no fucking idea when I’d get myself back.”
I toy with his damp hair. He’s still trembling slightly. Did something happen to him while he was shifted that's causing this? Or was he just that worried?
“You don't remember anything after your dragon took over?” I check.
“Nope. He's a fucking hog like that.”
When I trail my fingers down the side of his face, Bael groans, pulling back to peer at me. His molten gaze trails all over me, and the sharp hunger on his handsome face quickly fills me with a matching heat.
He grits his teeth, dropping his face against my neck again. “Fuck. What's going on with your scent, Mayflower? It's so much stronger than usual, and gods, it’s driving me fuckinginsane.”
He nips playfully at my neck, sending goosebumps rippling all over. Cocooned in this sensual heat, I can't resist dragging myhands down his smooth back, around, and up over his chest and shoulders.
Baelfire shivers, panting like my touch is too much for him.
And then he bites me.
Full-onbitesme—drawing blood in the spot where shifters mark their mates.
33
MAVEN
The sudden stingmakes me jolt. I push on his chest, blinking up at him in shock.
What the fuck?
“Did you just…claim me?”
His pupils are shifted into vertical draconic slits, traces of my blood around his lips that he licks with an animal growl. But half a second later, he snaps out of it. His eyes return to normal—then widen in complete horror when he realizes what just happened.
“Oh, my gods.Gods—I didn't mean to…fuck,” he swears, sitting up and covering his face.
It takes me a fraction of a second to adjust and become more than okay with this.
So what if he marked me? I’m his mate. Honestly, it was about damn time, even if it was his dragon who forced it.
“Baelfire.”
He’s spiraling, his shifter emotions taking hold as he panics, speaking quickly. “I am so fucking sorry. I swear I didn't mean to do that, and—godsdamnit, I wasn't paying attention when wewere on the run. I didn’t even fucking think to take any with me when we left the university?—”
Any what? What is he talking about?
