He consumed me. Stole every last thought in my head. Without meaning to, I wound my arms around his neck, needing to get closer. To feel every inch of his hard body against my curves.
Was this an incubus thing? Did they have the power to push past a person’s natural reserve until they craved nothing but mindless pleasure?
The rational side of me tried to intervene, to remind me this male was dangerous. But my body didn’t care. It wanted more.
Zane’s hands left my hair and slid down my body. I gasped when his thumbs brushed over my aching nipples. Since all I wore was a loose tee, it took zero effort to bare my breasts.
“No,” I tried to protest. This was wrong. But he ignored me. Rough fingers stroked my curves, testing their weight before a hot, wet mouth found my nipple and sucked. His teeth grazed the pebbled tip, and I cried out.
“Oh!” He sucked and caressed me before lifting me so my core aligned perfectly with the hard length bulging behind his zipper. I rocked against him, desperate for release.
“That’s it, take what you need,” he purred against my breast before sucking my nipple back into his hot mouth. I ground down against him and came hard, my whole body splintering apart in ecstasy.
The amulet burned and fire magic exploded outwards, filling the room with sparks. For long, endless seconds, the ache in my chest eased as if sated, but then it returned with a vengeance.
I cried out as the pain ripped through me. It felt like my magic wanted to punish me for not completing the mate bond.
He was right, and I knew it. I’d read up on soul-bonds the previous night, and what he said made sense. Soul-bonded witches experienced erratic magic outbursts until they completed the mate bond. Not fully mating Maverick and Zane was likely why my magic had become so volatile.
It had never been this bad before.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that meeting my bear at the market was when my magic first went crazy. Before then, it had always acted sluggishly. Like it was hiding. Or suppressed.
But not anymore.
It behaved badly around Alaric too. Did that make him my mate also? Stars above, I hoped not. That mage didn’t deserve a witch like me. Besides, he acted like I was the most irritating and useless witch he’d ever met. Hardly a great start to any relationship.
Nope, the mage was not my mate. I refused to accept him as a mate.
I deserved better.
35
Zane
The bear stepped out of the shadows when I shifted back beneath Raven’s window. His fist clenched and a low growl rattled the nearby window as he inhaled deeply. I reeked of her. The scent of her pleasure clung to my jeans, my fingers, my mouth. If she hadn’t threatened to burn me alive, I’d have happily stayed all night long, drinking from the well of her arousal.
But she’d lost her shit shortly after coming. An atypical reaction, for sure, although I hadn’t taken it personally. I usually fucked off the minute I’d topped up my magic reserves, but something in me craved her presence.
Mostly my magic.
I normally steered clear of emotional entanglements. Feelings were anathema to me. Feelings led to attachments, and attachments were painful.
Goddess knew my father had learned that the hard way. And he’d paid the ultimate price.
“You better not have fucked her!” The bear’s chest rattled in a deep growl as he tried to push me back against the stone wall. I snorted.
“No, but I did make her come with my mouth on her juicy little tits.”
The bear didn’t like that one bit.Stupid jealous asshole. Fucking male shifters were all the same: possessive and unhinged around their females, not a rational brain cell between them. No wonder the mages looked down on them almost as much as they did every other species.
The bear grunted unhappily when I shoved him back. His anger tasted like ash in my mouth, but I swallowed it down. While lust was my preferred poison, I wasn’t averse to feeding on rage. Pain too.
Pain tasted exquisite when extracted nice and slowly from a victim.
Would Raven enjoy pain with her pleasure? I had a feeling she might. It was something to explore when I visited her next.
I grinned at the bear while licking my lips, enjoying the way his eyes spewed fire in my direction.
