With a growl, I tore away.
Her lips were smeared with scarlet, the wasted blood on her cheek marking her as mine. I brushed a thumb across her lower lip. The sight of my essence on her—knowing my life-force was inside her...
I couldn’t stop myself.
My hand slipped from her mouth to her throat, driven by primal instinct. Lust roared through me, tearing through a lifetime of denial.
My fingers shook as they lingered on her pulse before following the path of heat down and down.
I sank my teeth into my bloodstained lip as I cupped the part of her that I’d felt pressed against me whenever we collided.
I wasn’t prepared.
I never expected—
Raw, savage desperation made my fingers squeeze.
I bent over her as a grunt escaped me.
The weight of her breast. The softness of her flesh. The warmth and shape and addiction—
Touching her fucking obliterated me.
Ineededher.
Naked and spread and—
I leapt to my feet and staggered away.
My hand curled into a fist just as the vitalsync core flashed red.
A bolt of fire shot through me as I groaned.
What was I doing?
What the fuck was she doing to me?
I needed to leave.
Right now.
Footsteps sounded on the stone bridge outside.
Whisper shot to his paws, turning to face the unwanted visitor.
I caught a flash of mousy brown hair, the girl’s attention on crossing the small river.
I didn’t know her name, but I’d seen her with Rook enough to know they were friendly. She wasn’t like the others trying to bed me or kill me. She was like Rook: another lottery toss, givento me just in case a civilian enticed me more than the trained courtesans.
“We’re leaving.” Snatching my blade, I moved toward the back window.
The panther followed obediently, but his whiskers flared as he looked back at Rook still unconscious.
I still didn’t know what they’d done to me that made my very human blood do something veryunhuman. I had no explanation for why it could take away pain or heal but...for the first time, I was grateful.
She’d be fine when she woke.
She’d be strong for what I needed her to do.
