“You’re not a monster, Bane. You’remine.”
His gaze softened as he hovered his hand—now complete withclaws—above my head. Shakily, he ran his fingers through my hair, and I didn’t flinch.
I wriggled beneath him as his hands—no, his claws—trailed along my neck. He made steady work of removing my jacket, his claws slicing down the front of my solid shirt until it was just a scrap of fabric.
My breath hitched as desire flooded me, as his magic reached out to me in a way it never had before.
He trailed his lips over my collarbone, releasing my breasts with the gentlest of tugs, his claw traipsing over my already pert nipple with the gentlest of touches.
It made my entire bodyshiver, but not from chill.
“And you are mine, Violet,” he said as he took my nipple into his mouth, causing me to cry out.
“Bane...” The feel of his dick pressed against me mixed with the onslaught of his teeth—his fangs—nibbling my sensitive skin was too much, and I knew if I didn’t get the words out now, I surely never would.
“Yes, mylittle faerie,”he purred as he laved his tongue across the dip in my breast, tasting the sweat that had formed there.
I arched my back in response.
His wings curled around us, and I was acutely aware of the thin fabric that separated me from what I wanted more than anything at the moment.
Him.
“I want...” I panted as I tried my best to shimmy out of his hold, if only so I could remove my bottoms, but Bane stopped me, his hand covering my wrist. Claws wrapped around it as he brought my palm to his mouth, placing the faintest kiss against it, and I melted into a pile of goo.
How someone so dark, so solid and powerful, could be capable of such tenderness was the nail in the coffin for me.
I knew that no matter what the future held for me, I would withstand it all.
Because I had him.
My gancanagh.
My love.
“I want you to make love to me,” I said, the words heavy on my tongue.
Bane’s dark gaze flashed to mine as he dropped my hand, stilling his motions.
The weight of him against me was torturous as he froze.
“Please,” I whined, reaching for his face. I brushed my thumb over his lip as I implored his gaze.
“You won’t hurt me,” I said with heavy breath.
“You could never hurt me, because you are myanam cara,” I whispered as he leaned his forehead against mine. “My soul’s mate.”
Bane gazed back at me for a long moment, before I felt his claws slicing at my skirt, leaving only my soaked panties as a barrier between us.
“I need you,” I whispered against his lips.
“I need you, too,” he whispered back.
He trailed his lips along my breasts, down to my navel. His claws retracted just enough that the bite of his fingernails in my skin elicited sharp stings of magical pain that somehow felt satisfying and painful all at once.
And then hebitmy panties, tearing them clean off of me like some rabid animal.
In the time we’d been together, I’d never been fully naked and on display like this, and the reality made me panic.
