I jolted up, grabbing her and pulling her into my chest without a second thought. “Sweet ruby, are we—”
“Bonded?” Her voice was muffled by my chest. “Yes. It’s how I found you.”
“You… found me?” I breathed in her bearberry scent that I’d missed so much. The last thing I remembered was Vicki plunging the needle into my neck, but then nothing.
“Everyone else tried, but they couldn’t figure out where you were. When they told me that you were missing, my vision dimmed, and I watched the two tethers weave together. It was the most bizarre thing. They merged as I got closer to you, so I followed them. I never thought I’d have the chance to see a matebond with my own eyes, but the Fates allowed me to see ours so I could find you, even though we hadn’t bonded.” Her small arms trembled as she clutched my back in our embrace. “Alister, if I hadn’t been able to find you, I don’t know what I—”
“But you did. Leave it to you to see the complexity of our matebond but struggle with simple aura reading.” I chuckled as I kissed her soft, white hair. “You stayed with me after you found me.”
“Of course I did,” she murmured, squeezing me tighter, sending sparks of our magic through us. “You were asleep for two days.”
“Two days?” My spine straightened, and my gaze scoured the room. Nothing looked out of place in my room. The black floating shelves held all the gemstones on my wall with none out of place, and the only difference was my mate’s scent filling the room. “What happened to—”
“She’s gone.” She pulled back and ran her fingertips gently over my lips, and our bond pulsed with warmth. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so full of rage as I was when I saw what she was doing to you.”
“You, filled with rage?” I cocked a brow as I stared down at her, but her frown stayed on her lips as she searched my face.
“I wanted to kill her,” she admitted with a heavy sigh. “I tried to. If she hadn’t been a vampire, I would’ve done so.”
“You tried to?” My blood heated. “How?”
She bit her lip and glanced to the side. “Um, about that…”
My gaze dipped to the shirt she wore. It was one of Damien’s. I could scent the demon on it, and it looked like that was all she wore. The v-neck dipped, showing off the vein that pulsed in her neck.
My fangs dropped, and a seething pain erupted from my gums for having been dormant for so long. I leaned down and ran my nose up the column of her throat with a purr as my stomach clenched. “You smellso damngood.”
“Oh,” she breathed, angling her neck to give me more access. “Rowan has been having Damien feed me a ton of meat for meals so that you could feed off me when you woke up.”
”Is that what you want?” I dragged my fangs over her neck, watching goosebumps erupt on her flesh.
“Yes,” she moaned.
I pushed her flat on the bed, shifting my body on top of hers. “If I bite you, I won’t just feed. This time, I’ll mark you and bury my cock so deep inside you, you won’t be able to think of the others for the rest of the day.”
Her pupils dilated, and she moved her arms between us before pulling off Damien’s shirt and chucking it off the bed.“Please do.”
I burned the way she looked bare on my bed with her hair fanned out around her perfect face into my brain.
Wren’s transcendent, and she’s mine.
My lips curved into a smirk as I moved off her and undressed myself with my vampire speed. I was back on top of her a second later and pierced her neck with my fangs as our bodies slid against each other with no clothing getting in the way. My venom poured into her veins.
Her blood flowed in steady gushes down my throat, sating the need to fuel my magic reserves. My sweet ruby’s blood was as sweet as cooked bearberries, and the little mewls leaving her as I fed made my cock painfully hard.
Our bond throbbed, and Wren gasped, fisting her hands in my hair and wrapping her legs around my waist. My cock sank into her wet heat, and our magic surged through where we connected.
“Mmm, Alister…” Her throat vibrated, sending small shock waves through my fangs. “Your venom feels so good.”
Wren’s moans were a fucking melody, and her body writhed underneath mine as I sucked the blood from her neck and slammed into her with a primal intensity.
My fangs heated like a brand, and her moans turned into pleasure-filled screams as my fangs branded her neck with the claim of a vampire. A loud, guttural growl tore from my chest as my fangs rescinded into my gums. The growl switched to a purr as I gently bit over my fang marks before lapping at the blood on her neck.
“You’re claimed as mine now.” I kissed the two permanent fang marks on her neck as I slowed the speed of my hips.
“My turn,” she growled, and her canines punctured my neck. Her teeth embedded into my skin sent lightning bolts of pleasure through my body, and I moaned against her neck as I rammed into her.
“That’s right, sweet ruby. Brand me as yours, just as I’ve done to you.” I weaved my fingers through her hair as the bond amplified our pleasure.
