Her teeth began playing with her bottom lip again as she processed that, understanding seeming to illuminate her silverish-blue eyes.
I pressed my mouth to hers, stopping the habit that was driving me crazy. “But that is not what scared you…” I gathered once I pulled back again. “Won’t you tell me what really happened?”
“His fangs came out,” she whispered, and I could almost see the fear the sight might have caused her. Especially since she was beginning to unlearn all the bullshit she was taught about Vampires.
“It doesn’t mean what you think,” I assured, my touch leaving her jaw. “He didn’t want to drink from you. I mean, he did, but not in the way you think.”
Worry clouded her eyes, and she sat upright.
Great, now I was cock-blocking myself.
Sighing, I sat up with her, reaching for her hand to maintain our contact. “Do you know how wolves bite each other when mating?”
Blinking, she looked at me, both recognition and confusion pushing away her worry. “Yeah.”
“Well, it is very similar for him. Wolves bite each other until they taste blood to claim their mate. Vampires do too, drinking a bit from their partner to mate. It is not a ‘blood-thirsty’ thing, it’s a ‘he wants you to be his’ thing. He was naked in front of the woman he wants more than anything, and you were touching him intimately. He kissed you. D was ready to mate with you, that’s why his fangs appeared.”
“Oh,” she whispered, clarity inundating her eyes. “But I’m not a Vampire.”
“You are not a Witch either, but you mated with me,” I reminded. “Our world is different than the one you grew up in, Natasha. Here, you don’t have to only choose me, you can have us all… If you want,” I added when her eyes widened, the rosy hue on her cheeks becoming a full strawberry red.
The way her body responded to the idea said she wanted us all, her wolf desired us too, but she was having trouble fully conceptualizing that and admitting it to herself. That wasn’t a problem. D, Hannes, and I had waited for five years since learning she was ours. Hell, I’d waited even longer than that, since losing Corelia. Nevertheless, we would help her truly feel each of us, who we were to her, and understand what it meant to be mated with all of us at once.
“My wolf claimed D…” she whispered so low that I almost didn’t hear her.
“What do you mean she claimed him?”
“I heard her voice inside me. She said ‘Mine’.”
A true smile stretched my lips. “Did she, really?”
Natasha nodded, though she also scowled at me, not liking my smile.
“Can you tell her to claim me too, please? Because, sure, D’s dick is longer, but my head is bigger, and she already knows what magic I can do with it. Sooo…”
Her hand slammed against my arm. “I’m serious, Dante!”
“Me too! I take my penis very seriously, thank you very much.” My lips twitched, but I knew this was important for her. “I’m sorry. You know I can’t help myself.” Turning our bodies so we lay on the center of the bed, I pulled her close and kissed her neck. “Is that what scared you the most?”
Giving into my touch, she nodded, resting her head on my shoulder as my fingertips caressed her back.
“She’s never spoken to me before,” she confessed. “I mean. I’ve always felt her emotions. I can decipher what she wants—like when she dragged me into D’s room—but I-I’ve never heard her speak. I didn’t even know that was possible.”
Natasha brought up a good point. “I’ll ask Hannes about it. He’s the Wolf Shifter Prince, if anyone knows if that’s possible, it’s him.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course… It should be exciting for you to be able to hear her though. To have that new connection with her.”
Blinking, she thought about it, hope growing in her eyes by the second. “I haven’t heard from her since, but finally being able to communicate with her this way would be amazing.”
I doubted anything could mean more to me than witnessing the delight overcome her with the notion. Especially now that her shifting into her wolf became even more difficult.
Cradling her cheek, I brushed my mouth over hers, immediately feeling her melt into me. She claimed my lips that time, her need coming back to the surface as we lay on the bed. My shadows lazily surged then, curling around Natasha, and erasing my sweater from her body.
“It drives me crazy seeing you in my clothes,” I grunted against her lips. “Almost as crazy as it does to see you out of them.”
“Did you truly mean what you said about us?” she asked, biting her lower lip seductively. “That the bond wasn’t just for the two of us, that I could have more?”
