Holding his head, I curl my fingers in his wavy hair and rock forward. The urge to fuck is almost as bad as the urge to bite his neck. He sucks on my testicles before licking the underside of my shaft. As I sink down his throat again, I clamp my lips tight to keep from saying the one thing I want to say.
Mine.
This man is mine. All mine. Whether he knows it or not.
The vibration in my chest grows, teeth elongating. Tobias digs his fingers into my thigh, throat tightening.
“Toby,” I warn, my voice almost unrecognizable.
He sucks harder, cheeks hollowing. After a few more passes, my balls draw up tight. I shoot down his throat in thick, hot spurts. The relief is almost overwhelming.
Tobias swallows down every drop before getting to his feet. I hold him tight, heart still beating wildly. When our lips meet, I’m surprised he’s still smiling. His heartbeat slows beneath my palm, steadying. He smellsincredible—not just the deep musk of arousal but like sweet oranges and fresh-cut grass.
“Soooo,” he says after a moment. “That just happened.”
I chuckle, rocking him in my arms as I tuck my face against his neck. “Guess we’ve both been waiting for that, haven’t we?”
He pulls back, eyes searching mine in the dark. I expect him to question this, to deny that it could ever be real, but instead he kisses me softly. “Yeah. We have.”
My wolf whines, pleased with his mate’s words.
Finally letting him go, I reach for our clothes, and toss his to him. Tobias is quiet as we get dressed, but not nearly as anxious as I thought he would be.
He turns to survey the room, then suddenly bursts out laughing.
“What?”
“You didn’t even let me explore the darkroom.”
“Me?” I choke. “You were the one who kissed me, remember?”
He grins, tugging his shirt on. The light reflects off his damn vampire mark before he hides it under the sleeve. The sight guts me.
How dare Rip hurt this man. For touching what’s mine. He’s going to pay—
“Here we go.” Tobias’s voice snaps me out of it. He flicks a switch on the first of the two enlargers, and an image appears on the panel below. He fiddles with the knobs, twisting the image in and out of focus, and raising and lowering the projector like he’s trying to learn the thing.
I finish getting dressed and run a hand through my hair before stepping in behind him. I can’tnottouch him now. Placing my hands on his side, I kiss his neck before wrapping my arms around his middle. I get another urge to bite, but I pull away, kissing his temple.
“Is that your dad?” Tobias asks.
I finally look at the image, and instantly, emotion clogs my throat. It’s a picture of Dad and me out by the lake, our arms around each other’s backs as we smile. I was twenty-one.
“Yeah,” I say quietly.
Tobias looks over his shoulder at me, brows pinched. Like he’d heard the grief in my tone.
I swallow hard, struggling to speak. “That would’ve been the last picture we ever took together,” I explain. “We were on a trip to Redfish Lake in Idaho. Just the four of us, I mean.” My voice shakes. “He died about two weeks after we got back.”
“Oh, hon.” He covers my arm with his, threading our fingers together.
“He must’ve been developing the film from that trip.” Then it hits me. “Probably for my mom’s birthday, actually. It would’ve been soon after that.”
“Do you… care if I go through them? Will she?”
“No, of course not. Mom would love to have them developed, to be honest. I don’t know if she’s even seen them.”
“She must’ve seen this one at least when she set up the darkroom?”
