“I’d bite your throat.”
Her eyes widen, and I can’t tell what she’s thinking. Meanwhile, my brain is suddenly moving faster than I can keep up with. My pulse speeds up, at just the thought of sinking my teeth into her skin.
“Is that the only way?”
“Yes,” I say flatly. I could bite her somewhere else, but the most common locations are neck, breast, and inside of the thigh…and I’m not sure my self-control is good enough to suggest either of those options. I suppose I could just let people assume that I bit her on the thigh and that’s why they’ve never seen it, but now that I’ve got this idea in my head…fuck. What the fuck is wrong with me? This is absurdly dangerous, and it’s selfish of me to even have suggested it.
“Will it hurt?” Aurelia asks, interrupting my self-loathing.
“Probably,” I mutter.
I’ve never known that many mated wolves, we die so regularly and bonds are so rare, that hardly anyone has time to form them—or find them, if you believe in fate. Still, I grew up hearing that a claiming bite doesn’t hurt if done correctly, whatever that means. I don’t know, but I’m sure that if I bit Aurelia, it wouldn’t be correct by any stretch of the imagination, and probably won’t be pleasant for her.
“What if I tried to fake the mark with magic?” she asks. “Illusion isn’t my strongest suit, but I could probably do it.”
“You can’t use magic,” I say too quickly. “If you slipped and someone noticed there would be no point in any of this. If you used it in the camp, I don’t know if even the supposed bond would stop someone from attacking you.”
And then I would kill them, but I’d rather not have to.
Aurelia furrows her brow, clearly thinking hard. She’s going to say no. I know she is, and then this entire insane idea will be over. We’ll have to think of something else, or better, leave. Which is exactly what I want to do, so why am I holding my breath waiting for her answer.
“Fine,” Aurelia says tightly, tilting her head sideways and exposing her neck. “Fine, just do it.”
I blink in shock, and suddenly my mouth floods with saliva, and I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears. “You’re serious?”
Her eyes slant toward me, but she doesn’t move her head. “Weren’t you? You just said this is the best way to stay here.”
“We could go home.”
I’m not sure whether I want her to agree or not. Suddenly I’m at war with myself—half of me knows this is absurd. Idiotic. Dangerous. The rest of me is making up reasons why I have to bite her everywhere. I didn’t realize I wanted to, but clearly…fuck. Everything about this is a terrible idea.
“I’m not leaving,” she says harshly. “I came here to find my family, and I’m not leaving until I find them or get some indisputable evidence that they’re not in Thermia. I don’t care if I have to do that alone, but since it seemed like staying here was the safest way into the castle…”
“You’re not going alone,” I snap. “If you’re determined to go, the best way has to be with the wolves.”
“Right,” she says shortly, shaking her head back and forth as if to emphasize her exposed neck. “So get on with it.”
I feel like I’m drowning. My skin prickles with sweat, my jaw aches from clenching. Only yesterday, I’d convinced myself that walking from Aurelia was the only way to keep her breathing. Now, the only way to keep her safe is to claim her. I have to pretend she’s mine, have to keep her pressed against me, have to breathe in her scent with every inhale while my wolf claws at my insides, desperate to claim what I’ve been denying us both.
I take a step forward, then realize I have no idea how to do this—not in such a clinical sort of way. A claiming bite would typically happen when we were already much closer.
To an extent I’ve stopped noticing how much smaller Aurelia is than me, if only because I’m used to her now and don’t think about it. Now, I suddenly feel absurd, trying to bend my head low enough to put my mouth against her pulse.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, in a brusque tone that doesn’t quite cover up her nervousness.
I clear my throat. “I’m going to have to pick you up, or you need to stand on something.”
“Oh. Right.” She glances around the tent, and spotting a trunk near the end of the single bed, walks over and steps up onto it. “Better?”
No, not really.
I’ve never thought about claiming anyone like this before, but if I had, I wouldn’t have wanted her standing on a trunk. I’d want her bouncing on my cock and?—
I shake my head. I need to pull myself together.
I take a deep breath through my nose and cross the tent again in a single stride. Now, when I stand in front of Aurelia, she’s still shorter than me but in much closer range.
She tilts her head again, and I lean, keeping my eyes wide open as a reminder that this is a task, and nothing more. My hand comes up to grip her hair, if only to keep her head in place, and then I press my open mouth against her pulse point.
