She was close to coming when he rested his palm against her face, and she turned to sink her fangs into his wrist. His blood and body filling her was her undoing. With a cry, she bowed beneath him as her body came apart.
Declan sank his fangs into her throat and pulled out of her as he followed her over the edge.
* * *
Willow layon her side with her head resting on her arm as she ran her fingers over Declan’s chest. Now that she couldfinallysee and touch all of him, she couldn’t stop doing it. Most of the color had faded from his flesh while they were making love, but faint tendrils of it remained around his eyes and fingers.
“You shut me out during the battle with the Savages,” she said. “I couldn’t communicate with you.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You didn’t realize it?”
“No.”
But he suspected he knew why he’d inadvertently shut her out. The swell of emotions energizing him was too much, and while they enhanced his abilities, they also blocked his mental pathways.
Then he realized there was still one more thing she didn’t know about him. She’d taken everything else better than he’d expected, but he had no idea how she would feel about him sensing her emotions. There were plenty of times she’d probably prefer to keep how she was feeling to herself.
“There’s something else I have to tell you,” he said.
Willow’s hand rested on his chest. “Whatelsecould there possibly be?”
She gave a small laugh at the end of her question, but the serious look in his eyes caused her amusement to abruptly end as a knot of apprehension formed in her stomach.
Declan rested his hand on her hip before sliding it up to her rib cage and tracing the underside of her breast while he contemplated how to tell her. However, this was one of those times when he didn’t think there was any easy way to break the news.
Goose bumps broke out on her flesh, her eyes dilated, and her mouth parted as he explored her body. He’d love nothing more than to continue his exploration, but he couldn’t put this off.
“I can sense emotions,” he said as he returned his hand to her hip.
Willow was so lost to his touch that it took her a minute to recall their conversation. When she did, she frowned at him as she flattened her palm on his chest.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I know when someone is sad, happy, plotting something, or aroused,” he murmured and ran his hand down her thigh. “Sometimes, those emotions can overwhelm me and take me over. I try to fight it when that happens, but there are times when I can’t stop it.
“Ihatewhen someone’s emotions become too much for me to shut out, but when we were fighting the Savages, I let my walls down and allowed their bloodlust and hate to fuel me. Along with my need to protect you and your blood inside me, their emotions gave me more power than I ever believed possible. The swell of those emotions inside me, and the power they gave me, shut everything else out.”
“Including me.”
“Including you. I didn’t intend for it to happen, but it did.”
Willow leaned slightly back as his words sank in. If he sensed emotions, theneverytime she’d tried to hide her feelings from him, he already knew what she was experiencing. He wouldalwaysknow what she was feeling. There was something invasive and unnerving about that.
“You’re an empath,” she breathed.
“Yes,” he said hesitantly. “But my ability is more powerful than a normal empath’s, or at least that’s what I’ve gathered from my research on the subject. But then, most empaths are human, and I’m not.”
“Which makes your ability stronger.”
“Yes.”
Willow bit her lip as she studied his face. She didn’t have to tell him how unnerving this revelation was. He already sensed how she felt. But then, the second they completed the mate bond, he could see into her far more than anyone else ever could. This ability of his just allowed him a little more insight. It would take some getting used to, but she would.
“When we were fighting the Savages, I looked up, and your eyes weren’t red—”
“They were black.”
