Page 84 of Nightshade

Didn’t matter. I’d be there to hold his hand and keep him upright.

Katya stood back from the door with Prudence and Evie, and I paused there and caught Prudence’s eye.

“If I . . . ” I began to ask. With my free hand, I touched my neck, and she smiled, catching on rather quickly.

“It’ll be safe. Vampires are more like werewolves than witches. You are magic, you don’t wield it. I don’t know if it’ll take the same way it would for a wolf, but it certainly won’t cause any damage.”

I took a breath and nodded.

It’d be safe. The only question was whether I wanted to give Leo everything he’d given me, and that was an easier answer than it should’ve been, given my history with fangs.

Leo had to crouch down to shuffle in the door, which was another problem as we made our way up the stairs and his ears dragged up the sloped ceiling.

Finally, we made it to his bedroom, and I shut the door behind us. I didn’t light the oil lamp or search for any candles. I could see fine, and I didn’t think he needed the extra stimulus while trying to calm down.

Up in his room, he stood in the middle of the floor awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure what to do again. While his massive shoulders rose and fell, I let him go and shrugged out of the shirt I was wearing—still his, still too large for me, but I liked the way his clothes swallowed me whole. I even liked how big he was now, impossible and enormous and so very safe.

When I slipped my trousers down, toed off my shoes, and stepped out of them, Leo’s breath caught.

“What are you—” he started, his voice rough and gravelly, a little muffled like he wasn’t sure how to talk in this new shape—“doing?”

In the dark, I stepped closer to him. All across my skin, his fur was so soft. I could imagine burying myself against him and never untangling from him again.

I slid my hands up his chest, through all that fur, with a sigh. “You’re mine,” I said. “We’re safe here, right? I want to be with you.”

He whimpered, leaning into my hand as I reached up to touch his face.

“Like this,” I went on, “or . . . well, I’d rather like to bite you if I can avoid a mouthful of fur.”

The snort he made was more like a laugh.

We stayed like that for a long time, simply standing in the middle of the room with me running my fingers through his fur. When he touched me, he curled his clawed hands inward and brushed his knuckles across my bare skin instead, always sure to never hurt me.

There was something so luxurious in standing there, just touching each other, feeling the steadiness of his every breath. A while passed before he was able to shift back, shrinking before me to his regular size. His muzzle disappeared into his normal, beloved face. He grimaced, but when I pulled him into my arms, he sighed and whatever pain had gripped him eased. His body went slack against mine, but he tipped my chin up and we kissed, lips to lips, his heartbeat throbbing against my still chest.

I loved the warmth of him, the hair that covered his chest and still tickled my skin, the way his hands felt as he swept them up my back, over my ribcage and down to my waist. Perfect touches that stoked me to life again, or something like it.

He didn’t press for more, let me guide us, but I wanted him as close as I could have him, and I wanted⁠—

“Fuck me,” I breathed against his neck. “I know you’ve let me lead us every time, and I like that. I’ll like it again, but tonight I—I don’t want you to hold yourself back from me. I don’t want you to surrender control. I don’t need that to feel safe with you. I am safe with you.”

Never in my life or unlife had I been able to say that about anyone, but with Leo, I couldn’t doubt it.

He smiled shyly, pink tinging his cheeks. “Really?”

Silly darling. I stretched up, sliding my arms around his neck and arching my back. I kissed the corner of his mouth and mumbled against his soft skin, “Yes, really. I love you.”

The way his eyes lit up, catching the starlight through the window, and the broad smile that grew on his face, would’ve been enough to stop my heart.

“So please,” I said, “fuck me. Bite me. If I’m ever to have a mark from another, I want yours. I want you.”

Needing no further encouragement, Leo swept me up in his arms. I hopped off the floor, and he caught me so I could wrap my legs around his hips while he carried me to bed.

He tipped me back onto it and held himself with one palm pressed into the mattress beside me. “I love you too, you know.”

I laughed, slipping a hand between us. His cock nudged between my legs, already hard, and it was so tempting to demand him right away. But no—I . . . I did want this. I wanted him to give me everything, no reservations, no fear.

I wrapped my hand around him, a thrill shooting from the corners of my jaw all the way down to my cock when his eyes fluttered shut and he moaned. I stroked him, because he was a very, very good boy and deserved only the best.