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My face heats. “Stop looking at them.”
“They are cute baby fangs.” He chuckles, lifting his wrist and offering it to me. Then his tone shifts to something softer. “You know, you do not have to. The bond will settle without it for now.”
“But you want me to.”
His gaze darkens. “Yes.”
The honesty in that single word sends a shiver through me.
“But I don’t have to?” I ask.
“No, but I want to feel your mouth on me,” he answers, and the bluntness of it steals the air from my lungs.
“Kye.” His name leaves my lips, half warning, half plea, and his thumb moves slowly across my jaw.
“Still shy, little mage?”
“I am not shy.”
“You are standing here with fangs and pretending you are not thinking about biting me.”
“I’m thinking about many things.”
“Name one that is not my blood.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
His smile returns, slow and dangerous, in a way that makes my stomach twist.
“That is what I thought.”
I glare at him, though it lacks any force when my hands are already closing around his wrist, my fingers curling carefully around the place where his pulse thrums.
My fangs pierce his skin.
He inhales through his teeth, his hand tightening briefly at my waist, and the sound he makes is lewd.
His blood touches my tongue.
Everything inside me stills.
Then opens.
Warmth floods through my mouth, down my throat, and into my chest. The bond brightens so that I feel him everywhere, not just his hand or his body standing against mine, but the deep pull of him beneath my skin, the quiet ache he carries, the loneliness he buried so long ago that even he forgot where it began.
My fingers tighten around his wrist.
His forehead lowers to mine.
He draws me closer with his free hand, holding me against him while I take what he offers, and the bond settles deeper with every careful swallow.
When I finally pull back, the wound closes slowly.
His hand slides into my hair, and he kisses me, deep and hungry, his mouth claiming mine with a need that drives my back against the wall. One of his hands braces beside my head while the other holds my hip as though he is the only thing keeping me from disappearing.
I kiss him back with the same hunger.
His blood is still warm on my tongue.
