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“Patience, my little human.”

“Ngh…” I sank my teeth into my lip, squeezed my eyes shut tighter. Luc squeezed his hand, getting my cock throbbing in his palm.

“Again.”

“I’m ready, Luc…” I was reaching the end of my rope. I thrust into his hand. “Take me—oh, fuck!”

Chapter 18

LUC

Finally, after agonizing weeks, my teeth sank into Tate’s skin. He gritted his teeth, a pained groan squeezing free but he didn’t ask me to stop.

I hadn’t even known I needed to mark Tate up in such a way but the more the night went on, the more the throbbing pulse on his neck seemed to call to me. More than the returning bulge between his thighs, and more than the pressing need between my own.

The bite wasn’t deep, but I felt a tingle spreading throughout my body and sizzling all the way to my toes. I knew what that was; I’d heard other devils talk about it: It was the first step to the bond settling into place.

Once I spread Tate across my bed and sank into him until I spilled my release into him, it would be complete.

The thought coiled a spring of desire in my gut.

Tate sighed, easing into our embrace and latching onto fistfuls of my hair. He stroked softly, tenderly scratching at my scalp and seeming to comfort me despite the fact that my teeth were deep into his neck. I released my grip on his cock in favor of cupping that hand around his throat to support him.

Typically, pain tended to cut through other emotions; it raised alarm and dampened desire, but Tate seemed to be the exact opposite. The sting from the bite seemed to fuel his lust. His hips rocked against my thigh, erection pressing firmly into my hip.

I licked over the bite mark on Tate’s neck, waiting until the tingling in my veins subsided to a near overwhelming warmth. Only then did I separate, and it was like the haze of purple surrounding me faded. Tate’s chest heaved with every hard-earned breath, and he brought a hand up to blanket mine on his jaw. His thumb rubbed my skin, and my eyes fluttered open to admire what I’d done.

My chest ached and I took in a deep breath.

“That’s it, love,” Tate cooed. “Take it easy.”

Then it hit me—the sound of a second heartbeat in my ears.

Tate’s heartbeat. I could hear every beat, every thud that matched the pulse against my palm.

Could he feel mine too?

I hoped not. My heart felt ready to burst through my chest. My thumb brushed the mark left behind by my teeth, and Tate shuddered.

My thumb left tiny purple lines in its wake. Not the typical deep indigo that tended to signify a bruise. No, this was more vibrant, seeming to glow even with the dull light of the moon streaming through my bedroom window. Bright and neon, it thudded with the rhythm of Tate’s pulse. Something in my chest tugged at the sight of it. I brushed it again with my fingers, and another shiver rippled through Tate’s body. “Did I hurt you?” I asked, my voice seeming to ring out in the quiet room.

I only released the breath I was holding when Tate shook his head. “No,” he said aloud, just as gentle. “It felt really good.”

Tate tipped his head back and I accepted the bait, dropping my jaw when his tongue swept across the seam of my mouth. His hands went to my belt and worked it open, wiggling the button on my jeans loose and shoving the zipper down. He sank his hand into my pants, palming my rigid cock. When his lips broke away from mine, he murmured against my mouth, “Teach me how to make you feel good.”

And then Tate took every word out of my brain, every thought I’d ever had, when he sank to his knees. He stole the breath right out of my lungs and my legs buckled, so much so that I had to brace myself on the bedroom wall. With one hand holding myself upright, the other dropped to Tate’s wild curls.

Hooking his hands around my waistband, sparkling green eyes gazed up at me, wild yet innocent, brimming with nerves and lust. Holding my gaze, he dipped forward and ghosted a kiss across my stomach so light and intimate that I nearly lost it on the spot.

“Okay,” I said, voice shaky. “If you want me to hold out, you can’t keep doing shit like that.”

“I thought making you come was the point.”

Now his gorgeous green eyes were full of tease. “Tate, baby…” I tried my best to sound confident, but the waver in my voice gave me away. “When I come tonight…” I hooked my thumb around his jaw, pressing against his lips until he opened up for me. With the pad of my finger on the flat of his tongue, he sealed his lips around the digit and sucked. A bolt of desire shot through me. His mouth was hot and wet, and my dick pulsed a drop of precum into my underwear at the feeling of what it would feel like wrapped around my shaft. “It’s going to be with my cock buried in that sweet ass of yours.”

Tate whimpered around my thumb, sending vibrations throughout my entire body.

“You’re going to be mine tonight, in every way possible.”