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Our skin was shiny with sweat, and our bodies slapped against one another when I entered him. Bending my head, I captured his nipple with my lips. He bucked his hips and moaned as I teased the hard point with my tongue. He tweaked my ass and giggled, and the vibrations almost made me come.

Sheridan angled his hips so I slid in deeper, and he cried out.

“I’ve got you,” I whispered, and I meant it.

Thrusting inside him, I nibbled his ear, and he clutched my hair and tugged hard. His hand slid between us, and he gripped his cock and pumped in time to my thrusts. My breathing came in spurts and starts as I gasped and panted. Lifting myself slightly, I peered at Sheridan tugging his length as I filled him again.

“I can’t get enough of you.” He flung his other hand over my shoulder and pulled me close.

“Me too.” I nuzzled him, but I was losing control. I was nearing the end but wanted to stay inside him and yet relished the release.

Sheridan’s eyes closed, and he sucked air in through his teeth as his body spasmed and I pounded into him. I was so close, and sweat dripped into my eyes when he arched his back. I held him tight as our bodies shook, and we came together.

My knot swelled inside him, and I never wanted to let him go.

He shouted my name, but instead of pulling away, he clamped his teeth on me, puncturing the skin on top of the scar. This was what I’d yearned for. I’d ached for this man and feared us mating at the same time. Without being aware of what he’d done, he’d created a half bond.

Sheridan, who was human and my fated mate, had marked me, and yet he knew nothing about me. And I couldn’t change the marking. It was done.

10

RADLEY

Radley held me in his arms in my too-small bed, neither of us speaking. He’d gone from the guy who avoided me to knotting me over the course of the day. I’d spent weeks convinced that he couldn’t stand me, watching him avoid me at every turn. And then today, he broke an arm for me, took me out to dinner, brought me ice cream, and ended up in my bed.

It was difficult not to believe we’d crossed some magical line and everything was going to be sunshine and roses. That was the danger of post-orgasmic bliss, it made everything feel perfect, despite the fact that reality awaited us. We hadn’t made any commitments. There were no confessions of love. For all I knew, he was going to extract himself from my bed, throw on his clothes, and leave, only to go back to ignoring me again.

When I’d originally asked him to come inside, he’d turned the other way, and I still wasn’t sure what had him coming back. There was only one thing I was sure of, and that was that more than anything, I wanted him not to regret any of this. I longed for him to be as happy about what had just happened as I was.

We barely fit on the bed, and when I shifted to get comfortable, I saw the mark on his neck, the one I left there. If it had been a hickey, it would be embarrassing. It wasn’t a hickey, though. I freaking bit him and left teeth marks where I broke the skin. The messed-up part was that I wasn’t sure why I did it. I’d never been a biter. Heck, it hadn’t been a conscious thought. One second I was enjoying naked fun with my hottie neighbor, and the next second, I was sinking my teeth into his flesh like a rabid dog.

I looked at it, the guilt rushing in. Worst of all, I bit him right over that part of the scar that had called to me. I’d wanted to kiss him there and trace it with my tongue, not add to the pain that already existed. I wanted to lean in and kiss him, this time not because it was hot, but to make it better.

His scars covered much more of his body than I’d originally thought when I saw it. I wasn’t sure what caused them, but it had to have been horrific. It didn’t look like a burn, and I was leaning toward a car accident that required the jaws of life to get him out or something similar. No one should have to go through what had happened to him, and what did I do? I added a new injury to the same location. I sucked.

“Radley, I... I didn’t mean...” I caved, leaning in and kissing it. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He turned his head and kissed the top of mine. Why wasn’t he pissed? This thing was gnarly and was going to add to his scar. There was no way it would heal cleanly.

“Does it still hurt?” I started to get up. “Let me disinfect it.”

He pulled me right back down. “Please don’t worry about it.”

As if that was possible. How could I not? I’d gotten swept up in the moment and the result was hurting the man beside me. “Why aren’t you angry at me?”

“Because, omega, there’s nothing wrong with what you did.”

“There is a whole lot wrong with what I did. I hurt you.” Maybe it was numb and he didn’t understand the extent of the injury I’d given him.

“You didn’t,” he insisted.

“It’s gonna leave a mark.”

“Yeah. I know.” Did he sound pleased?

“Are you just pretending so I don’t feel bad?” It was the only thing that made sense.

“I promise I’m not.”