“I’m yours,” he said, hissing with each roll of my hips over his. He hardened in me another degree, and my body teetered on that brilliant edge so much it almost hurt. “Take what you need.”
I tangled my fingers in his hair, not meaning to jerk his head to the side as hard as I did, but he was so damn strong, it didn’t matter. I hesitated for only a second, allowing myself the sweet tension between our bodies, the pain in my fangs nearly consuming as I looked at his neck. He kept moving beneath me, even when I’d paused, his fingers roaming over my skin, slipping between us to tease my clit.
And that was all it took to snap me out of the beautiful, painful anticipation.
I sank my fangs into his neck, his warm blood instantly filling my mouth with the sweetest taste. I groaned, sucking at his neck, rocking against him as I drank and drank and ground against him.
And he held me tight, rolling his fingers over my clit while he thrust upward, each move driving me over the edge until I burst into a million pieces around him. His release chased my own, and I tasted it…the most exquisite, cinnamon taste, and it sent me spiraling all over again.
I tugged my lips back, flicking my tongue over the puncture wounds as he had done to me before, and watched as they sealed. Then I pulled back enough to meet his eyes, licking the stray drops of blood off my lips.
“You taste fucking amazing,” I said, my tone heavy with lust.
He grinned up at me, a promising look flashing in his eyes. “We’re nowhere near done yet, little witch,” he said, a growl in his tone as he shifted beneath me.
I was on my back in a second flat, his length hardening inside me again. He bared his fangs, his eyes roaming over my body, taking his time as he decided where to mark me first.
I held my breath, anticipation curling inside me again.
And I realized, in those brilliant, tense seconds, with my powers coiling tight inside me, and his body hard against mine…
I never wanted it to end.
I wanted Benedict now, forever, and whatever beyond awaited us after.
And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone threaten that ever again.
“I love you,” I said, needing him to hear it again as he tortured me, pumping inside me with slow, heated strokes that made my body tremble.
He stilled, seated to the hilt, looking down at me. A smile shaped his lips. “I love you,” he said, then bared his fangs and slammed them into the sensitive flesh above my left breast. I gasped from the contact, my entire body flying apart as he pumped and sucked at the same time.
“Remember that,” he growled, sealing the wounds above my breast. “The next time you think of leaving me again.” He thrust home, harder, more primal and dominant than ever before. A tiny sliver of pain laced with the pleasure, and I went wholly liquid at the claiming.
“Never. Again,” I promised, breathing the words as he pinned my hands above my head as he slammed into my body again and again.
“Never,” he growled, sinking his fangs into my neck, biting and sucking so fast my head spun, all the while he kept up his relentless claiming until my muscles were limp and my bones jelly. Until I could feel that bond between us burning so bright and strong, there wouldn’t be a thing on this earth that could dampen or weaken it. “Again,” he finished, sealing his promising words with a kiss that sent me tumbling over that endless edge, and he dove right over it with me.
17
Benedict
Ten sets of wary eyes studied Jocelyn and me with the kind of intensity that would have soured my stomach if I didn’t know my brothers as well as I did. Jocelyn’s pulse jumped, and I stroked my thumb across her wrist in a soothing motion. It was going to be fine...just as soon as we got past this.
Valor winked at Jocelyn, and Lyric grinned.
Fine, I guess that made eight sets of wary eyes and two excited ones. I couldn’t blame my brothers for the skeptical, even apprehensive way they stared at my mate. Our species had never been put in this kind of situation before, but that didn’t stop my hackles from rising or my fangs lengthening, ready to defend my mate at even the most subtle threat.
If it came between the Order and my mate, Jocelyn won. Hands down.
I’d had twenty-four hours of uninterrupted time with her. Hours to worship her new body, to learn the slight variation of her scent and taste now that she was a vampire. An entire day where we’d been left alone to feed, talk, make love, and fuck. Priceless time that had turned the shimmering magic of our bond to pure, unbreakable steel. But those hours were over and we’d been summoned to the great room—which was better than being ordered to the war room.