“Where were you?”he demands.
“With Richard.I don’t know how I got there.It was horrible.He forced me to kneel to him.”
“What?”Rogan grits out.
“I didn’t want to.He forced me.But I resisted.I was able to get up, and he couldn’t force me again.It was your blood, Rogan.Your blood gave me strength.”
“Good.My blood is yours, princess.Always.”
“I need it.I don’t like that I need it, but I do.I can’t live without it now.But you… What is it about me that binds you to me?You have no need ofmyblood.”
“But I needyou.I can’t explain it any better than that.”He cups my cheek, pulls me back for another kiss—
But I resist.
And believe me, it’s damned difficult.
“No.Not until you explain it.I need to know.I have a physical need for what you offer me, and that is true regardless of the fact that I love you.And I do love you, Rogan, but what if I didn’t?I’d still need your blood.Yes, I’d still desire you, be drawn to you, but in the most basic sense, I need what your body supplies.”
“I wish I could explain it, princess.It’s a surprise to me as well.We’ve been through this.”
“I know.Fated mates kind of died out for your kind.I get it.But somehow you ended up with one.What I want to know is—what would happen to you if we couldn’t be together?”
“I’d die.”
“How?Why?I need your blood.My kind depends on blood, and now I’m pretty much addicted to yours.But why wouldyoudie?”
He rakes his fingers through his hair, which is a tangled mess.“I don’t have an answer.At least not one that will satisfy you.”
“Try one thatwon’tsatisfy me, then.”
He laughs.A boisterous but sarcastic laugh.“What the fuck would be the point of that?”
I punch his shoulder.Hard.“The point is I’m asking.Your god damned mate is asking.”
“You know, Hannah?I love you desperately, and I can’t live without you, but no one on Earth can piss me off like you can.”
I scoff.“That’s a two-way street.”
“Is it?Because from where I’m standing, you live to drive me insane.”
“And what do you think you do to me?It’s worse for me, Rogan.I’m fucking addicted to your blood!I’ll die without your fucking blood!If you die tomorrow, we both die.”
He sighs.“That’s true no matter what.We’re bonded.Mated.Neither of us can live without the other now.”
“That’s bull.”
“Call it whatever you want, princess, but it’s the truth.And for what it’s worth?I don’t like it any more than you do.”
Rage curls up my spine.“Fuck you, Rogan!”
“Fuck you too!”
He’s on me, then.On me like we’re one body, and within seconds we’re naked, and he’s yanking my hair as he kisses my throat.
Throat…
God, his throat.