Bloodmark by Aurora Whittet Page B

wanted to be his. It didn’t make sense, we didn’t even know each other, but I was unable or unwilling to resist him.
    “Ashling . . .” he paused. “ What are you?”
    The question took my breath away, and my body went rigid. I could tell him everything right here, spill every secret, and watch him run away, to never see him again. I could lie and convince him to stay, but then what would we have? A relationship built on lies. I didn’t know what to do.
    Without a word to say, I hung my head. Defeated.
    He put his finger under my chin, raising my face back up to meet his eyes. “Ashling, I don’t know if you are some sort of goddess sent here to torment me, or if you are sent by the devil himself. I know nothing about you, and yet I feel as though I have known you my whole life. I don’t know how, but . . .” he hesitated.”
    “Grey?”
    “I love you,” he said.
    His words melted any resistance I still had; any sense of duty or reason were gone. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, kissing him. My first kiss. His lips were gentle yet urgent, and they pulsed with his promise.
    Breaking our kiss, I smiled up at him. “I love you too,” I said. It was so soon to say such things. I barely even knew him or anything about him, but I knew it was true. Everyone would say it was superficial love, a childish love, that we couldn’t possibly know what love was or how it felt to be in love, but they would be wrong. Every part of him joined tightly to my soul, and there was no turning back. He kissed me again, holding me too tight as he wrapped his hand at the back of my neck, pulling my face closer to his. My heart felt as though it might explode. Passion pulsed through my veins, and I felt myself losing control, but I had to pull away before I was completely lost to him.
    “Grey, if you ever change your mind, just tell me, and I won’t bother you again.”
    He looked at me, disbelieving, and shook his head. “That won’t happen.”
    I would love him for all of my days, even after he stopped loving me. I would always be his. And I would remember every moment, as long as he wanted me. I lay my head on his chest, listening to the rhythm of his ragged breath, and he buried his face into my wild hair, breathing me in.
    “You smell spicy, like bottled passion,” he said, taking another deep breath. “It lingers in my mind long after you’ve gone, and it urges me back to you.”
    “Oh?”
    “My spicy little redhead,” he said, burying his nose into my hair. I felt his breath on my neck, and I loved the way it felt to be wrapped in his arms. I yearned for more.

9
    Attraction
    Grey dropped me off a block from my house so Baran wouldn’t know of our secret rendezvous, at least I hoped. I felt as if I were in a dream, but the raw feeling on my lips anchored the memories to reality. I jumped up to my windowsill, slipping into my room without a sound. Baran was in the house—I could smell him. I got into the shower to wash Grey’s scent from my skin. I didn’t want to, but I knew Baran would catch his scent.
    His advanced sense of smell would make it impossible to keep our secret, but why would he forbid me to be around Grey, unless he hated him? Grey even worked for Baran. It didn’t make sense. If he could just see how Grey made me feel or the look on his face when I smiled at him, maybe then Baran would understand and he wouldn’t try so hard to keep us apart. I didn’t know why Grey loved me or why I loved him, but that was just it. It didn’t matter why. He loved me, and that was all I needed to know. I quickly threw on a sundress and slipped downstairs.
    “Hi, Ashling. I didn’t hear you come in,” Baran said. “Your friend Ryan stopped by, asking if you needed a ride to the theater on Friday. He said he’d be happy to pick you up.”
    “Oh. That was nice of him.”
    “He’s a good kid,” he said, nodding. “You be careful around them, Ashling. They are fragile creatures—you could kill