her until just a moment ago and had stopped when she'd asked, she should've been more careful. The rest may not matter so much, but this? Placing herself in a position that practically invited Garrick to bite her? That failure was unforgivably stupid. Had either she or Luc believed she could handle the vampyr, no matter that he'd been drained near-bone-dry of blood and weakened?
They were fools. Both of them. Regardless of the power Garrick claimed Luc had over him, Luc wasn't there now. Only she was, and Garrick's firm grip indicated he didn't intend to let her go anytime soon.
He could bite her whenever he liked.
There wasn't a damned thing either she or her guardian could do to prevent it.
The fact that her vulnerability turned her on even more?
Petrifying.
"That didn't take long.” He threaded the baby-fine hair at her nape in his fingers. “Your mind is your own, and already, I terrify you. But there's no need for Luc's wariness or yours. You'll be stronger soon, better able to tolerate the shock of mating. My control is not so fragile as to fail to grasp that.” His fingers stilled. “Did Luc explain why he does not want me to taste you?"
She squirmed, because tasting sounded a whole lot sexier than biting. “No.” Needs collided within her, the urge to flee batting against the impulse to stay in his arms. To let him take her. God, she wanted him. “He just told me not to let you bite."
"You tasted my blood. My blood scent inside you marks you as mine. It's not a strong mark, one that will require reinforcing, but...” He inhaled, nostrils flaring. His eyes glittered predatory satisfaction. “Your vampyr accepted me as your equal—your mate—the moment you tasted me."
She stiffened. Her jaw dropped. Her equal ? Since when had Kate ever been as strong and as powerful as Garrick, much less Luc? Never.
And what was this mating crap?
Sex she could handle. The longer she nestled against his hard body, the more she wanted to rub against him, to take his cock in her hand, into her mouth. To make him as crazy as he was making her. But mating?
Mating sounded a lot more involved than the mindless fuck her body craved. “I didn't know—"
"That doesn't change what is.” His hand framed her face, forcing her gaze to his. “A drop of your blood is all it will take to mark me as yours. To seal us. Once we're sealed, there's no stopping it. We will mate."
When his weight shifted beneath her, she grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. He rolled her beneath him, his weight pressing her into the couch. The bottom dropped out of her stomach when the ridge of his cock pressed into the V of her thighs. “Garrick."
"I want to be yours, to bear your mark,” he said against the lobe of her ear. His mouth nuzzled the wispy hair he found there. “I need it.” He trembled against her. “But as strong as your new instincts are, you're not physically or mentally ready for mating. When you are, you'll know. We'll both know. Until then, I won't taste you."
She wanted to believe him. “Then what—Why—"
He chuckled into her hair. “I want to neck."
She froze, a bubble of dubious laughter working up her throat, though she tried to smother it. “I beg your pardon?"
His warm breath bathed her earlobe. “I want to hold you.” His mouth brushed the tender skin underneath, forcing a whispery sigh past her lips. “Kiss you.” His hand settled at her hip to squeeze. “Touch you."
She stiffened when his lips settled on her neck, her hands pushing against him when he drew her skin into his mouth. Then she moaned with pleasure as his tongue darted out to sample her skin.
Not her blood.
Her skin.
"Human or vampyr doesn't matter when it comes to this.” He slid his hand under her sweatshirt to caress the flat stretch of her stomach. “Let me show you how good our mating will be."
She shivered as he traced his lips along the line of her jaw. Aftershocks of shivery sensation spread everywhere his mouth and his
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