He shrugged, as if he might have shrugged off the gallantry. “Her parents were stricter than mine.”
“Everyone’s parents are stricter than yours,” I muttered.
“Shifters,” he said, unrepentant. “She usually played by the rules, and didn’t like getting in trouble. She’s”—he frowned as he searched for a word—“softer than us that way.”
“I didn’t like disappointing my parents.”
“No one does. But I mostly ignored punishments, and you usually tried to negotiate your way around them by citing House rules or whatever.”
“Now who’s got the list?” I asked.
Connor snorted. “The point is, it was no skin off my hide to take responsibility. Lulu was relieved she didn’t get in trouble, and very irritated that she owed me. It was a total win-win.” He frowned. “I think that’s when she was spending time with the necromancer kid.”
“That was—” I had to work to remember the girl’s name. “Ariel, I think. Her mother, Annabelle, was a friend of my parents. She helped them, and the Ombuds, before she retired.”
Her daughter, I recalled, had been a hellion, and not an especially good influence on Lulu. Necromancers didn’t come into their magic until they hit seventeen or eighteen, and it could be a rough road before and after.
“Maybe the entire thing had been her idea,” I mused.
“I take it you aren’t in touch.”
“No, and I don’t think Lulu is, either.”
“I think I kissed Ariel during her wild-child phase.”
“You’re still in your wild-child phase and just as incorrigible.”
He turned to me, gaze narrowed, but eyes gleaming like blue fire. He touched my face with a gentle fingertip, tracing the line of my jaw, lips hovering near my ear. “Shall I prove just how incorrigible I can be?”
“Yes,” I said and grabbed a handful of his T-shirt.
Next thing I knew, I was on my back, a prince above me, his eyes outrageously blue. He nipped at my bottom lip.
“We are outside,” I reminded him. “People can see us.”
“No, they can’t,” he said. “Check the windows.”
Instinctively, I glanced up, realized the only windows that faced the courtyard were from his town house, and they were all closed, the curtains drawn. No one could see.
“Clever,” I said, as anticipation rose on my skin.
“Shifter,” he said. “We enjoy all manner of naked outdoor romps.”
And in case I didn’t believe him, he proceeded to prove it. He pulled his shirt over his head, then rose. His feet were bare, and he unbuttoned his jeans, more slowly than I thought fair or necessary, and then there were boxer briefs, and then there was nothing but smooth, tan skin.
He was glorious.
I’d seen him naked before, but that had only been brief flashes before or after he’d shifted. Having him stand there, the prince of wolves, staring down at me with that fallen-angel face, was something altogether different. Altogether more powerful.
Broad shoulders, strong arms. His chest, each muscle defined as his lean torso narrowed to his abdomen. Strength rippled there, dark ink calling out his challenge to the world. I’m not led; I lead. The sentiment matched the daring in his eyes, the strong brace of his legs, and the hand that dipped from abdomen to arousal, the fingers that gripped.
“No modesty,” I said, barely able to form words.
“None needed,” he said, brow arched in authority, and dropped to his knees. He looked at me for a moment. Gaze raking over clothing like he might see through it.
But he still bore the bruises of the attack on him, and I traced fingers lightly over the mottled skin on his torso, near his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay for this?”
“More than fine,” he said and lifted his gaze back to me. “Are you?”
“Oh, definitely,” I said with a grin.
“Good. I want to see you.”
I matched my expression to his, proud and sure, and pulled the sleeveless top over my head, then removed my leggings. His gaze followed the line of my neck and down to the bits of dark satin and lace that remained.
“Beautiful,” he said. “And mine.” He beckoned me forward with a finger, and I joined him on my knees.
I put a hand against his chest, felt his heart race, blood and magic and desire rushing beneath taut skin. I closed my eyes, reveled in the sensation of it. And when I opened them again, I knew they were silver, my fangs descended.
His lips parted, his eyes brilliantly blue as desire and shock flared.
I knew what I read there. “You’ve never been with a vampire.”
Connor shook his head. “No,” he said, the words a ragged exhalation.
I leaned forward, pressed a kiss to his neck, above the artery that pounded there just beneath the skin. Could feel the power beneath it, roaring like an engine. He would be Apex, king of the Pack. Not just because he would demand it, because he would accept nothing less, but because his power was too potent to allow for any other possibility.
So much power, I thought drowsily, and scraped my fangs against his neck.
Connor went absolutely still, and I mentally cursed, afraid I’d gone too far in the thrall of his own magic, and nearly pulled back to look at him. But he held me tight against his body.
“Again,” he demanded. His voice was ragged, as if I’d scraped at it, too, and that nearly broke my own control.
I had to force myself to focus on giving pleasure, not taking what he hadn’t offered—what I’d never take unless he offered. I curled my fingers into his hair, flicked my tongue over his ear, felt his rumbling approval. Then used my fangs to ignite, to entice. To remind him who and what I was. And who and what he’d taken on.
And then I was on my back, the stars wheeling overhead, and Connor above me, body braced on strong arms that framed my head.
I smiled at him, and his answering grin was stunningly beautiful. “Of all the places I ever thought I’d be,” I said, “this wasn’t one of them.”
“Then we’d better make it worthwhile.” His mouth found mine, body sinking, lowering, until we were aligned. I gripped his back, felt the muscles contract as he deepened the kiss, mouth plundering, tongue dipping with mine, every inch of him trying, I guessed, not to snap.
“I want you,” he said, and his hand found my breast, and I arched beneath him. I felt electricity, potent as any spark that magic could fathom, as he teased me. I opened my eyes, found his gaze on me, watching, intense.