“I love you.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” He began kissing her again, his strokes to her nub bringing her closer to heaven.
She loved the way he touched her and made her feel sexy and loved.
His canines were still extended, but he had been controlling them so far, and she thought he would continue to do so unless she wanted him to bite her, which she didn’t want him to do. Not yet. She couldn’t help it that they still bothered her to an extent. When she finally went through with being turned, would she feel differently? Or still have the same reservations?
His mouth kissed hers tenderly, and she fed into the desire, their pulses beating wildly as he pulled her closer, his gaze hot on her. His finger stroked her bundle of nerves centered in her sensitive nub. Every stroke filled her with heat. She forgot about their differences and only thought about being a huntress with a hunter who she’d claimed for her mate.
She couldn’t imagine life without him, or with some other hunter. He was the only one for her. He was tender in the way he made love to her, but then wild with passion as she began to kiss him, tonguing him, despite his extended canines, at least she’d gotten used to them to some degree.
The culmination of the rising pleasure heated by his strokes came to fruition and she cried out with release. She frowned at him while she tried to catch her breath because her hunter hero hadn’t muffled her cry of pleasure with a kiss.
The rogue smiled at her, not sorry in the least. Now he kissed her!
She rubbed her mons on his cock and her breasts against his chest, his hands in her hair, combing through the strands, as he kissed her just as passionately back.
She thought of when they had gotten rid of the vampire threat, they could spend days and nights like this, in blissful, mating frenzy. She hoped he would feel the same way.
Then he was pushing his penis between her feminine lips and diving in as deep as he could get. But she wanted him deeper, and once she placed her legs on his shoulders, he thrust into her as deeply as he could go. He was the perfect specimen of a hunter, the perfect mate, at least for her, and she was in love and lust all at once.
Zachary continued to thrust into his beautiful mate, loving Pasha with all his heart, and glad she had decided they could work things out. He couldn’t have lived without her love, her huntress abilities, and her friendship. She was the only one for him.
Even now, with her body wrapped around his, she was everything to him—hot, passionate, sexy, wild, and fun.
He’d tried to sheathe his canines the whole time they were making love, but something about the fragrant smell of her, the way their hearts were beating so frantically, the taste of her, the feel of her beneath him, all of that made it impossible for him to keep his canines tucked away.
The bloodlust filled him with a craving to bite her, to make her his mate for all time, but he fought that urge with all his strength, concentrating on taking pleasure in penetrating her inner sanctum and thrusting until he climaxed.
The end was near and this was when it was the most difficult to hang onto his sanity and not bite her. He couldn’t screw it up now. But the craving was always worse, and he wondered—would it give them a heightened sense of pleasure if he bit her and sucked on the blood in her neck? Would she feel the same way with him?
He stomped down on the craving and came deep inside her, groaning with the effort, satiated, content…for now. But the craving seemed to be getting worse, not easing up during their lovemaking and he realized he probably needed to get some blood to help him fight the need to take hers.
He pulled her legs off his shoulders and kissed her again. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Come on. Let’s get a shower.”
He carried her into the shower, and they took one together. He knew he should tell her what was bothering him, but he feared how she would react to the news. Still, he had to be honest with her.
They were soaping each other up and he said, “I think I need to get some blood.”
Her eyes widened.
“Not yours. I need to make a blood bank run. Or have someone do it for me. I’ve never done that before.”
“Okay. I can do it for you.”
“They’re open at night for the vampires. So maybe one of the vampires on our team.”
Pasha smiled and used a sponge to wash his back. “I can’t imagine asking a vampire prince or lord to get blood for you.”
“They probably need to get some for themselves. I have to tell you something else.”
“Your teeth keep extending when we make love.”
“Uh, right.”
“But?”
“I’m afraid I’m going to lose control and bite you.”
“You think the blood will help?” She continued to soap his back down.
“Yeah. But if it gets too bad, we might have to stop making love until I can get it under control.”
“No, way!”
“Yes. I can’t afford to bite you.”
“Just do it.”
He turned and stared at her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Not until you’re ready.” He wasn’t going to force this on her, but what if he couldn’t fight the craving the next time? Or the time after that?
“If you can’t make love to me because of the need to bite me, just do it. We’re mated. We’re not going to stop having sex.”
He smiled. “I love you.”
She poked at him with the sponge. “But only if you can’t control it.”
“Of course.” How he wished she’d just say she was ready, whether he could control the issue or not. Then they finished soaping up, doing a lot of body rubs and kissing, then rinsing off, drying off, and were back in bed—to sleep, just in case they had vampires arrive again in the middle of the night to fight them—again.
Chapter 23
Before dawn the next morning, Pasha woke in Zachary’s arms and smiled up at him, resting her chin on his chest. She was still feeling a bit conflicted about the process of being turned, but to make this work between them for the long run, she knew she had to do it. She was glad he’d been honest with her about his need to bite her.
“Are you still with me on this?” Zachary asked, kissing her forehead.
“Yeah, you bet. I was thinking about Alex though.”
Zachary smiled. “Really? Now?”
She chuckled. “That might be something you need to know about me. I often am on task, even before I get out of bed.”
“I know.”
She sighed and kissed Zachary’s chest. “We have to know if Alex can be out in sunlight like the rest of you.”
“All right. So I take it that after breakfast, you want to experiment on him.” Zachary rubbed her bare back.
“Yeah. We don’t want to wait until the sun is up to have him come over. He needs to know if he can be out when it’s not just overcast and begin to live a more normal life. Invite him over for breakfast in half hour.” She kissed Zachary’s cheek. “Besides, you need to do your usual thing and check on how everyone’s doing anyway.”
A short while later, Zachary and Pasha were dressed and in the kitchen, ready to make breakfast. Zachary had telepathically asked Alex to join them for breakfast. “He’s on his way. He asked if you wanted to test him in the full sunlight already.”