Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(71)

I walked over to him with renewed purpose, thinking of Basanti and Colonel Starborn, of how one moment of anger and fear could lead to a lifetime of regret. Well, not me. I wasn’t going to regret anything. Not ever.

“Nero,” I said as I came to a stop in front of him. Rising to my toes, I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him against me for a long, deep kiss.

Then I pulled back just as quickly. I could feel people staring at us, but I didn’t care. I turned into him, wrapping my arm around his back. My hand settled on his hip. Major Singh looked at us, uncharacteristically perplexed. I met her stare, willing her to step back. Anger flared in her eyes when she realized that I’d compelled her.

I leaned forward. “Your dress is on fire,” I whispered to her with a wink.

Then I led Nero from the room, leaving the Major to deal with the burning train of her slinky evening gown.

“I don’t actually know where I’m going,” I admitted to Nero after a few steps down the hallway. “I just wanted to make an exit.”

“And you certainly did. That was remarkable.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, setting her clothes on fire was fun.”

“Not that,” he told me. “Your presence. You made someone of a higher magic level back down.”

“I’m not sure how I did it. Pure force of will, I guess.”

“The Nectar and Venom in you have made you powerful. Each ability is enhanced. But that wasn’t enough. The power we witnessed back there was something else. A mating bond.” A joyful spark lit up his eyes—joy with just the right amount of smugness.

“I was…” I struggled for words.

“Murderous, possessive.” His brows lifted. “Bitchy.”

“All of the above,” I said. “And for no reason. These feelings have been gnawing at me ever since I saw her at the Desert Rose base.”

“Now you know how I feel all the time.”

“You’re not bitchy. Gruff, maybe,” I joked.

“What you did back there was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. You showed everyone in that room that you are mine and I am yours.”

“Surely not everyone was watching,” I whispered against his throat. I could feel his heart beating, his pulse throbbing against my lips. I wanted to show everyone that he was, without a shadow of a doubt, entirely mine.

“I can assure you that every eye in that room was on you. Mine included.”

The look in his eyes, the surge of feeling, the raw need burning in them—it was too much. My fangs descended, sinking into his throat, drinking deep. His sweet blood spilled into my mouth, flashing through my veins in hard, hot pulses.

He groaned in protest when I pulled back. Smiling, I brushed the hair from my throat.

“Drink from me,” I said. No, demanded.

A silver-blue sheen lighting up his green eyes, he dipped his mouth to my neck. His bite was a hot splash of pleasure. Every draw of his mouth synced to my breaths, to my pulse. I could feel myself inside of him, making him mine.

He pulled away, chuckling.

“What?” I asked.

He leaned in, his lips so close I could taste them. “So you’ve made your decision.”

“What decision?”

I shivered as his mouth brushed against my neck one more time. “You are an angel through and through, Leda. You always have been. All that’s missing are the wings.”

I blinked. His words echoed my thoughts from before.

“If this is about me calling Nyx without asking you—”

“That and so much more.”

“I don’t understand.”

He smirked at me. “You marked me.”

“What?” I gasped.

“Just now, when we exchanged blood. You drank in my blood, then returned it to me with your magic marked into it.”

“I…”

His chest shook with laughter.

“How is that even possible?” I snapped in frustration. “I can’t mark people. I’m not an angel.”

“Perhaps not, but you have an angel soul.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s like some part of you is an angel. I felt that part calling out to me when you marked me. You are an angel inside, Leda. You just don’t have the magic yet.”

“That’s completely backwards. It’s the magic that makes someone an angel.”

He shrugged. “I can’t explain it.”

“And it’s angel magic that allows them to mark someone. I read it in your book,” I continued. “Without that magic, you can’t mark someone.”

“I didn’t say it made sense.”

I sighed.

“Your magic has grown so much in just a few days,” he said. “You might not have all of our abilities, but thanks to the Venom and Nectar, you control both light and dark magic for the abilities you do have. Perhaps it was that which gave you enough magic to mark me.”

This was all so confusing. “What am I?”

“I don’t know.” He set his hands on my face. “But we will find out, I promise you.”

I let out a strained laugh. “I’ve been so worried about losing my humanity. But it seems I was never really human at all.”