Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(10)

His hand was between their bodies. His thumb still stroking her clit and her orgasm built, her whole body quaking. It was so close. She was—

Aidan put his mouth at the curve of her shoulder, right there, at the bottom of her neck. She felt the press of his teeth and then he…he…bit her.

Pleasure lashed through her and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her legs were locked tightly around his hips and her body arched against him, rocking hard again and again as the climax erupted. She couldn’t get enough air to scream, couldn’t do anything but take and take that pleasure as he thrust into her once more…

And then he was the one erupting. She felt the hot splash of his release inside of her, and then Aidan was pulling his mouth from her and roaring out her name.

She rather liked that roar.

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Her body quivered. Her sex pulsed. And slowly, very slowly, her lashes lifted as she stared at him and—

There was blood on his mouth. A little drop of blood that had dripped from the corner of his lips.

Her blood.

Only…

Since when do werewolves drink blood?

Her thundering heartbeat seemed to stutter as she stared into his eyes. Eyes that were still glowing too bright with the power of his beast.

Aidan licked the drop of blood away. “You taste f*cking delicious,” he whispered.

A shiver slid over her body. A shiver that had nothing to do with pleasure and everything to do with fear. Paris’s words whispered through her mind once more…

I’m worried that you’re changing him.

She…was.





Chapter Three


Jane was afraid of him.

Aidan paced in front of his desk. Jane was in the bathroom. He could hear the blast of the shower. He’d wanted to go in there with her, but…

Jane is afraid.

Did she think he didn’t know? He’d smelled her fear. Fear had a distinct scent—coppery, bitter. Jane had stared at him, even while he was still balls deep in her body, and she’d been afraid. Her hands had flown between their bodies and she’d pushed him away, muttering about needing to freshen up.

What. The. Fuck?

He stopped pacing and glared at the bathroom door. Had he been too rough with her? Yeah, okay, going straight into the office and immediately f*cking her didn’t exactly shout romance, but he’d been at the damn edge. Jane had nearly died. Again. That shit had to stop. She was too important to him. She needed to realize it.

He spun from the door and marched to his desk. He stared down and then…

Then his fingers traced the deep gouges that she’d left across the top of his desk. Claw marks. Her hands had scraped over the desk right before she’d grabbed onto him. When her claws had curled into his shoulders, he’d loved the burn of pain.

Even as he knew just what it meant.

I did this—I did this to Jane.

Paris had warned him, over and over, that Jane was different. No average vamp. Because of Aidan, she wasn’t. Because of Aidan, hell, he wasn’t even sure what Jane truly was. A hybrid? Half-vampire, half-werewolf? Something else?

Something…worse?

The shower had turned off. His shoulders stiffened as he listened to the soft rustles of movement from inside the bathroom. A few moments later, the door creaked open. He caught Jane’s scent drifting in the air—soft, sweet, feminine.

Not the bitterness of fear, not any longer.

The breath he’d been holding slipped away. “Jane, I—”

“I’ve done something to you.” Her voice was stilted. Sad.

Not Jane.

He spun to face her. She was pale—okay, yeah, most vamps were a little pale, but this was different.

“I’m sorry,” Jane said, and her fingers rose to press against her neck. “I never meant to hurt you.”

Hurt him? In a flash, he was right in front of her. “You scared the hell out of me, baby.” He pulled her into his arms and held her close. “When I came into that alley and saw you—shit, don’t do that crap to me again, got it? My heart can only take so much.”

She was tense in his arms.

He didn’t want that. Aidan squeezed her tighter. “Okay, so I flipped out a bit. That happens when the woman I love is attacked. It happens when—”

“You bit me.”

His body tensed.

“When we were having sex, you bit me, Aidan.”

Handle with f*cking care. “You…didn’t like that?”

Her hands curled over his shoulders and she pushed back so that she was staring up at his face. “I thought I was supposed to be the vamp in this relationship. Paris said—”

Shit, shit, shit! Paris needed to stop saying things.

“Paris said I was changing you. That can’t happen, Aidan. I can’t hurt you. Not you. You can’t become—”

He made himself speak carefully as he explained, “Werewolves mark their mates. They bite them.”

She stepped back. Her hands slid from him.

“They bite them…” Aidan continued, and he was the one to reach out and touch her. His fingers trailed over her collarbone then slid to the soft curve where her shoulder and neck met. “Right here.” The sweet spot. Not the sweetest spot, though. That area was lower on her lovely body. “I bit because you’re mine, Jane.”