Page 88 of The Powers of Nyx

And that…that I was certain I could do.

With her scent overwhelming me and the thundering of her heart ringing in my ears, I couldn’t make myself wait.

The moment my fangs pierced her soft flesh the first time, I knew I would never be able to go back to drinking from another source again.

But doing so with the taste of her release on my tongue made it clear to me there could be no other blood for me. No other source of life. For she was all I needed.

Her blood had a fragrance, a potent flavour to it that was beyond description. Each pull sent me into a deeper spiral, spilling down my throat, filling me with a greed and hunger I’d never experienced before.

The first time had been rushed. A need for survival. A claiming for her.

The second, I’d been overcome with the mate bond. My need to prove I had the desire to be more.

This time was my claim. My promise to her.

The undoing of everything I’d worked to control.

I swiped my tongue over the bite marks as Ivy bucked. My thumb circled her clit, while I added a third inside her tightening entrance. Through the bond, she whispered my name.

You are doing so good,I said, drawing the blood slowly.Only a little more. Can you hold on for me?

Yes, she whispered, clenching, scraping her fingers through my hair.Make me come, Maeve. Please.

I claim you, Ivy Wilson. I claim you until we both return to Nyx. I claim you for the rest of eternity.

A warmth filled our bond as the words settled between us. I knew the moment I saw her I would never leave her side. Now, she knew it, too. Could be certain that I wouldn’t disappear on her.

Ivy tightened around my fingers, the only warning I had to pull my mouth from her thigh. The beast wanted me to brand her with my mark—with hundreds of them. So any who were graced with the sight of her flesh knew she was mine.

But I tore myself from her flesh and instead sucked her clit into my mouth. Her cries of release filled the office, shuddering down the bond as she clamped around me. Ivy arched her back, breasts swaying. Every part of her was a wonder to experience. And having her come to my bite made it better.

I fucked her through her climax, slowing my thrusts only until my name was a delirious murmur on her soft lips. Ivy’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, her eyes fluttering, and I didn’t blame her. For the first time in months, exhaustion touched the edges of my consciousness. It was the bone deep kind, something I so rarely experienced anymore. I almost welcomed it.

“A mhuirnín, we should go to the bedroom,” I murmured, rising to hover above her. I brushed a tendril of hair from her face and took in her smile.

The venom from my bite, which wasn’t lethal, acted more like a drug to certain people. It shouldn’t have much of an effect on my mate, but I could almost feel it working through her system, uncoiling the tension in her body and allowing her to rest peacefully.

She groaned softly, and her eyes flickered open. The bond felt more settled and secure now, like the piece that had been missing when we’d completed it had finally fallen into place.

“Fine,” she grumbled. I helped her sit up, taking in each swell and curve of her body. The strength from her blood filled me, different to anything I’d tasted before. When I’d been freshly Changed, I had thought I was the strongest I could be.

But now as I helped her dress and pressed tender kisses to her throat, I realised how different it was to share blood with one’s true mate. Not the forced sharing my Sire had encouraged.

I shoved thoughts of him from my mind, and hoped throughout this all, she hadn’t caught on. Soon, I would tell herabout him, but not after all of this. Not with my claim on her so fresh.

“Are you feeling alright?” I asked carefully.

Ivy tucked her hand into mine, and the feel of my ring—a ring that had once belonged to my mother—on her finger made my heart clench. I would tell her the truth behind the ring, eventually. It hadn’t even cost me a second thought, taking it out from where I’d hidden it years ago and giving it to her.

Perhaps that was when I realised she meant more to me than anyone before her. Maybe the magic binding us had been telling me something, and I’d been too foolish to understand it then.

But I did now.

“I feel okay,” she replied after a moment, blinking tiredly up at me. “Maybe groggier than before coming in here, but I feel more…connected to you, if that makes sense.”

“It does,a mhuirnín.” I brought her hand to my lips and offered her a smile. “I feel it too.”

Her smile turned into a grin, so bright the idea of breaking it, of hurting her, frightened me.

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