Page 144 of Aine

“Did you have fun hunting with Olivia?” I ask as he stomps us through the forest.

We pass a few beasts making their way to the dining hall, but thankfully, none make any conversation beyond a polite greeting. I force myself to untuck my face from Damien’s chest and smile, not wanting to appear off-putting.

“I didn’t like leaving you, but I had a good time,” he says.

I nod, agreeing. “I didn’t enjoy you being gone, either.”

Damien hums as he reaches around me to open our front door. I remain silent until he’s led us to the living room and lays us on the couch.

“I caught myself trying to push my emotions to you before remembering you can’t feel them anymore,” I continue, testing the waters.

Damien turns to face me fully, his eyes trailing over the spot that once housed his mark. He hesitates there before returning his gaze to my face. My heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest as I sit up and move to straddle him. Damien’s quick to grab my hips as I settle on his lap, his fingertips pressing into the exposed skin beneath my shirt.

“You never did teach me how to control it,” I tease.

Damien’s hands slide to my shoulders before moving to fiddle with the short hairs behind my ear. I slam my mouth shut as I realize I’m practically panting in his face, my excitement over our conversation overshadowing the nerves I feel.

“Do you want me to teach you?” he asks, his fingers trailing down my neck and coming to rest on the spot where his mark once sat. “I think you quite enjoyed sharing with me your constant annoyance.”

I shrug, neither denying nor confirming his statement. That was a nice perk, especially when everything he did had me flustered and angry.

Damien’s throat bobs as he gulps, and he looks at me with so much adoration that I want to cry.

“I look forward to the day you ask me to mark you,” he says.

My lips twitch as I hold back a smile, and I lace his fingers between mine before continuing.

“How do you want it to happen?” I ask.

It’s pretty apparent at this point where this conversation is leading, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless. After our first marking, I want this one to feel special.

“I’d like you to be sitting on top of me just like this, your belly pressed against mine and your body as relaxed as it is now,” he whispers, pausing to clear his throat. “I don’t want to make it sexual. Many beasts do, but I want ours to be about comfort. I want to clean you afterward before taking you to bed.”

Damien’s eyes darken as he stares at my neck.

“I suppose I could pleasure you if you want, but I’d love just to hold and feel your body on mine.” He breathes. “Sometimes I feel like a piece of myself is missing, that when our bond died, a chunk of myself died with it. I feel empty if I think about it for too long.”

The pain in his words is nothing to the agony I feel through our bond. I knew me not being marked was hard for him, but he must have kept the extent of it hidden from me. My jaw clenches, ready to be angry at him for hiding this, but after a second, I relax.

He did it so I don’t feel pressured, and as annoying as that is, I’m thankful. Just because I’m ready for his mark now doesn’t mean I was then, and he did the right thing waiting for it to be my decision.

It means more now.

“That’s never how I want you to feel.” I swallow my guilt.

Damien sucks in a slow breath as I grab his head and pull it toward my neck. His breath warms my skin as he breathes over the spot that will hold his mark, and I feel him hesitate before closing the distance and connecting his lips to me.

I shiver at the contact and suck in a shaky breath when he opens his mouth and runs his tongue up the column of my throat.

“Do it,” I murmur, my hand pushing softly on the back of his head.

Damien chuckles, ignoring me, before pressing a soft kiss to my skin and pulling back to look me in the eye.

“Ask me nicely,” he orders.

My thighs instinctively clench around his hips as I fight the impulse to follow his command. It takes everything in me to shake my head and refuse.

“No,” I say. “You need to ask me nicely. Better yet, you should beg.”

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