Page 28 of Blood Moon Heat

She snapped her mouth closed.

“Lucinda?”

Her gaze darted to her mate, and she bit her lip, then looked back at me. “Rainer has an…inner beast, and sometimes he transforms completely. That’s why he was so scared that he might hurt me.” She squeezed my hand. “Rainer’s beast may be unique among his brothers, but I think they all have their own inner beasts in one form or another. It’s our job to tame them, and to take what we deserve.” She straightened her spine. “They claimed us, but no one said we don’t get to claim them as well.”

I stared down at her, my pulse racing. My parents loved each other as well; it was something I’d always wanted for myself. Was Nero’s behavior and his odd demands because he was scared he’d hurt me, like Rainer had been with Lucinda? Sometimes I looked into his eyes, and what I saw staring back froze the blood in my veins. He was struggling for control, even I could see that.

What would happen if I fought for more? If I pushed and tempted Nero?

What would happen if I made him lose control completely?

Nero

“Did you have fun?” I asked Mina as we headed down the stairs, heading back to her room. I needed to know. She’d seemed to be enjoying herself tonight, but I needed to hear her say it for some reason.

She smiled up at me. “It was the best night of my entire life.”

I will give you anything you want, but in return I want my freedom.

Her words reverberated in my head, coming back to me time and again since she’d said them. After finding out that Rainer, of all our brothers, had mated his female, I was struggling to hold on to my resolve. Not to mention seeing her dancing in that pink dress that she’d taken a pair of scissors to, and baring too much of her smooth, supple skin.

It also didn’t help that I needed to feed. I had to get away from her, now, before it was too late, before I snapped and took her vein, then proceeded to take everything else I wanted from her.

Pretender was walking toward us. “Take Mina to her room.”

She spun toward me, a look in her eyes that made my stomach grip impossibly tight. “You’re leaving?”

“There’s something I need to do.”

“But—”

Somehow, I turned away, cutting her off. I forced myself to walk back down the hall, then quickly used my key and strode through my private entrance into The Vault.

The club was busy, as always, and I stood there, scanning the room for a donor. I wanted Mina’s blood, but drinking from her alone would only make my craving for her even worse. I hadn’t fed since the blood moon ceremony, and usually that wouldn’t be a problem. I could go weeks without feeding, but not with my little bonded so close.

I took my place in the booth at the back of the club. It was in shadow, and a good place to watch what was going on. A male, a regular here, and one I’d never fed from, walked by. He’d do. I crooked my finger at him.

The male froze for a split second, then rushed to my side.

Feeding was a sexual experience, and in the past, I would have allowed this male to get himself off while I fed. Once upon a time, I might have fucked him. But fucking anyone but Mina didn’t interest me—as it was, I’d have to choke this male’s blood down.

“Sir, I am at your serv—”

“Did I say you could speak?”

He quickly shut his mouth.

I dispassionately took in the pulsing vein at his throat. I desperately needed to feed, but my fangs wouldn’t even drop for him. That had never happened to me before, and now I knew they wouldn’t, not for him and not for anyone else because they weren’t my bonded, they weren’t Mina. She was all I wanted.

With a snarl, I shoved him away. “Leave.”

He scrambled back, almost tripping in his haste to escape. Pretender appeared at my side a moment later, placing a glass of bourbon on the table in front of me.

“Did she say anything when you took her to her room?” I asked him.

“No, she was quiet.”

Every muscle in my body tensed in anticipation of me standing, of walking back through this club, back into the hall, and down to her room.

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