Page 98 of Blade's Battle
He chuckled as he draped himself over her back, letting his cock slide against the crease of her ass. “Tell me what you want, Angel.”
“Anything you want is fine, Blade.”
Fine?He turned her around to face him. Her cheeks were wet with tears. He pulled the blindfold off. It was hard not to growl. He didn’t want her submitting to him unless it was fun for both of them, and he certainly didn’t want to scare her. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry. My mind is elsewhere, and I’m messing this all up.”
“This is only messed up if you think you have to please me. You don’t. You need to be honest with me, and that means telling me if something’s wrong.”
The second he wrapped his arms around her, she buried her head against his chest. He sifted his fingers through the mass of soft curls, trying to calm her. Overtired. She was simply overtired. He carried Anna into their bedroom and laid her down on the bed. She turned her head away from him as he pulled the blanket over her and kissed her forehead. His heart sank. She’d closed herself off to him. As he turned to leave, she grabbed his hand.
“Hold me.”
That was an invitation he would never refuse. He slid in beside her and drew her close. Her breathing calmed quickly, and soon, her hand slid to his chest, caressing a lazy circle there. Her eyes found his. He raised an eyebrow.
“Kiss me?” she asked.
He kissed her, taking his time to stroke her tongue with his and glide along her lips. When he pulled away, her reaction surprised him. It had been a simple kiss and yet her entire body relaxed. Maybe that’s what she’d needed all along, a simple kiss to show he loved her. He’d read her wrong earlier, believing she wanted to stop ‘thinking’ for a bit, to de-stress with some simple pleasure play, to submit and enjoy. His Anna tended to hold everything in when she didn’t have to. Even when the pressure built up, she didn’t explode into a tirade like some people, she let it out gradually. Except lately. She’d been keeping something inside and couldn’t seem to let it go.
“Everything will be fine,” he tried to reassure her as he stroked her hair. Amazing blue eyes scrunched together. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Will you kiss me again?”
As if she had to ask. . . He slid over her this time, locking his arms on either side of her without putting his weight on her as he leaned down to kiss her. He took it really slow with her, waiting for her tongue to mirror his like they were dancing together.
Her hands slowly curled over his shoulders and pulled him down on top of her. Feeling her soft luscious flesh beneath him stirred his cock. He resisted the urge to rock his hips, to stroke her with his hard length. He didn’t want her to think that every time he touched her that he expected sex.
When she opened her legs and his cock nestled against her warmth, it was all he could do to hold himself steady. The urge to slide into her was becoming a bit much.
“Anna,” he said, pulling away from her lips long enough to get her name out. She drew him back to her and began nipping at him.
He closed his eyes, focused on willing his cock to hold steady, to forget the searing heat of her hand going down his side, gripping his ass, and the feel of her lovely breasts beneath his chest.
“Don’t shut me out. Tell me what you want, Anna.”
“I love you, Blade. I want to blood-bond you.”
Oh, how he wanted to lift her up, kiss her and hold on to her forever. He believed her, but was this truly what she wanted, or was this because. . . Hell. Her theory. . .
“You failed to find a way to stop me from going feral, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but this isn’t about that. Blood-bond me, Blade. And don’t tell me ‘no.’ I mean it. I’m terrified I’ll lose you one day. I don’t think I can survive that again, but leaving you. . . I can’t breathe when I imagine never seeing you again. I love you. I want you in every way. I want a future with you. Please say you believe me.”
Had he heard her right? Did she say she loved him?
Blade kissed Anna, thrusting his tongue into her sweet, warm mouth before he woke up from was obviously a dream. His sweet, lost, brave Anna had actually said she loved him. Him. Blade Hernández. Scout and pain-in-the-ass shifter to his friends. The shifter who loved to laugh and push his friends to their limits. The shifter who had lost his birth-pack and thought he’d die alone in the woods.
This gorgeous woman had chosenhim. This wasn’t Anna trying to protect him by blood-bonding. This was his female laying claim to him as he had prayed and hoped she would. His wolf sent a low but steady thrumming through his chest. His wolf approved. Of course, he did. They both recognized Anna as theirs long ago.
“I don’t want to leave here, to leave you. If you’ll still have me, I want to blood-bond you, to be yours and for you to be mine.”
“Oh, Angel, I didn’t say ‘yes’ because I thought that was a given. But if you need to hear it, then. . . Hell, yes! You’re not going anywhere without me. You’re mine, Anna, and I’m yours. Always yours.”
“Truly?”
“For better or worse, Anna Carson, will you blood-bond me?”
“Yes!” She lifted her head to kiss him.
