Page 20 of Until Forever Comes
I licked my lips and then chewed on the side of the lower one, my gaze not moving away from his.
“The first time I ever shifted was that night we met,” I said. “Your, uh, friend had clawed me, remember? He had me pinned to the wall, and I’d lost so much blood, and—”
Miguel wrapped his arms under my shoulders and pulled me up against him, holding me tight, so tight. I didn’t want him to stop, loving the feel of his body pressed against mine, reveling in the idea that he wanted me. But when I found myself gasping for air, he loosened his grip, apparently realizing my predicament.
“I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t know what came over me.” He closed his eyes, took in a calming breath, and then looked at me. “Please, continue. You were saying that you only recently started shifting. But I thought shifters took their wolf forms from a very young age.”
“We surely do,” I said. “The males. All but me, I mean. I never could. But, yes, male shifters take their wolf form young and lose their hold on their human side as they get older, so they need to tie with a female to secure it. Female shifters have a strong connection with their human, so strong that they can’t shift until they accept a tie from a male.”
He scoffed. “Damn, your kind is superstitious. So many rules to keep everybody in line.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”
“Never mind.” He shook his head. “Go on. You were saying that males shift young but you couldn’t. Why?”
“I’ve been sickly all my life, so we reckoned that was the cause.” I shrugged. “We figured I wasn’t strong enough to take my wolf form.”
He ran his intelligent eyes over my face, and then he dipped down and sniffed my neck. “You look good, wolf. Healthy. I can’t scent any illness in you.”
“That’s the funny thing about it,” I responded, chewing on my lower lip again. “Like I said, I do feel healthy. Now.”
“Now?”
“Yes. What you did to me earlier….” His gaze turned carnal, and my cheeks heated yet again. “Not that,” I clarified. “I mean when you fed from me.” I trembled and my voice turned husky. “It was so good, like you were drawing out the weight and the pressure, like you were making everything fit. I don’t hurt no more.”
He furrowed his brow, contemplating what I’d said. “So you were able to shift for the first time when Ralph injured you. And you cut yourself, made yourself bleed because you hurt so much. And now, after I fed enough to drain another man, now you feel healthy?”
I nodded.
“That’s strange,” he finally said. “I know a healer who can come take a look at you, try to figure out what’s going on.”
“I reckon I know already.”
“You do?” he asked, sounding surprised. “What is it?”
“You’re supposed to feed from me,” I answered.
“I’m supposed to feed from you?” he repeated, enunciating each word slowly.
I nodded. “It makes sense, right?”
“How does the idea that a vampire issupposedto feed from a shifter make sense? Your kind is poisonous to mine.”
“But I’m not poisonous to you, right? I mean, that’s what you said. You fed from me and you feel good now, better than before you fed from me. So you see? You feel better. I feel better.”
Miguel peered at me again, giving me that piercing stare of his. I got the sense nothing passed his notice, and I wondered whether his wisdom came from his age or if he’d been this way before he was turned.
“And you’re thinking this is all because of that mates thing,” he said. “Am I right?”
“True mates,” I answered firmly. “We’re true mates.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“I told you already,” I said. “True mates are connected deep inside, at the heart, at the soul. We’re two halves of a whole. That’s why we have to tie with each other. Nobody else will do.”
With as often as Miguel gave me that wicked grin, it was amazing that it still made me squirm, but I gasped and wriggled on top of him when he did it again.
“Is this all an elaborate story concocted to get me to turn over for you, wolf? Because you need to work on the contradictions. Besides, it isn’t necessary.” He reached between us and circled his big hand around my pecker. “I’d love to feel this thick dick deep in my ass.”
