Page 41 of The Way You Bite
Chapter Twelve
Lexan had marked her. He ran his thumb over the bite on her shoulder. He’d never marked a female as his in his life. Not even when he’d been married for a quarter century. Not when he’d been infatuated as a youth with a very beautiful female werewolf he thought he loved. Now he’d marked Vee.
He gazed down at the beautiful, flushed female beneath him, his brain numb.
The mark looked good. It felt right. Instinct had made certain no question remained they were meant to be together. The era of him alone in the world was over. The future revealed itself with clarity. He was ready to invest his heart, head, and everything he had into this female. He’d observed what denial and procrastination did to destined couples, sometimes leaving one dead and the other mourning. Like Eric.
He wanted her again. He wanted to experiencethatagain, except slower, with time to savor every nuance of the magical chemistry gifted them. He wanted to know everything about her. Maybe he could get them back into the bedroom.
Vee pushed him off, jumped up, and pulled on her clothes. Running her fingers over the mark on her shoulder, she said, “You’ve got to erase that. Lick it away or something. Now. And, oh crap, I’ve got to get rid of that mark on your neck.”
“Wait…” He pulled up his pants, fully intending to get them back to his bedroom. He could bind her tight to him sensually and figure out the details of their future later. Before he could voice his intention, there was a knock on the door.
Her gaze darted to the door, panicked. She gripped him with a strength she hadn’t demonstrated before to hold his head to one side while she licked his neck.
Between the feel of her tongue on his skin and the view down her shirt, words abandoned him.
“Wait for what?” she asked. “This was a mistake. Us, as in you and me together, is a no go. I’m out of here.”
The knock on the door grew more insistent.
She pulled away from his neck and stared at the door. “It’s not gone yet.”
His gaze darted to the door, distracted. “We can figure it out. Make it work.”
“As what? You find some secure little location to tuck me away as your dirty little secret. I play broodmare for some illegitimate hoard? Or, maybe you like the idea of me as a trophy wife, your novelty vamp-were mix? I don’t think so. I suck at politics, and I’m not some sort of prize.” She moved back toward his neck. “I need another few seconds to cover this up.”
The door to the study flew open. Eric bellowed and launched one of his beloved shuriken-style throwing stars at Vee’s head. She pushed Lexan out of the way and caught the star in a jaw-dropping act of fluid motion. She launched the star back at Eric in an obvious intentional miss that lodged the piece deep into the doorframe.
“What. The. Hell.” Lexan jumped upright, buttoning his pants in one smooth move.
“She’s trying to kill you, sir.” Eric targeted her with a crossbow.
He gritted out, “She’s not trying to hurt me. It’s you who fucking tried to take her head off. Get. Out.”
Vee blocked Lexan with her body. An instant later, she moved faster than the blink of an eye across the room to stand in front of a window. “I haven’t hurt him and won’t.”
“Prove it, bitch.” Eric swung the crossbow away from Lexan to find her. “Where are you?”
Lexan used telepathy to speak to her.“Calm down.”
Her soft whisper echoed in his head.“I’m so sorry. This has been a series of bad decisions. I hope I didn’t hurt you. The mark on you isn’t completely gone.”
“Don’t run. Not after that. I want you here.”
“That was a big mistake. That look on your face afterward said it all.”
“What look? You misread if you think that was anything short of mind-blowing.”
“Don’t follow me.”
“We are far from done here.”
With a crash, the desk chair launched through the paned window on the far side of the room. Vee jumped from behind his desk out the window. Then she was gone.
He turned on Eric. “What the hell was that? I told you, all of you, to stay out.”Where would she go?
“I just saved your ass is what I did.”
