Page 44 of Blood

“Is that a compliment?”

“No.”

“I think it is.” I smile dorkily up at him. “Just admit it, Alex. You liiiikeee me.”

“Shut up.”

“You liiikeee meee sooo much.” I begin to dance on the tips of my toes, that stupid smile never leaving my face. “You want to kiiiissss me—”

And he does.

His lips meld to mine with such intensity that my teasing retort is quite literally swallowed by him. I dissolve into his body like raindrops pattering into a puddle. He’s all I can focus on. All I can feel. The hard planes of his body mold to my soft curves, and I swear it’s like he pressed a switch to jumpstart my core. It throbs for him, for this broken man, for this enemy-turned-lover that I can’t help but desire. My skin becomes alive with activity. I swear I feel him everywhere. My brain short-circuits because there’s too much electricity coursing through my veins.

Alex’s tongue piercing gently presses against the seam of my lips, demanding more from me. There’s an unspoken question in that tentative kiss, one that I don’t have an answer to.

But I open for him, allowing his tongue to tangle with my own, for his hands to slide down my spine and cup the curve of my ass—

“Ahem.” A throat clears from behind us. “Are you guys forgetting about the end of the world?”

It’s like someone dumped a bucket of ice water on my head.

I jump away from Alex, as if I’ve been burned, and hastily scrub at my lips. I don’t know why. The last thing I want to do is remove the evidence of our heated kiss, especially when his eyes look the way they do—molten and swimming with desire.

“Yes, of course. End of the world. Fun times,” I say, half out of my mind with lust.

I blame Alex.

Stupid, irritating, sexy-as-hell Alex.

I suddenly can’t look at him, though I feel the full power of his gaze like a physical caress. Did he suddenly develop X-ray vision? Why does it feel as if he can see through me?

Stupid Alex.

Stupid, sexy, beautiful, broken, annoying Alex.

Ugh.

“Violet, please—” Alex begins, and his fingertips graze my wrist.

But I still don’t turn to meet his probing gaze. I know if I do, that’ll be it. I’ll fall apart for this man the way I’ve done for all my other mates. Anything he asks of me, I’ll do.

That’s dangerous.

Extremely dangerous.

The fate of the world depends on me completing this damn spell and freeing the Fomorians. I can’t allow anything to get in the way, not even my mates.

Mates...

Because I know with unwavering certainty, just from our kiss, that Alex falls into that category. I think a part of me always suspected as much. Even when we hated each other, we found ways to collide and clash. I’m the sun and he’s the moon, and we’re constantly chasing each other through the heavens. But there’s a brief, brief moment when the sun and moon can exist in relative harmony, both lighting up the sky.

Mate.

The truth of that one word settles into the marrow of my bones. It’s a part of me—a facet of my genetic makeup.

Alex is my mate.

Mine.

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