“Taking my blood last night started the mating process already.” He looked a little stunned but then adjusted his hips. “It’s rough in the beginning. Passion can flare up suddenly.”

“I like rough sex. Just fuck me.”

He chuckled. “I mean the need for sex. It’s near uncontrollable for the first few days.”

“Don’t talk me to death.”

She used her hold around his waist to grind her hips, seeking him, and moaned when his hard cock nudged at the seam of her sex. He closed his eyes when she rubbed her pussy against him. A soft growl came from deep in his throat.

“Slow down or I’ll lose control, sweetheart. You’re too human. You don’t want that. If you think you’ve ever had rough sex before, you haven’t.”

“I don’t care! Just fuck me,” she demanded. She moved suggestively against the hard ridge of his shaft until she got him to slide across her clit. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and threw her head back from the intense pleasure. Her eyes closed. Raw ecstasy tore through her.

Drantos drove into her fast and deep. The sensation of his thick cock stretching her, filling her, made her cry out again. He froze, buried inside her, and snarled.

“Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head. “Felt good. Move, baby. Please? Will you do that bite thing on my neck? You have no idea what that feels like.”

He growled, buried his face against her neck, and bit down hard enough to send that wonderful jolt of electricity throughout her body. Her vaginal walls clenched around his cock and he snarled against her skin.

Maybe he does know, she guessed, when he bit again while he started to move inside her.

Passion roared through her veins to a height she’d never been before. He’d mentioned his blood must have triggered the beginning of their mating process. If this was just the start, she doubted she’d survive when it hit full force. She bucked frantically against him, used her legs wrapped around his ass for leverage, and lifted her face to blindly find his skin. She bit him instead of her lip.

He snarled, his hips slamming into her harder and faster.

The slide of his cock against all those nerve endings inside her body seemed to amplify the fervor to come. Pleasure and pain blurred in her mind. She felt as if she’d die if she didn’t climax. It hovered just out of her reach but every time Drantos clamped down on her skin with his teeth, the electric jolt shooting through her from head to toe drew her closer to that goal.

Sweat slicked their bodies, helping them glide against each other smoother; her nails dug into him and she didn’t care if she drew blood. She doubted he would either, with the way he snarled, moaned, and growled against her skin. The sounds he made turned her on more. He wasn’t just a man but part animal at that moment. They both were. She acknowledged it with acceptance.

His mouth released her but his hips didn’t slow the rapid pace he’d set. “Bite harder,” Drantos demanded. He bit her again on her throat and pain registered. That bite didn’t jolt her but the pain faded quickly.

She bit him as hard as she could, tasted blood, and an overwhelming desire gripped her. She fastened her mouth on that spot and sucked, her tongue frantically lapping at his taste that filled her mouth. She realized he was taking her blood as well. His knees spread wider as he drove his cock into her a little deeper.

Dusti blew apart inside. It started at her pussy and spread to her brain in an instant. She screamed against his skin when the pleasure became too intense, too devastating, and so strong her body tensed until she thought her bones would snap. She became too wrapped up in the climax to care if they did.

Drantos tore his mouth from her skin to nearly deafen her when he roared out his pleasure. She gasped softly from pressure she felt inside her pussy when his cock seemed to swell a little against her vaginal walls clamped tightly around him. When he started to come, she felt the heat spreading inside her. The warm blasts made him shake on top of her with every drop he emptied inside her body, and they drew out her glorious quakes of pleasure until they finally receded. Their bodies slowly relaxed together, their panted breaths mingling, and Dusti smiled.

“Oh, wow.”

Drantos nudged her throat, made her turn her head away from him more, and his tongue lapped at the areas he’d bitten. The taste of his coppery blood remained on her tongue. He licked the bites closed. The slight pain the bites had inflicted faded away completely.

“Look at me.”

She opened her eyes, turned her head, and smiled at Drantos. He smiled back.

“You’re my mate. I love you, Dusti. Please love me and don’t leave.”

The look in his eyes nearly broke her heart. He was still afraid she’d refuse him. It leveled her that she could make someone as fierce as Drantos feel real fear. Her hands slid from his shoulders. She caressed the column of his throat and winced a little at the sight of the ragged wound she’d inflicted with her teeth. She didn’t have fangs so the bite mark resembled two big half-moon shapes with blood welling out of them.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It doesn’t hurt. It will heal.”

She forced her attention from what she’d done to him. “I can’t lick you to seal your wounds, can I? I want to.”

“You can lick me, but no. Those traits weren’t passed down to you. Your human blood likely blocked it.” He held her gaze. “Will you stay with me as my mate?”

She nodded. “I will, Drantos. I’m your mate.” Her fingertips moved to trace his jawline on both sides of his face. “I do love you.”

The grin he gave her revealed his pure joy. “You won’t regret it.”

“I believe you.”

“I need to get you home.”

“That means we have to move, right? I’m kind of comfy right where we are.”

“We can’t remain here. Decker may send more men hunting for you and I won’t risk your safety.” He paused. “There’s a faster way to get home than to walk there.”

“You want to sling me over your shoulder again? I’m not loving that idea. I know you had to run with me to get away from Aveoth but I really don’t want a repeat.”

“No.” He hesitated. “I could shift and you could ride on my back.”

Dusti grimaced. “Shit.”