"I didn't want you to go to the other side not bearing my mark. And I wanted to taste you." he confessed reluctantly. "You're my mate, my wife. I couldn't let you go without having a part of you in me. At least for the little time I was going to be here. I planned to follow you within a matter of days."

Jen gasped. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I won't live without you. I can't. I'm dangerous without you. I would have killed anyone, Jennifer, ANYONE – Jacque, Sally, Vasile – if they had tried to take your body from me. Do not look at me with anger, love. I would be protecting the world from my wrath."

Jen could see that Decebel was really hurting by her reaction. She didn't want to be the cause for anymore of his pain.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't realize." Jen ran her fingers through his hair and pressed her cheek to his. "I won't live without you either. I do not hold it against you."

Decebel let out a deep breath. His hand ran up her bare back, reminding him of what she had worn to their bonding ceremony.

"Baby?"

"Hmm?" Jen nuzzled closer and Decebel closed his eyes, letting his senses take over and fill  him with his mate.

"Why is half your dress missing?"

Jen chuckled. "I figured it would give you less to have to take off."

Decebel growled and she felt the vibrations in his chest.

"I would have missed that so much." Jen ran her hand up his chest and curled it around the nape of his neck.

"Missed what, love?"

"The growly, chest rumble thing."

Decebel chuckled. "I will do the growly, chest rumble thing anytime you want."

Jen smiled. "I will hold you to that, you know. So if we're standing in line somewhere and I suddenly have the urge to cuddle, you better be ready to rumble away."

Decebel pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I really don't want to open that door. I want to keep you in here with me. I want to finish the Blood Rites – with you alive this time," he said pointedly.

Jen leaned back so she could look into his eyes. "We aren't opening that door until the Blood Rites are complete. The other can wait, but not the Blood Rites."

Jen pulled the neck of her dress down over her shoulder and leaned her head back to give Decebel access.

He growled and his grip on her tightened. As he leaned forward Jen felt his tongue run across her skin and then a sharp pain that was gone as quickly as it had come. She wrapped her arm around his neck, holding him tightly to her. She had expected some pain, maybe not horrible pain, but at least some. This felt...good. She knew that Jacque had said that the exchange was intimate, but she never explained the immense pleasure that also came with it. A breathy moan escaped Jen's lungs as she felt Decebel pullher closer. His mouth was warm and, though firmly attached to her, gentle. When he began to pull back Jen was completely unashamed when she whispered to her mate, "Don't stop."

Decebel chuckled. "We aren't blood suckers, baby. We only take enough to complete the Rites and leave our mark."

"Well, if it feels like that when the blood suckers do their thing, then we are seriously underestimating the value of being a blood sucker." Jen's head lulled back on her neck as Decebel licked the bite clean.

"Are you alright?" he asked her gently.

Jen grinned. "Better than alright."

Decebel kissed her. "Are you ready?"

She nodded, then asked, "I have to actually bite you this time, don't I?"

"Yes, love. Just let your instincts guide you."

Jen turned in his lap so that she was facing him with her legs wrapped around him. Decebel raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? This is just more comfortable than turning my neck." Her eyes were wide with innocence, but Decebel saw the slight smirk on her lips.

Jen leaned back slightly as Decebel grabbed the hem of his sweater and pulled it over his head. She tried not to drool on her mate when she looked over his ridiculously toned body. The markings that covered the right side of his chest, shoulder, and arm, all the way up his neck, were undeniably sexy.  Jen was forced out of ogling when Decebel cleared his throat.

"Like what you see?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Like is putting it mildly," she admitted boldly. The look in Decebel's eyes grew intense and Jen felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Complete the Blood Rites, my love," Decebel whispered as he turned his head, baring his neck to her.

Jen leaned into him, holding one side of his neck with one hand and bracing herself on his shoulder with the other. She breathed in his scent and when her lips touched his skin, she felt his breathing quickened. She kissed his neck and then opened her mouth. Something deep inside her stirred. Like when she awoke in the morning and stretched, so she felt her wolf awakening and stretching. Then her focus became her mate. Jen felt her teeth lengthen – she wanted to be a little shocked at that moment, but the wolf that had been buried deep inside her had one thing on her mind and that was to mark their mate, to complete this age-old dance of their kind.

She opened her mouth wider and struck. Her teeth sunk into his flesh with no resistance. She felt warmth and wetness flow into her mouth and Decebel's arms wrapped around her, one hand resting just inside her dress over her marks, the other at the nape of her neck, holding her to him. As if she was going anywhere.

Jen couldn't believe how good he tasted. Sweet, but indescribably so. She sunk her teeth deeper and heard Decebel chuckle.