Page 76 of Claimed in Shadows
Kaya had been torn between relief and sorrow when Leah told her the sad circumstances of how she’d become a prisoner to Angus Mackie’s threats. She’d fallen in love with a man inside the group, a kind man. When she became pregnant, they plotted their escape, only to be stopped by Big Mack. Leah’s lover was murdered in front of her and Mackie threatened to do the same to her and her unborn child if she ever attempted to leave the gang.
“The Order won’t leave your sister on her own,” Aric assured her. “Renata and Niko are already making arrangements for her at Anna’s Place. The shelter is in need of a manager, and Leah needs a safe home for her and her baby.”
Kaya closed her eyes, swamped with gratitude not only for Aric’s love and kindness, but for the rest of the Order as well.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes, Kaya.” He held her face in his palms, his eyes glittering with amber sparks. The sharp points of his fangs gleamed as he spoke, sending a coil of dark need spiraling through her. “Say you’re mine.”
“I am, Aric.” She stared up into his glowing eyes, overwhelmed with the power of everything she felt for this incredible man. This Breed male she loved more than anything she ever knew. “I am yours.”
“I won’t settle for anything less than forever,” he murmured thickly, his fangs growing even longer, sharper, with each earnest word.
He stroked the side of her neck where her pulse throbbed. His touch made her veins ache for something more. As if he knew what she needed, he lowered his head and suckled the tender flesh above her carotid. The slightest graze of his elongated canines nearly made her come on the spot.
“Tell me this is what you want, Kaya.”
“It is,” she gasped. “Aric, I want this more than my next breath. I want you. Forever.”
He uttered her name, and then she felt the stunning pleasure of his bite. He drank from her, hard, possessive tugs that made everything female in her erupt with heated desire. And love. So much love she wept with the power of it.
Aric’s possessive growl filled her ears, echoing in the veins he now owned. Veins that would connect them for the rest of their days.
“You’re mine,” he growled, pausing to lick her punctures and seal them closed. “You have my body and my heart, Kaya. You have my love forever. Now, will you have my bond?”
“Yes, Aric.” She’d never wanted anything more. “Oh, God. Yes.”
He brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit down on his own flesh, opening his veins for her. She had never tasted anything so wondrous, so erotically powerful as the first sip of his blood. The roar of it filled her senses as their bond came to life within her, within both of them.
“Mine,” Aric growled, spreading her legs to receive him as he fed her from his open vein. “You’re mine forever now, Kaya.”
She moaned, incapable of words as he filled her body and nourished her heart and soul with the power of his blood and his bond. And when he brought them both to shattering climax a few minutes later, he came shouting her name like a promise and a prayer.
“Forever,” she murmured, holding his fiery gaze.
She couldn’t wait for their future to begin.
