Page 253 of Infernal Secrets

“I’m doing this. But…” His hand tightened around mine. “Promise you’ll tell me if I scare you during everything. You’ve seen Cyn and Ezra, but you’ve never been vulnerable like you will be while we seal our bond—when I feed on your blood.”

I didn’t remind him that Ezra had bitten me and taken blood when I needed venom removed from my body. I hadn’t been fully present that day. I didn’t know whether I would feel fear in a lucid state or not.

“I promise I’ll stop you if I’m afraid. But Ash, you’ll know without me saying anything. You said you’d smell it if my emotions are strong enough.”

He released my hand and stepped back.

The air shimmered around him, rippling and blurring like a heat haze over concrete in the middle of summer. When it cleared, I sucked in a breath.

Ash’s hands and forearms resembled Cyn’s and Ezra’s with blackened skin extending to the elbows and trailing into tendrils that blotted out his tattoos.

He didn’t have any of Ezra’s extra markings on his neck or chest—markings I now understood represented his Void subspecies.

Ash’s high cheekbones looked sharper than before, almost taking on the same cut-from-marble look Cyn had naturally. Two ridges on each side of his forehead pointed inward toward the space between his eyebrows, giving him a menacing appearance.

From his Viking-style hair, a pair of black, ridged horns extended up and curled down. Instead of curling back or inward like a ram’s, they curled out to the sides. I imagined him using those sharp points to defend against attacks from the side.

With his hairstyle, the pointed ears added to an ethereal warrior appearance.

His lips parted, exposing incisors and canine teeth extended into sharp paired fangs.

“Say something,” he said, his deep voice lower than before.

I shook off the awestruck feeling I had. “You look… wow. Yeah. You look hot.”

His laughter sounded almost like a purr.

“Can I touch you?”

“You never have to ask.”

I reached for him as he stepped forward, sliding my hands up his abs to his chest. I licked my lips as I looked up into his black eyes.

While I couldn’t see his green irises anymore, his scent and facial features told me enough without his eyes revealing his feelings.

The hardness pressing against my stomach didn’t hurt either.

I slid my hands up to the back of his neck and pulled him down to me, kissing him softly at first, deepening the kiss only when he relaxed.

His tongue teased my lips, and I parted them for him. Even with four sharp fangs, he managed not to nick my tongue as he kissed me with passion.

His arm banded around my back, and he pressed forward, placing a knee between my legs as I fell back on the bed. His body cloaked mine. With his hands braced on each side of my head, he bent to curl his tongue around my hardened nipple.

I panted, squirming beneath him as he tugged on my other nipple while flicking my piercing in his mouth with his tongue. When his fangs grazed the sensitive skin around my nipple, I whimpered in need.

I wanted him to bite my breast.

As if he’d heard my thoughts, he looked up at me, dragging his fangs across my skin again.

“Please,” I panted.

His fangs pierced my skin, drawing a hitched cry from me as pain morphed into pleasure. The flat of his tongue chased the sting and deepened the sweet sensation.

“It’s true,” he rasped, dragging his tongue across my nipple before looking up at me. “Your blood tastes like candy.”

I bent my knees so he could position himself between my legs and press himself against the ache between my thighs, right where I wanted him most. I dropped my head back with a moan.

I didn’t want to wait anymore.