tell you will feel guilty because you find my body attractive without the scars, as if that will make me think you weren’t attracted to me before.” She pursed her lips at him. “But I know that’s a lie. You can be attracted to me both ways. One feeling doesn’t diminish the other. I would be attracted to you whether you had a smoking hot body or not. I would still desire you even if you were pudgy and bald.”
Wadim chuckled. He hadn’t thought of it that way, and she was right. He had already begun to feel guilty over the fact that he was going to find her scar-less body attractive, even though he’d been attracted to her before. Wadim sobered as he stared deeply into her eyes and pushed through their bond for her to open it all the way for him. “Are you sure?” He felt her walls drop and finally let him in. It seemed as if he could breathe for the first time in a week. Having any distance between them was hard, but with the bond shut down, it was excruciating.
She met his gaze with a steady one of her own, and her voice didn’t waver. “More sure than I’ve ever been of anything.”
Wadim released Zara and then cupped her precious face in his hands. He leaned down until their lips were barely touching. “You humble me, my beautiful mate,” he whispered. “I am going to get it wrong many, many more times, but I promise you I will spend the rest of my existence loving you, protecting you, providing for you, and most likely driving you a little crazy.”
Zara’s lips turned up slightly. “Crazy is better than bored to tears or scared out of my mind.”
He closed the distance between them and felt her raise up to press her lips firmly against his. Zara wasn’t overly affectionate, but when she was the more aggressive one, he loved it. It meant she felt confident with him, that she knew he would respond to her.
She opened her mouth at his mental prodding, and her taste invaded him. She was exquisite. Like the finest wine, he sipped her, wanting to savor the taste as long as possible. But then he felt her hands tugging at the hem of his shirt. His need to go slow evaporated.
Wadim let her pull his shirt up and over his head, then he swung her up in his arms and carried her to their room. He sat on the bed, keeping her in his lap, one of his hands running up her thigh, the other up and down her spine. There was way too much material between them, but he forced himself to let her set the pace.
He continued to kiss her, almost frantically, until she finally pulled back. When he moved forward, prepared to chase her delicious mouth, she pressed a finger to his lips, stopping him. “Tell me what to do,” she whispered.
Wadim’s brain froze momentarily. He shook the lust from his mind. When his mind started working again, he tried to figure out what she meant. He knew she knew what sex was because of… Wadim shut his mind down. All that line of thinking would do was piss him off. He wouldn’t allow any memories of her past to soil her first time. She sent an image through the bond. It was of her biting him. And he realized what she was asking. “Your body will know what to do,” he assured her with a cheeky smile. “Kind of like how it will know what to do once I’ve got you undressed.” His eyebrows rose and lowered suggestively.
He guided her head to his neck. Though he couldn’t see them, he sensed the glowing eyes of her wolf coming forward. Zara was still under the spell Rachel had put on her to keep her from shifting, but Wadim had faith that the Great Luna would make sure his mate could complete the bond, despite that issue.
When her hot breath caressed his skin, he bit back a growl. But when her tongue darted out and licked his flesh, there was no silencing his groan. Wadim felt her teeth on his neck, her bite tentative, but then she bit harder, and her fangs pierced his flesh easily. The pain lasted a second before it was replaced by the pleasure only the mating bond could produce. His hand tightened on the back of her head, pressing her against him as his