Christ. “And when you feed from me, we both enjoy that as well. Knowing I’m giving you what you need pleases me more than you know. So we’re more than even.”
“Why would that please you?” she asked, her hands now both getting in on that act, moving over his body, exploring, driving him crazy.
“Because I care about you, Luna. And when you care about someone, making them feel good makes you feel good as well.”
She shook her head, still looking confused as hell. “You have zero reason to care about me, Gunner. After everything I’ve done…”
“You did nothing wrong,” he said with a bit more growl behind it than he’d intended. “And emotions and feelings don’t always make sense. I feel the way I do; does there need to be an explanation behind it?”
This was probably the right time to tell her she was his mate, but he finally felt as if he might possibly be getting through to her. Telling her the mate stuff would definitely freak her out.
She shook her head, her silky black hair moving like liquid silk. “No, I guess not.” She pressed closer, surprising him, her hands still moving over his skin. “I care about you as well. I’m not sure why, but I do.”
And there it was, that innocence, that vulnerability right there on display.
“I’m glad, love. That makes me incredibly fucking happy.”
She smiled as well, flashing the tips of her little fangs, and his heart thumped harder.
“I never knew hugs felt so nice,” she said.
He slowly moved his hands over her back, massaging lightly, trying to give her pleasure while making sure she knew he wasn’t asking for anything else.
“Who do you usually hug?” she asked into his chest.
No one. He never hugged any-damn-one. “I don’t usually do a lot of hugging,” he said, sticking to the truth. “I’ve seen my brothers do it with their mates, and I liked the look of it.”
“I don’t remember being hugged before I was taken. And not at all since. But I’ve seen it on TV. It feels better than I imagined.”
“For me too.” He rubbed her back and asked what he’d been wanting to since she woke up in his bed. “Feelings, emotions, they’re new to you, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I mean, the first time I started to feel something was about a year ago, but only anger. Anger, I know well. Though, thinking back, when Grace helped me kill Greg, there was more going on inside me. I was extremely angry, I know that much, but there was something else as well, maybe fear, sadness?”
A year ago was when she got her powers, when he felt her, then lost her. “You didn’t feel anything good during that time? Just recently?”
Her finger began tracing the brand on his chest. “Just recently, but I guess I didn’t have any reason to feel any of the good ones.”
The until now went unsaid. Now she had a reason to feel the good ones. Fuck, yeah, that pleased the hell out of him and destroyed him at the same time. “How are you feeling right now, love?”
She smiled sweetly. “I’m warm, and my skin feels sensitive, but in a good way. Does yours?”
“Yeah, it does,” he said, fighting to control…shit, everything, his breathing, his pulse, his hands, his cock.
She pressed closer still. “And my belly, it’s all swirly and tingly. Is yours doing that as well?”
Fuck me. She was literally going to kill him. “Yeah, I got some of that going on as well.”
She sighed happily. “I really like it.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead, unable to stop himself. “Me too.”
“I’ve been a little all over that place, haven’t I?”
He’d most definitely noticed. She breathed him in, and his balls tightened.
“That’s only to be expected, everything’s still so new.”
Her fingers traced patterns on his chest. “I guess being emotionally and physically shut down for so long will do that. It’s confusing as hell, Gunner. Up until a year ago, the only things I felt were hunger and pain. I didn’t know I was capable of feeling anything else.”
He tried not to freeze, tried not to react in a way that would upset her, and made his body stay relaxed as he rubbed her back. “You won’t feel either of those things ever again, love. I’ll make sure of it.”
Azel was going to die screaming.
Chapter 13
Hell
Scarlet winced as she ran her healing rag as gently as possible over the other female’s back.