when he opened his eyes again, they weren’t as dark, she could see the golden flecks among the amber.
“Azel told you, you were ugly? That your eyes were unnatural?”
She nodded since he obviously did want her to speak right then.
“I’m gonna back up to that in a minute, but first I’m gonna tell you this again. I don’t endure you feeding from me, I fucking love it. I like being able to give that to you. And I sure as fuck don’t think you’re selfish, not in any way.” His hand cupped her face, and he looked deep into her eyes. “Now we’re gonna circle back to the first thing you said, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, caught in his gaze.
He took another one of his deep, shaky breaths. “You, Luna, are the most beautiful female I have ever laid eyes on. Ever. To me, you are fucking perfect. That is not bullshit. I’m not just saying that shit to make you feel better. I’m saying it because it’s the truth. Do you believe me?”
Could he really see her that way?
“Do you believe me?” he repeated.
His gaze was so intense, so earnest, she could almost believe him. God, she wanted to. She wanted it to be true so badly.
“Luna?”
She nodded, giving this kind male what he wanted. Her eyes stung the way they did before she cried. He was trying to make her feel better, and she couldn’t bear to disappoint him.
“As for your eyes? Ever since I first saw you when we came for Grace…” He brushed her temple with his thumb. “I dreamed about these stunning violet eyes, Luna. Dreamed night after night about them, and when I found you and you looked into mine, I knew it was you, instantly. My dream girl. And fuck, love, I can’t tell you how happy, how relieved I was that you were still alive.”
“I don’t know if I am…alive,” she whispered, her skin flushing and tingles igniting all over her body. She was surprised she’d managed to speak after the things he’d just said, with the way her entire body was reacting to his beautiful, kind words.
He chuckled, but the sound was pained. “You’re here with me, warm and perfect, and talking and moving. That’s all I give a fuck about.”
His words stripped down her walls, layer by layer. What could she say to that?
“I’m going to kiss you now, not on your cheek, not like a friend, but like a male kisses his female. Do you know why that is, Luna?”
She stared up at him, belly fluttering wildly, palms sweaty, chest warm and flippy, and shook her head, because she knew what he was about to say was going to shake her to the soles of her feet. “No.”
“Because you are mine. Mine, Luna. Do you understand?”
She shook her head again, even as everything inside her felt as if it exploded, but not in a painful way, in a wonderful way. Which didn’t make any sense, but that’s exactly how it felt.
He huffed out a sound that was half grunt, half laugh. “You will, I promise.”
Then he cupped the back of her head and leaned in. For a moment, his mouth lingered above hers, then finally, he pressed his lips against hers. His were warm and soft, but firm as well, and forget tingles, electric zaps shot all over her body, from her lips down her arms, through her belly, between her thighs, and down to her curled toes.
Gunner moaned and tilted his head as he moved his mouth over hers. His beard tickled her skin, and she grabbed for purchase. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, so all she could do was wrap her arms around him and hold on as her knees went weak, threatening to give out on her completely.
And just when she didn’t think it could get any better, he swiped his tongue over her lower lip, the way she did every night over the puncture wounds she made in his skin. She moaned and her mouth kind of just…opened, and she did the same back to him.
He made that low, vibrating sound he said was his demon purring and kissed her deeper, his tongue licking into her mouth, tasting her, and she tasted back, stroking his tongue with her own.
His hand stayed at the back of her head, fingers buried in her hair the way Azel used to do when she’d fed from him. But it didn’t feel the same. Gunner wasn’t tugging, controlling, instead he was