inside her, a connection stirring in her veins to condense in her chest, filling it with a feeling that felt dangerous but she was too far gone to care about the repercussions of this moment. She needed him, plain and simple. This was about satisfying lust. Nothing more.
Scratching that itch she had for him.
She kept telling herself that as she gripped his shoulders and rode him, as he dug his fingers into her bottom and guided her, moving in time with her. His pace quickened, growing fevered, and she lost herself in it, in the way he filled her and withdrew, how he seized command. She gave herself over to the moment, surrendering control to the primal side that rose inside her, that swept through her to have her kissing him hard and scoring his shoulders with her nails as need built inside her.
He growled and thrust deeper, brought her down harder on his cock with each plunge into her, pushing her to the edge.
And over it.
Mackenzie cried into his mouth as the sparks tripping through her with each thrust suddenly gathered into a tight ball inside her and detonated. She moaned and trembled, every inch of her quivering as she tried to keep moving, as Hartt kept plunging into her, riding her climax. She sank against him, kissed him more softly as pleasure rolled through her, as she focused on how deeply they were connected, as she surrendered to him more than bodily.
He clutched her closer, groaned as he slowed things down, as he gentled his thrusts and kissed her.
Making things dangerously soft between them.
Tender.
She moaned as he raised his hips and filled her with every inch of him, as he held her in place and throbbed inside her, spilling seed that warmed her, had her clenching and unclenching him, wanting it all.
Hartt sagged beneath her, held her on him as he kissed her, soft sweeps of his lips that roused a warmth in her veins, a lightness that frightened her.
She was on treacherous ground and it was liable to give beneath her, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull up the wall between them again or push him away.
She sank into him instead.
Prayed he would catch her.
Took the leap and fell.
Chapter 15
Hartt was finding it impossible to keep his eyes off Mackenzie’s throat as she sat on the edge of the large oak table in the middle of a library in the vampire’s stronghold. His gaze strayed back to the smooth, pale, unmarked column of her neck, hunger igniting in him for what felt like the millionth time as he stared at it.
A hunger to be the one to mark that flesh.
Even when he knew she would never allow it.
Everything she had told him about her past made that clear to him, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about sinking his fangs into her, still ached to taste her blood and learn if it was as sweet and smoky as its scent.
Her bright golden eyes drifted to him and he averted his gaze, pinning it on Grave instead.
The brunet smiled slowly, the amusement glittering in his ice-blue eyes warning Hartt he had noticed the hunger in him—a need that was so like a vampire. Hartt glared at him, daring him to say anything, to attempt to tie their species together through this common trait. He was no vampire.
He thirsted for Mackenzie’s blood, but only because part of him craved a connection to her again.
A deep, dangerous part of him where he wasn’t master, where his instincts ran wild and were strong, tempting him to listen to them and surrender the fight. He wanted to bite her, had wanted it from the very moment he had met her. That need had only grown when he had scented her blood, had continued to gain strength as they had fought each other, as they had come to know each other better.
When she had kissed him, the need had been overwhelming.
When they had made love, it had been unbearable.
It had taken all of his will to stop himself from crossing that line with her, and not only because he had the feeling she was deeply protective of her blood, would view it as a violation and would grow to despise him.
He never took blood from the vein. It was too dangerous, and while he knew what she was now, there was still so much he didn’t know about her. Any one of the abilities in her possession could negate his, and he