him. “How does this work?” I swallowed once. “Succubi don’t mate so…this is new to me.”
The heartbreaking grin on his face was like the sun coming out. “You’ve already claimed me,” he whispered. “Now, I just have to claim you.”
He stroked his thumb against my throat. Claiming me meant biting me. “It has to be the throat?”
“The pulse point,” he whispered, drawing his fingers down to where the cadence of my heart seemed to throb. It increased in pace at the light touch of thumb. “Heart’s blood.”
Somehow, I suspected that last bit had little to do with anatomy. But again, I wasn’t a dragon, so what did I know? The unspoken question hung in the air, even as I remained straddling his lap. Neither of us moved beyond the lightest of touches, and yet I could feel him in my soul.
“I can wait,” he told me, the rumble of his voice vibrating through me. “You’ve claimed me. It’s enough.”
It wasn’t. Yet, he told me that lie to let me off the hook. Need flared in his eyes. Need. Want. I could taste it all in the lust rolling off of him. Yet, it wasn’t so heady it drowned me under it.
Huh.
I put that aside for now. There was only one other question I really had…
“What about the others?”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I have no objections to them,” he said carefully. “As long as they are what you want. No one else, though, mate. Anyone else touches you, and I’ll kill them.” He stroked his free hand down my back, even as he tightened the one in my hair, keeping my gaze fixed on him. Not that I was trying to look elsewhere. “We can feed you. You will never be hungry…”
I hadn’t been hungry. Not really.
Not until Fin walked into the bar.
Not until Rogue stole me away.
Not until Asshole arrived with his arrogant glare and dominating manner.
Not until Maddox…
Then… “And the so-called offerings?”
He snorted. “Eleanor has never been my lover.” That wasn’t what I asked. “I never wanted her. I will take blood from no one, if that is your wish. Only you.”
Okay, that might be going a little far. Still, there was a thrill rioting in my system at his words.
“You have no reason to be jealous of her.”
Seriously, the fact that I was currently riding his cock told me that. “I wasn’t jealous.” What the hell did I have to be jealous about? Sex was sex.
“Kitten,” he murmured, then nipped my shoulder. The bite more a promise than an actual bite. “You hated her the moment she walked into the library. That was the moment you turned away from us.”
“Not entirely,” I said, making a face and lifting my hips to slide upward, only to surge down. The moment I was seated again though, he gripped my hips and held me still.
“Yes,” he argued “It was. You were angry before. But you withdrew the moment she appeared.”
“It wasn’t just her,” I snapped. “Are we really having this conversation right now?”
“Yes,” he said, grinning slowly. “I want more than just your body, Kitten. I want your heart and your mind. I am not driven by my lust, no matter how insane you make me.”
Something akin to wonder flared through me.
“You do not want the offerings.” It wasn’t a question.
I shook my head. “I don’t even understand them.”
“Alfred,” he began, smoothing his fingers through my hair. “He reads blood, he takes memories. They don’t always know that. The offering lets him check on them all.”
Oh.
“He likes control,” Maddox offered by way of explanation.
“No shit.” I’d already figured that out.
“The offering,” he continued, his tone dipping closer to soothing, “is a part of that control. He only included us so that we were held at the same level of reverence as he. It’s also why he wanted them to make the offering to you.”
I glared at him.
“It’s true.”
“I don’t want to drink anyone’s blood.” Okay that wasn’t entirely true. “I mean, I like yours and Rogue’s and Fin’s.” Fuck Asshole. I wouldn’t add him to the list if he were the last one left on the planet.
The corners of Maddox’s lips tilted. “I like yours, too. And I am more than content to feed you, Kitten. Feed you anything you need.”
I let out a little sigh.
His eyes darkened, and it was like the storm clouds gathered. “Have you fed since you left?”
Oh, there were lots of ways to answer that question. But right now? “No, well…yes. Rogue.” Focused