"You're leaving already?"
He sat down on the edge of the bed. Beads of water glistened on his shoulders and chest, a few of them sliding down his smooth skin and glyphs in thin rivulets. He looked and smelled delicious, and Alex had the strongest urge to lick him dry.
He smiled as if he sensed the lusty direction of her thoughts. "I have to go. My brothers-in-arms from Boston will be flying into Fairbanks in a couple of hours. We'll be rendezvousing at an old truck stop from Boston will be flying into Fairbanks in a couple of hours. We'll be rendezvousing at an old truck stop midway between there and the mining company. We can't risk giving Dragos or his men the chance to know we're on to them, so we're going to hit the mine without delay."
He spoke so casually about the danger that awaited him and his friends. All Alex could think of was the very real possibility that he might be hurt. Or worse, something she didn't even want to imagine. Just the thought of Kade walking into that mine--potentially into the hands of Dragos, or an even larger evil, should they cross paths with the creature they suspected had been transported to the area--made Alex quake inside with a raw, marrow-deep dread. "I don't want you to go. I'm afraid if you do, I might never see you again."
"Don't worry," he said, and something dark, something ironic, traveled over his handsome face. "You aren't going to get rid of me that easily, Alex. Not now."
He placed his palm along her cheek, then leaned down and kissed her, his mouth so tender on hers it opened up an ache in the center of her chest.
She ached in a number of places, all the right places.
By the time his lips left hers, each of her pulse points were lit up as though they'd been touched by lightning. Lower still, a heavy throb in her core sent heat pooling between her legs. After the hours of passion they'd enjoyed, she still burned for him as though she'd had only the smallest taste. She sighed with the remembered pleasure of all they'd done together. "Last night was ..."
"Yeah. It was." He smiled, but there was a hesitation in his voice. Something haunted about his eyes. He caressed her bare shoulder, then let his fingers travel up along the side of her neck, the only part of her that felt more alive and heated than the slick cleft of her thighs. Alex nestled into his feather-light strokes, shivering with a growing hunger for him as he ran his thumb across the vein that fluttered more frantically in response to his touch.
"You bit me," she whispered, feeling an odd thrill just to say the words. He inclined his head in a grim nod. "I did. I shouldn't have. I didn't have the right to take that from you."
Did he mean her blood? "It's all right, Kade."
"No," he said gravely. "It's not all right. You deserve more than that."
"I ... liked it," she told him, meaning it with a sincerity that shocked even her. "What you did, it felt good. It still does. Everywhere you touched me last night feels very good." He exhaled slowly, his breath hot as it fanned her brow. He hadn't stopped petting her throat. She could have enjoyed his soothing touch for hours more.
"What I did last night has changed everything, Alex. I drank from you. I bonded myself to you, and I can't take it back. Not even if you hate me for it."
She tilted her head up and kissed the stern line of his mouth. "Why would I hate you?" He stared at her for the longest time, as though weighing the impact of what he wanted to tell her. "I drank from you, Alex, knowing full well that you are a Breedmate. Knowing that once your blood was in my body, there would be no going back. I'm connected to you now, and it's unbreakable. It's forever. I knew what it meant, but I just ... wanted you so badly, I couldn't stop. I should have, but I didn't." Alex listened, seeing the torment in his eyes. She could see the regret, too, and it twisted her heart like a vise.
"Last night, you couldn't stop," she said, needing to understand, even if it would kill to hear it. "But now, you wish you could take it back. Because you feel differently ... about me?" His head came up sharply, his dark brows lowered over his eyes. "No. Jesus ... no, Alex. What I feel for you--" The words broke off, seemed to catch in his throat. "What I feel for you is stronger than anything I've ever felt before. It's love, Alex, and it was there before last night. It would be with me even if I hadn't taken your blood."
She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until it whooshed out of her on a sigh. "Oh, Kade." He blew out a dry curse as he caressed her. "I don't know how I let this happen. I sure as hell never expected to find what I have with you. Not now, when everything else around me couldn't be more messed up."
"Then we'll sort it out," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "We can sort everything out, together. Because I've fallen in love with you, too."
He cursed again, but this time it was with reverence, a whispered oath as he gathered her close and pulled her into a deliriously passionate kiss. Alex felt his muscles flex and twitch under her fingertips. She felt the tremor of need that racked him as he eased her onto her back and he crawled over her. The pink towel fell away and Alex drank in the magnificent sight of his body, the thick jut of his arousal, all of that towel fell away and Alex drank in the magnificent sight of his body, the thick jut of his arousal, all of that power poised to enter her.
His gaze was fierce, pale silver flashing with amber fire. "Ah, God ... Alexandra. I need to hear it now. Tell me you are mine."
"Yes," she said, then cried the word again as he thrust deep and ushered her toward the crest of a swift, hot wave of release.