Harder.
Faster.
“Give me all of you,” I growled as I furiously locked her to me and drove into her again and again.
Rough.
Carnal.
My hands bruising on her flesh.
The dresser banged against the wall and books crashed to the floor.
Possession gripped me and my body roared.
She suddenly screamed my name and her muscles contracted around my cock.
“Fuck, Danni.” I couldn’t hold on any longer as her body quivered and I groaned, pumping into her one last time as my orgasm ripped through me.
I remained frozen, locked inside her, unable to speak for several seconds, waiting for my mind to calm. Her face snuggled into my shoulder and I was afraid to pull away and see her eyes. If I hurt her. If I scared her . . . Christ, it would be my final destruction.
Danni pulled back and stared at me, her eyes wide with . . . pleasure? Please let me do this one thing right. Everything was shit. I’d broken my loyalty. Betrayed my own blood for . . .
Her.
This woman I held in my arms. She lived and I’d take this one night I had with her with me to whatever fate I was handed by the Deaconry.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Shit yeah. I’m . . . I don’t know. I feel lighter or something.”
“I didn’t hurt you?”
She kissed me at the corner of my lips. “No. I just don’t like being restrained.”
Yeah, because of that fuckin’ vampire, Ryszard. He did that to her. I clenched my jaw and felt the rising fury as my blood rushed through my veins.
She stroked her finger across my brow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I helped her off the dresser, and then went into the washroom to get rid of the condom. I pressed my foot down on the stainless steel trash can’s lever and it clanged as the lid rose. I tossed the condom, glancing up at the mirror and stopped.
Fuck, what was I doing?
I rested my hands on the edge of the sink and hung my head. Everything in me screamed to say fuck it and run with her. Disappear. I managed it for two years, I could . . .
Impossible. Danni and I were impossible.
The floor creaked as she came up behind me and rested her hands on my hips. “Stay the night.”
This was insane. Everything about us was insane. I’d broken the Scars law. Jesus. I could be dead tomorrow.
“For what, Danni. So that it hurts even more when I have to leave in the morning?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “Fuck, Danni. This is it. I’m leaving. I’m not coming back. I can’t protect you and I sure as hell can’t be with you.”
“I never asked for more, Balen.”
One night.
Her hands glided down my tatted arms to my hands where she linked them with mine on the edge of the sink. Her scent was all around me, begging me to give her what she wanted.
She trailed kisses along the back of my neck, and when I opened my eyes and looked at our reflection in the mirror . . .
Holding me.
Connected to me.
Fuck, she was part of me.
And I knew I couldn’t leave. Not yet. I needed to hold her. Have her sleep in my arms without the nightmares of her screams threatening my sanity.
I turned in her arms then lowered my head and when I kissed her this time, it was soft and gentle.
“One night.” Tomorrow, death or Rest would end what had never had the chance to begin.
I led her to the bed, threw back the covers, and she crawled beneath them. I slipped in beside her and she instantly tucked into my side, her cheek resting on my chest and her leg on top of my thigh. I caressed her hair, memorizing the feel of the strands between my fingers.
I kissed the top of her head. “Your tattoo, what is it?”
Danni tilted her head and peered up at me, smiling. Jesus, that smile. I’d never seen it in the cages, all I’d seen was torment. “You noticed it? I didn’t think you had the chance.”
“I took every chance to look at your hot ass, babe.” I squeezed her to me and she rubbed her leg up my thigh and I groaned as my cock jerked. Fuck, I wanted to take her again, but I knew if I did, I’d never let her go.
“I was a bit of a rebel growing up. My mom died when I was ten and my dad . . . well, he wasn’t around much.” Her finger circled my nipple and my arm tightened on her hip. “Crying for freedom of expression, I guess, I dragged Anstice with me on my eighteenth birthday. It means nothing, really. Just something I designed.” I’d only caught a flash of black ink on her and now I wanted to see it. Tattoos for Scars had a lot of meaning and one in particular—our Ink. A tattoo that could be called to life.
“Turn over.” I tossed the covers back and she flipped onto her stomach, looking over her shoulder at me. She had this sassy cute look in her eyes that made my heart ache.
“My tattoo was my first real work of art. Can’t sell it though. Funny that you have a similar one on your back.”
My eyes trailed down her body to her ass. Then everything inside me froze. “Fuck.” My heart pounded and there was a churning in my stomach. Holy shit, it was a tiger. A goddamn tiger.
“What? Something wrong with it?”
Shit. What the hell? One hell of a coincidence that my Ink was a tiger and Danni had a similar tattoo.
She flipped back over and crawled partially on top of me and kissed my chin. “What’s wrong?”
I cleared my throat and got my shit back under control then weaved my fingers in her hair and met her eyes. “Nothing. It’s . . . it’s beautiful. That’s all.”