29. Harlow
Her lips parted on a moan, strawberry and heat thick in the air, her scent winding through my lungs until it felt like I was breathing her instead of oxygen. She looked like a goddess spread open for us.
Nik’s hand moved with slow confidence, like he had all the time in the world to explore her.
My cock twitched, but the desire came tangled with something sharper. Fear. I’d lost control once. After that, the gloves went on.
What if Clarissa had been right, and I really was just a monster? Too broken and unlovable.
“You’re so fucking, beautiful, Sina.”
My pulse thudded in my ears as I dragged a hand through my damp hair.
I was terrified of hurting her. Terrified of her fearing me.
Of the possibility I’d drive yet another woman away.
I wouldn’t survive that loss twice. My hands flexed at my sides, bare and unfamiliar without the leather barrier I’d worn for decades.
Gloves meant control. Distance. Protection.
From me.
She knew what we were—at least some of it. I didn’t know how much Nik had told her about our kind, about the things that lived under our skin. But she wasn’t running. She was choosing to stay. If she could be brave enough to face monsters and not run, I could try to be brave enough not to be one.
‘You’ve already touched her without gloves,’ Ghost reminded me.
I went still.
He was right. I had touched her when she was in the throes of a night terror. I had soothed her.
‘She is ours. Do it.’
Fear and want twisted together in my chest until I couldn’t tell which one was winning .
Her emerald eyes found mine, heavy-lidded, glazed with pleasure. Her breathing filled the kitchen, shallow and uneven. Every inhale pulled me closer, whether I meant to move or not. Fuck. That was the most dangerous part.
The allure that was Sina Voss.
“I don’t have my gloves on, darling.” My voice was rough around the edges. “But I desperately want to touch you.”
“I won’t let you lose control,” Nik said.
I glanced at my brother, his face glistening with her arousal. I looked at him—really looked at him—at the steady confidence in his expression. The silent promise that if I slipped, he would catch both of us before we hit the ground.
That kind of confidence was why he was the alpha of our hive. Trust was not given lightly in our world, but there was no one I trusted more than Nikolai.
I ran my hands through my hair again and gave him a nod.
Her eyes searched mine, her breathing harder now, ragged. I could smell how close to the edge she was, her arousal thick in the air, sweet and intoxicating, threading through my senses and testing every inch of my restraint.
I stepped forward, then reached out and touched along her jaw.
A feather-light motion, just to test myself.
Relief and awe tangled in my chest so hard it almost hurt.
I was still in control. She closed her eyes, a soft sound leaving her as I became bolder with my advances.
My thumb traced the curve of her cheek, down the line of her throat, feeling the way her pulse fluttered beneath my touch.
Every reaction she gave me hit like a spark straight to the bloodstream, heat coiling low and tight, but I held the leash short.
I had to .
Her lips parted on a shaky breath, and the quiet between us thickened, charged, like the air before a storm finally breaks. She wasn’t pulling away. She was leaning in, trusting me. Wanting this. Wanting me . Relief and hunger warred in my chest.
I brushed my fingers into her hair, slow and deliberate, giving her time to stop me. She didn’t. If anything, she tilted her face toward my hand, chasing the contact. Another soft, unsteady sound slipped from her, cracking straight through my control.
My fingers grazed along her pouty lips. She parted them, her tongue following the path my fingers took.
“I should have kissed you when I had the chance.” I shook my head. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
She laughed breathily as Nik went back to work, stroking her cunt, and her laugh melted into a moan.
I swallowed hard, my voice rough with need.
“I want to kiss you now. But I don’t have control over my fangs,” I murmured, even as my hand slid to the front of her neck, holding her there—not tight, just enough that she knew how serious I was.
Her pulse jumped against my palm. Fuck , I liked holding her like this.
Nik continued to stroke her cunt. Her wetness overwhelmed my senses—the sweet heat of her scent, the rapid pulse beneath her skin.
My mouth watered. I didn’t feel violence surging under my skin.
No. What I felt was need. Need for her. My sweet little addiction.
My fangs ached. My body wound tight. I wanted to fuck her. To watch her face morph with pleasure.
I dragged in her fruity scent through my nose, letting it burn all the way down. I groaned softly, shifting my grip just slightly, my thumb brushing behind her ear, every instinct I had pulling tighter .
Her breath stuttered, her chest rising in the narrow space between us. I had spent so long believing this part of me only ruined things, only took. But she melted into my hold, into the counter like putty.
It was a heady, intoxicating feeling to have her like this. Like I was something safe. Like she trusted me. The awe of that hit harder than any surge of bloodlust ever had.
‘She does trust you,’ Ghost agreed.
“Tell me I can taste your lips, Sina,” I rasped, my cheek nearly touching hers now. Close enough to feel her warmth, to breathe the same air, my control was fragile, and I was fiercely holding onto it—for her. I breathed her scent into my lungs again. Her trust helped me stay in control.
“Yesss,” she panted. Her breathing was sporadic now.
I chuckled softly, the sound rough with restraint and need. She was right on the edge, and every part of me was wound tight, knowing I was about to cross a line I had denied myself for so long.
“Kiss me, Harlow.”
She sounded desperate, and who was I to deny her a second time?
I would not fucking make that mistake ever again.
I closed the distance, my hand tightening around her slender throat as the heat from her body roared hotter.
I slanted my mouth over hers, deepening the kiss.
Her arousal crested to a peak. Her body stiffened beneath my touch, and she screamed through her release.
I anchored her with my palm, my lips swallowing her cries.
Then the urge to taste more than her mouth had me making a decision I might regret.
It would shatter that fragile trust I was earning with her.
But it would heighten her pleasure. Prolong it.
The thought of bringing my mate to nirvana overruled consequences.
I bit her lip, my fangs breaking the skin. Her blood filled my mouth. I sucked her bottom lip between my teeth. Her hands came up, grabbing at anything she could reach, chasing the pleasure we had just given her—Nik with his touch and me with my bite.
She melted, panting, and my lips kissed a slow path along her jaw.
“Damn, darling. You taste delicious .”
Her breath hitched, the little sound so sweet it made my cock ache harder. My body buzzed with her blood coursing through me. I grinned down at her, eyeing her swollen lips. She touched them briefly, lost in a post-bliss haze.
“Take her upstairs, brother. I don’t know about you, but I’m not done with her yet.”
Nik chuckled, lifting her bridal style into his arms. Sina let out a little squeak but didn’t protest.
And for the first time in my cursed life… I didn’t feel like a monster for wanting more.