Chapter 8
eight
RAE
Coming face to face with Darius again was... a lot.
He was gigantic. More than a foot taller than me. And god, he was still the most attractive person I'd ever seen.
I wanted to touch him. Immediately, and overwhelmingly.
I stepped up to his chest and had my arms wrapped around his back before I had time to consider what I was doing or why I was doing it. I went still immediately, when I realized what I'd done.
I usually hated touching people.
Maybe the drive to touch him had something to do with the bond between us.
Or maybe I was just attracted to him, and desperate for blood on top of it.
Before I could step back, his arms were around me too, his bare hand dipping beneath my shirt and pressing lightly to my skin. His groan of relief was quite possibly the sexiest sound I had ever heard.
"Fuck, you feel so good," he said into my hair.
It was a mess. A wild, greasy mess, tied up in a loose ponytail on top of my head. Hiding from life in video games the way I was didn't come with fantastic personal hygiene. Not for me, at least.
"You'd feel better if you weren't wearing a shirt," I mumbled back.
"That can be arranged."
"Better not." I let out a long breath.
He took a step forward, walking me into the suite and closing the door behind us. I tried to remove myself from him, but his arms tightened before I could, holding me against his chest. "One more minute."
He didn't phrase it as a question, but there was something behind the words.
A plea, almost.
"You have to take your shirt off if you want one more minute," I said, despite my opposing words earlier.
I should've been leaving space between us... but I didn't want to.
He had me pinned between him and the door while he tore his shirt over his head in a heartbeat. I was pressed against that delicious bare chest a moment later, his arms around me and his hand on my skin again.
"I'm sorry you spent so long looking for a mate and got stuck with me," I whispered against his chest.
He rumbled with a growl and tangled his fingers in the back of my greasy hair, tipping my head until I met his eyes. I immediately wished my face was pressed against his chest again.
His gaze fucking burned mine.
He leaned down until the side of his nose was pressed against the side of mine. My eyes closed almost automatically, and he pulled me even tighter.
"I've never had a conversation with someone like the one we had on the roof," he said. "Have you?"
He caught me off guard with the admission. "No."
"I liked it."
"I did too," I admitted.
"Don't apologize. I want you in ways that would probably horrify you."
"You'd be surprised."
His lips curved, just a little. "I left your drink in the hallway when I was looking for my keycard, but I don't want to let go of you."
"I like chai. I could piggy-back on the way there."
He let go long enough for me to climb onto his back, and he held my thigh as he opened the door, bent down, and grabbed the drink. He shut the door with his foot afterward.
"How pissed are you that we're mates?" he asked, as he carried me to the couch.
“I’m not sure.”
It was hard to mind the mate bond while he was right there, with his throat only inches from my throbbing fangs, giving me a drink he'd stolen from another woman. While the lunch he'd ordered for me sat steaming in a box on the coffee table.
Darius carried me to the couch, sat down, and set me on his lap, so I was straddling him. Our faces were only a few inches away from each other when he put the drink in my hand.
I leaned back a little and took a sip, but didn't try to get off of him.
His hand was still on my thigh.
I wanted it to stay there.
"Thanks for the drink," I said.
"Any time." The words weren't sarcastic. His thumb was rubbing slowly over my thigh, back and forth.
I took another sip. "Maybe I should thank…" I looked at the name on the cup. "Marisol."
"Nah. They'll remake it for her."
"She probably wanted one you touched."
He grimaced. "Probably. What do you usually get when you go to coffee shops?"
"I don't go to coffee shops. Too many people. The drink is lukewarm or the ice is melted by the time the food delivery sites drop it off."
"What do you order when you do?"
"Chai."
"Then Mary planned her drink perfectly."
I bit back a snort. "Marisol."
"Right."
Dare's eyes were brighter than I'd seen them. Hell, his entire face had basically transformed since he put his hand on my skin. He looked alive.
"You wanted to talk?" he asked.
I made a face. "No. Callum showed up and told me about mate bonds, so I figured we should talk about it."
"What did Callum say?" Dare's voice was dangerous.
I eyed him. "I wasn't supposed to tell you he was here. Don't make me regret it."
"Shadow, if anyone tells you to keep a secret from your mate, you should fuck them up. Badly. Mated pairs are a team. What did he say?"
"He mostly just explained how mate bonds work for fae, and what your magic is like. He was surprisingly civil. No torture involved. Also, he told me he was behind the fangirl website that tracks you."
"I figured. Was Kat with him?"
"No. I feel like you're mad that I talked to him. He forced his way through the door, so it wasn't like I invited him. I was just—"
"I'm not mad at you. I'm glad he was civil, and that you thought it went well."
"He said my shadows can help with your magic without us touching. Is he right?"
Dare's grip on my thigh tightened a little. "He had no business starting that conversation with you, but yeah. He's right."
"You should've told me that."
"I was waiting until you were ready."
"I'm never going to be ready. Not for this." I gestured between us. "I don't know a damn thing about relationships, and somehow, I ended up in one. With you. The most desirable man in the city."
"If it's any consolation, I know as much about relationships as you do."
I rolled my eyes. "You've been in a relationship before."
"No. I haven't. I don't even kiss the people I fuck. Never did."
"That doesn't make sense. You've been with a shitload of people, Darius. It's common knowledge."
"Sex was a way to pass the time, and nothing else. I never felt any way about it or the person I was fucking."
"You can't have sex with someone multiple times without feeling something."
"I could've, but I didn't. I never fucked someone more than once. They never fucked me. My magic got them off. I didn't touch them more than I had to."
My forehead creased, and I took another sip of my drink. "That doesn't make sense."
"You've never had sex, Rae. It means more to you than it does to a lot of people because of that."
"I don't think that's true."
Darius lifted a hand to an escaped strand of hair at the back of my neck. The short pieces always broke off, and fell away. "I'll convince you eventually."
"That's unlikely."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"
"No. And we weren't talking about sex. Or relationships. We were talking about my shadows."
Darius shook his head. "Grayson told me that intentionally leaving your shadows with someone else requires constant effort. I don't want you to do that for me."
"I wasn't going to offer to. I was going to tell you that I can't."
"Good. You need your shadows to protect yourself."
"I actually need them to keep me alive."
Darius frowned.
My stomach growled loudly, but with my undescended fangs throbbing in my mouth, I knew it wasn't food I was hungry for.
"I tethered myself to my shadows when I was dying in the cellar," I explained. "I can't send them away from me the way most demons can, because of it. It would kill me. My shadows are my life force now."
Dare's expression grew darker, slowly. "There are some clinging to me now."
I nodded. "They won't come back. I tried. Drinking your blood changed things for me. My body thinks it needs more."
"If we seal our bond, significantly more of your shadows will stay with me, Rae."
"Callum said that too."
"Fucking Callum." Dare's voice strained. "Yeah. Mer has about half of Darke's shadows most of the time. I asked."
"I would need to drink blood pretty often to lose half of my shadows without it costing me my life, and if I survived it, it would probably change me back.
Make me... normal. But I don't know if I could ever tie myself back to the shadows again.
I think I'd be a vampire. For real." I kept my gaze on his throat, not wanting to meet his eyes.
"Would it make you less powerful?"
I shook my head. "I was always this connected to the shadows. They just didn't keep me alive, before. I don't think I'd be able to transport with them, and I'd probably look less gray, but that's it as far as the changes."
"Vampires need to drink blood every day or so, right?"
"Not a lot, but a little bit every day or every other day. By the time we get to day seven or eight without it, we're not looking good."
He didn't look concerned.
I added, "It would probably take a while for me to get my body used to the blood, if I was trying to tie myself to it again. We usually need to maintain our blood supply by feeding, not start from scratch with it."
"We could handle that," Darius said. The confidence in his voice had me lifting my gaze to his. I didn't expect him to be so... supportive.
Vampires were a pain. Being tied to one wasn't exactly most immortals' dream. We usually mated amongst ourselves, or with other demons who were used to the parasitic nature of demonhood.
"I don't even know if you make enough blood," I said bluntly.
He cracked a small grin. "Anyone who mates with a vampire can provide them enough blood.
The vampire's mate adapts. It's a saliva thing.
That's why I had you lick me, when you were worried about the bite.
" He tapped the side of his neck, and my fangs throbbed at the memory of sinking my teeth into him.
I really wanted to bite him again. "I could only heal you on the roof because we're fated?"
"Technically, it's because of the partial mate bond between us. That was created when you bargained with me. Our souls recognized each other, and connected."
"Oh. Well, Callum didn't tell me that. How do you know about vampire mate bonds when I don't?"
"I've been to a lot of sex clubs. Mated vampires come with the territory, in our city."
My eyebrows shot upward. "What do mated vampires do in sex clubs?"
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do." I put my cup down on the arm of the couch and set my hands on his bare chest. "Tell me."
"What'll you give me, if I tell you?"
"What do you want?"
Darius studied me. He looked amused, more than anything. "What do you want to give me?"
"Now you're just being difficult."
"Alright. Fine. I want you to bite me, and I want to get you off again."
My face heated. "That's two things."
"I'll tell you one thing I've seen mated vampires do in sex clubs for each. One for a bite. One for an orgasm. If you want me to keep talking afterward, I get to make you come again. Take it or leave it."
He had to be bluffing.
I was convinced of that.
Completely and utterly convinced.
But it didn't look like he was bluffing. He looked serious.
"Okay, fine," I said. "We're starting with the bite, though. If you don't tell me something juicy, I'm not letting you touch me."
Dare grinned. "Alright. Deal."
"It's a trade," I corrected. "I'm not bargaining with you again."
"You can't bargain with me at all. We're mates. Our souls are connected, so bargains aren't possible anymore. Not that they were in the first place."
"So if I ask Merrily, or Callum..."
"They'll tell you the same thing." He dragged me a little closer, so I could feel his erection beneath me. "You're mine. I'm yours. Now, bite me."
"You're demanding."
"You're stalling." He patted my ass, and my heartbeat picked up a little. Leaning forward, I let my fangs have what they wanted, and somehow bit him with even less decorum than I had the first two times.