Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

“I don’t know,” he said, and I was shocked to hear those words from his mouth. He was usually so sure of everything.

“If anyone finds out,” I said, my panic and anger coming back and beating the guilt down. “If they don’t kill us first, my coven will exile me, Benedict. I’ll never be allowed to set foot on my own land again.” The land I’d grown up on, my ancestors had grown up on. The nature that was steeped in our power.

“I won’t let that happen,” he growled, and I couldn’t hold back a broken laugh.

“So this is the territorial protector part?” I swiped the tears from my eyes, my mind shifting from guilty panic to strategic business. “News flash, Benny, I’m not a simpering mate who needs to be coddled.”

He bared his fangs at me. “I would never imply such a thing, little witch.”

The sight of his fangs, the display of bare skin and muscle, had my skin flushing. I was completely naked, only a sheet covering my hips, and him? The thin pajama bottoms were doing nothing to hide his quickly hardening cock from me. As if he could scent my sudden arousal.

“Benedict,” I warned, but it sounded like a plea.

He shuddered, his eyes falling over my bare breasts, as if now that our panic was ebbing, he fully noticed me naked in his bed.

“What’s going to happen?” I had to force out the words. Everything in my soul, my blood, was begging me to climb him like a fucking tree right now. It hurt how much I wanted him.

Benedict visibly swallowed, his muscles bunching as if it were an effort to keep his hands on mine and nowhere else. “I don’t know,” he repeated. “But Lyric and Valor…they were human when they mated Alek and Lachlan. Perhaps the fates are branching out.”

I sighed. “Lyric is a vampire now and Valor has vampire blood in her ancestral line. I can guarantee you I don’t have any.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I don’t have any intention of turning you at the moment,” he ground through his teeth, those fangs still distended.

And he wouldn’t need to. Because I had a lifespan to match his. In that, at least, we were fit. But the rest?

He made me laugh. He challenged me. His power matched mine. He could soothe those restless pieces in myself I’d never been able to before. He could keep things exciting so I’d never grow bored or feel suffocated.

Fuck me.

He really was my mate.

Mate.

The word clanged through me, my power sizzling beneath my skin so much my hair lifted off my shoulders and my skin hummed.

“What do we do right this second?” I asked, shifting on the bed with the need to move.

Benedict kept himself wholly still, as if he knew if he moved he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from claiming me.

The thought alone had me aching, a flood of warmth pooling between my thighs.

Benedict groaned, as if he could sense it. He clenched his eyes shut. “We can hide the mark until we can speak with Alek. One step at a time.”

Right. One step at a time. I could handle that. I was really good at task management. And right now? There was only one thing I wanted to do.

No, scratch that.

Needed to do.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Hide it. Then plan. Got it,” I said and slipped my hands out of his.

I slid out of the bed, the sheet dropping from my skin as I stood before him.

Benedict’s eyes flashed open. “Jocelyn?” he asked as I reached for the hem of his pajama bottoms. I tugged them down, freeing him of the barrier as I dropped to my knees before him. Just like he’d done for me last night.

My breasts were heavy as I gripped his massive length in my hands, marveling at the sight of him. I glanced up at him, my lips hovering just over the head of his cock.

“Can I? Mate?” I asked, my breath warm over his sensitive skin.

His eyes guttered, and I saw the consent in his eyes. I didn’t wait for his answer before wrapping my lips around his hard length.

“Fuck!” He hissed, his hips thrusting off the bed at the feel of my mouth around him. I took him deeper, moaning at the taste of him, all warmth and salt and sheer power. Energy crackled off my skin, my tiny sparks falling on him. But he didn’t flinch or gasp or draw away from the power that naturally radiated from me. No, he relished in it, relished in me as I sucked and stroked his cock, as I showed him with my mouth and body that I knew we were in a fuckton of trouble, but I was not afraid. How could I be? When this vampire, this amazing, strong, delicious vampire had shown me a world I’d never known existed? One with equality and laughter and adventure and spontaneity? One with passion and challenges and endless trust?