Lev laughed. “Hey.” He seemed back to his old charming self rather than the tough too-macho-to-show-emotions soldier. Lev swaggered in and shut the door. He drew her in, his eyes glowing neon blue. “Mine,” he growled and then slammed his mouth onto hers. A deep probing possessive kiss made her want more.
A shiver rippled through Rachel and she moaned in satisfaction. His masculine scent quickened her pulse. Yep, big bad wolf is definitely into me.
Lev released her mouth and caressed her throat with his fangs. She tilted her head to make it easier for him to nibble, bite, drink. Anything. He whispered something in Russian.
“Bite me,” she begged. Rachel had enjoyed the euphoric feeling of his sexy bite, due to whatever chemical had mixed so well with her blood. Wolf aphrodisiac.
Lev brushed his tongue against her pulse. His hot breath caused a tingle throughout her core, awakening her needy nipples and wetting her panties. A meltdown of sexual rather than nuclear proportions. Rachel closed her eyes in anticipation of the initial pain followed by the ecstatic release.
He growled and broke away, breaking the spell with fierce determination. “No. I’m sorry.”
Rachel weaved slightly, opened her eyes and blinked. “Why not? I clearly gave you permission.” She touched her exposed throat. Shit. Did I really ask a werewolf why he refused to bite me? What’s wrong with me?
Lev scrubbed a hand over his face. His eyes no longer glowed in radioactive mode. “I can’t. The temptation to feast on your delectable blood is too much.”
Rachel swallowed. “Oh, you mean, you could—drain me?”
Lev frowned. “No. The wolf would stop before that ever happened.” He sighed. “But I can…become addicted.”
She thought the taste of her blood pleased the wolf palate, like rich chocolate or fine wine. Instead, she was heroin to him. “You mean my blood is like some sort of drug?”
“Something like that.”
“As in you would have withdrawal if you gave up your Rachel Becker habit?”
“Yes. And become more dangerous.”
“You’re already dangerous, aren’t you?”
“More so than the average alpha, because no one knows the extent of my mutations. It is why your father worries about us.” He released a long hard breath. “He has reason to.”
Her stomach tightened. “So the mate thing is off the table?”
“No. Yes. I…I don’t have the right to trap you. You don’t have to accept me.”
Was he giving her an out? Maybe lover wolf thought he could do better than someone who tasted good? He loved her blood not her. Talk about being the ultimate enabler. “I get it. You don’t want to be stuck with a woman you are addicted to. A woman you honestly don’t know anything about.”
“Rachel, that is not what I mean.” He sighed. “I claimed you already.”
“So how does that give me a choice?”
“You are free to marry a human.”
She widened her eyes. Relieved his claim had not been a temporary act of passion yet worried about the whole blood drug thing. “Are you sure it’s too late to ‘un-claim’ me?”
“For me, yes.” He closed his eyes and nodded. “Despite the fact I sort of promised your father I would not, my wolf disobeyed and claimed you anyway.”
“Sort of promised?”
“He asked me not to make you mine. I told him not to worry, which of course he read as an implied promise.”
“When did you make that implied
promise?”
“The day I dropped off his gift and met you. At the time, he never wanted you involved with werewolf society. I owed him a life debt so I agreed. I planned on staying away from you. But my inner wolf found it impossible. The beast refused with a vengeance.”
“And that was before you tasted my delicious blood,” she muttered.