Darkest Temptation (The Dark Ones Saga 4)

When I lowered my arms…

Mason was gone.

MASON

I pulled at my hair over and over again as I walked around outside the house in mindless circles. The craving had lessened in her arms. Licking her had been…

My everything.

And just like that, when the hunger for her had died down enough for me to think, a small voice whispered, “Take.”

I put up a mental block against that voice.

And lost my shit all over the place when it pushed back; the hunger burned, my temper snapping.

And I broke a freaking door.

I lived by my control.

I fed the regulator like a well-tended pet with a schedule. I’d always been in charge of my urges, sexual and otherwise.

I kicked a boulder, sending it sailing into a tree, cracking the poor oak in half as it fell against the road.

Well, shit.

I stomped over and shoved the tree out of the way as if it was a feather. I was getting physically stronger, sharper, hearing things I had no business hearing.

Like the music of her blood.

Her heart calling to me.

I fell to my knees.

The desire to bite her was just as powerful as the desire to mate with her, to take her from behind. My hands shook as I dug my claws into the earth and braced my body in a hunting position.

The more blood I was exposed to the worst it got.

And I could feel her blood mating with mine, swirling around in a dance so ancient that even I didn’t know all of the movements. But my blood did — hers did. It recognized its mate and was rejoicing while simultaneously pumping to all the wrong areas in preparation for the final joining.

I scowled as my heart thumped in my chest.

If I never completed the mating, it wouldn’t matter. She was immortal; she would survive it.

I, however, wasn’t sure I would.

And that is the problem, isn’t it?

What if she was weak like my last mate?

What if she hated me? What if I killed her?

So many what-ifs and so many scenarios I didn’t understand how to fix or control.

I would not risk her.

I would not.

“You sure pout a lot for a male.” Cassius suddenly appeared next to me.