Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed 3)

Tegan heard her light footsteps pause outside her room door. He waited silently, stealthily, as the crystal knob turned and the panel swung inward. Elise took only a step inside, then she paused, listening. Her blood link to him instantly gave him away; she could feel his presence. He knew it by the softly indrawn breath she took, her eyes searching the dark room.

Tegan?

She flipped the light switch. Walked farther into the room. He stayed still, watching her rub a chill from her arms as she crossed the thick rug and went to the open French doors. She looked out onto the balcony, her movements cautious, uncertain.

Tegan...are you out here?

The sweet scent of her drifted up to him as a chill night breeze swept in from outside. Reichen's scent was on her too--a dark, musky undertone that set Tegan's teeth on edge. Jealousy spiked in him, raw and feral.

Instinctively male.

As she drew back to close the doors, Tegan came down from the corner of the room where he'd been suspended spiderlike. He dropped soundlessly behind her, his body blocking her as she pivoted around and gasped.

Startled, her eyes went wide. Tegan! Where were y--

He pulled her to him in a hard, unyielding embrace and slanted his mouth over hers. His kiss was forceful, deliberate. An animal male putting his stamp on what he meant to be his, and his alone.

Elise didn't fight him. He felt her hands come up around his neck, her fingers linking together at his nape and holding him close. She kissed him back, sighing into his mouth as he pushed her lips apart and plunged his tongue between them, needing to taste her.

Needing to claim her.

Christ, she inflamed him. Every cell in his body was lit with heat, with hunger for her. He couldn't be gentle, not when everything primal in him was fully awake, fully aroused. All that was Breed in him responded as well, lust thinning his pupils and stretching his fangs. He ground his pelvis against the tender curves of Elise's body, letting her feel the hard ridge of his cock. She moaned as they pressed together, her heartbeat banging like a little drum in his ears.

Oh, God, Tegan, she said, her voice a breathless rush of warm air when he finally withdrew from the lush sweetness of her mouth. I'm so glad you're here. I was worried about you tonight. He grunted, low in his throat. Yeah, I noticed. I saw how concerned you were, down there in Reichen's arms.

You saw us...

He smirked, baring his fangs. I can still taste him on your lips.

Then you must also taste the fact that he isn't the one I want, she said, not flinching at all as he let his mouth travel along her soft cheek, down to the tender skin below her ear. It's you, Tegan. I want to be with you. In case you hadn't noticed, I've fallen in love with you.

He snarled, pulling back to hold her in a narrowed glare. They were the words he wanted to hear--the words he'd been prepared to force out of her after seeing her caught up in another man's arms. Still, it leveled him. His mouth went suddenly dry.

She was so beautiful, so courageously open.

All his aggression leaked out of him as he gazed into the deep amethyst pools of her eyes. He ran his fingers along the delicate line of her jaw, hardly able to draw breath as she tilted her head to the side for him, exposing the vulnerable column of her throat. He couldn't resist touching the place where her pulse beat the strongest. The ticking flutter beneath his fingertips was like a brand searing into his skin. He let his thumb trace over the soft skin, then gently bent to place his mouth atop the tender, beating artery that carried Elise's lifeblood.

Saliva surged into his mouth, swamping him with the need to taste her now and seal their bond completely.

But Tegan only kissed her.

With reverent hands, he lifted the hem of her sweater and carefully peeled it off her. Tenderly, he caressed her soft skin. She sighed as he stroked her breasts, the nipples peaking like dusky rosebuds beneath the thin satin of her bra. He unfastened the front clasp and bared her to his appreciative gaze.

So beautiful, he said thickly, letting his fingers skate along the soft underside of the creamy swells.

He knelt down before her and took one dark pink nipple into his mouth. His fangs were huge now, and it took great care not to graze the sharp edge of them against her tender skin as he suckled the pebbled flesh with his tongue. But he was careful. He held her as though she were made of glass, every inch of her precious and breakable. A treasure he was unworthy of, yet determined to cherish.

Elise's arms came down around his shoulders. She held fast, arching into him as he lavished the same attention on the other breast. He let his mouth travel down her belly while his hands worked to free her of her slacks and panties. The skin of her hips was like velvet against his palm. He kissed the lean curve of her pelvis, then trailed lower, into the trim thatch of blond curls between her thighs.

He spread her legs and put his mouth to her sex, cleaving his tongue into the wet heat of her core. She quivered as he feasted on her, her body feeling limp and boneless in his arms as he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She lay back and watched him under heavy lids as he undressed for her, the hunger in her gaze like a physical heat on his skin.

Naked and painfully aroused, Tegan stood at the edge of the mattress and let her take her fill of him with her eyes. He held his breath as she sat up then came toward him on her hands and knees. Her hands were curious and questing, soft but firm, as she took his engorged shaft and stroked it from tip to balls and back again. She licked her lips, eyes flicking up to his in question.

His low exhalation must have been permission enough. Tegan watched her descend on him, those moist lips parting as she took the head of his cock into her mouth. He moaned, reaching down to bury his fingers in her short blond hair as she sucked him deep, torturing him with the slow, steady slide of her tongue against his sensitive flesh.

She increased her rhythm and he spun quickly toward the edge of his control. With a pleasured snarl, he pulled away from her devastatingly sweet mouth and pushed her down onto the mattress. He climbed over her and kissed her deeply, feeling the ferocity of her desire in every place their bodies touched.

Do you want me inside you, Elise?