Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed 3)

Tegan's warm breath ceased. He went utterly still beside her, but she could feel heat rolling off him as she set her top down on the bed.

She crossed her arms over the modest white cotton bra she wore, and turned a questioning look on him.

When Tegan finally spoke, his voice was thick, obstructed by the points of his gleaming white fangs. Your pants too. You can keep the rest on for now.

She stripped out of her jeans as quickly as she could, then sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Move to the middle, and face me sitting on your knees.

As she scooted to the center of the king- sized mattress, Tegan came up onto the bed as well. He prowled forward on his knees, until only a foot of space separated them. The pupils in the heart of his green irises began to thin, narrowing down by degrees into vertical slits. When he parted his lips to speak, his fangs seemed enormous.

Last chance, Elise.

She gave a shake of her head, incapable of talk now. Tegan snarled something nasty under his breath, then brought his wrist up to his mouth. With his eyes on hers, he bared his fangs and sank them into the flesh below his palm.

Dark red blood dripped from the wound, falling softly, steadily, onto the gray sheets.

Come here, he said, holding his arm out to her, his lips stained crimson from his bite.

With her eyes closed, heart stuttering in her breast, Elise leaned forward. She put her hands under his thick forearm and carefully lifted his bleeding punctures to her mouth. There, she hesitated, knowing there would be no turning back. With one taste, she would be bound to this deadly male. Aware of him always, like a living warmth buzzing in her veins, until the time should come that one or the other of them would die.

But she would be stronger too.

Her psychic torment would be lessened, far easier to manage. Her body would rejuvenate, require less work to keep it fit and healthy.

Her promise to Camden wouldn't feel so hollow once she had some of Tegan's power coursing through her veins.

But to use him like this?

She glanced up and found him staring down at her, his lips peeled back and glistening, his breath raking coarsely through his teeth. His dermaglyphs were livid with color now, strikingly beautiful on so much sculpted muscle and golden skin.

Do it, he snarled, that fierce gaze daring her to take him to her mouth...damning her for it.

Elise bent down over his wrist and carefully opened her mouth to receive him. The instant her lips touched his skin, Tegan hissed, arcing sharply. Elise drew gently, using her tongue to lap at the twin openings in his skin. His blood was hot and tingly as it slid down her throat, filling her with a heat that soon became a roar of swelling, compounding power.

It hit her so fast, she moaned from the intensity, feeling instantly overwhelmed. Warmth boiled through her limbs and into her core, pulsing hard, rolling like a tide.

She hadn't been prepared for such a swift, stunning reaction. Inside she was molten, going liquid and boneless...wanton.

When she tried to pull away, Tegan placed his palm on the back of her head. His large fingers spanned her skull, burrowing through her hair. There was no denying his strength, yet the pressure he held her with was light. But it was also unyielding.

Elise glanced up at him, anxious now. Maybe this wasn't a good idea at all. Maybe she'd been wrong.

Tegan's eyes glittered, pupils swamped by fiery amber.

You shouldn't have started if you weren't prepared to finish. His face was starkly serious, unforgiving. Take more. You know you need it.

Her breath sawed out of her at his invitation. God help her, but she did need more. Already she could feel Tegan's blood mixing with her own, pounding in her temples. She licked her lips, savoring the wild, powerful taste of him on her tongue.

Tegan's jaw went visibly rigid.

Christ, he ground out tightly. His fingers were a searing presence across her nape and up along the back of her head. He could have pushed her down so easily, but he only held her there, tender beneath all that coiled Breed power. Take more of me, Elise. Panting now, every nerve ending firing off inside her like a hail of sensory explosions, she lowered her head and latched on to him once more.

Tegan sucked in a sharp breath as Elise fastened her mouth to his wrist and took another long pull from his opened veins. She moaned as she swallowed more and more of him. Her hunger was rising. Greed for more made her pull harder, deeper, even as she quenched herself on him. Her tongue was a moist, hot demand against his skin, but it was the light scrape of her teeth that made Tegan's sex surge even harder than it already was.

He knew he wasn't alone in his arousal. He could feel her body's response; he absorbed her thoughts and emotions through his fingertips, which were buried in the silky layers of her short blond hair, resting against the warmth of her nape. He indulged in a brief few strokes of her soft skin, then drew his hand away when the sensations became too intense.

Jesus, she was on fire with need--both the physical thirst and the carnal one that Breed blood inspired in females bearing the teardrop-and- crescent-moon birthmark.