My heart flitted weakly, my lungs empty of air.

“I thought,” I mumbled breathlessly, “you didn’t like the taste of humans.”

He slid my fingertips from his mouth. “Your blood, vayanin. I do not like your blood. Your skin …”

He pressed his mouth to my wrist and his tongue flicked across the slight bumps of tendons and veins. His fingers slid up my inner arm, over the soft skin he’d once marveled at and the scars from the day we’d joined in a contract of mutual survival.

Lightly gripping my elbow, he tugged me toward him. Gentle. An invitation instead of a demand.

I shuffled sideways, moving a little closer. Just a little.

His hand slid up to the sleeve of my t-shirt. Thumb brushing the fabric, he paused, then ran his fingers over my shoulder to the side of my neck. As he’d once carefully explored the fine details of my human hand, now his touch ran over my neck—tracing my collarbones, my throat, the soft underside of my chin.

“You are blushing,” he murmured. “What are you thinking?”

Heat burned in my cheeks, but there was heat in my core too. I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m thinking …” The truth. I couldn’t lie. Didn’t want to. “I like it when you touch me.”

“Hnn.”

His warm hands curled over the sides of my neck, his thumbs at the edges of my jaw—then his breath teased the base of my throat. I balked in surprise, the sofa against my back.

A brush of his lips in the spot between my collarbones.

I trembled, my heels digging into the floor, but I didn’t move. Didn’t panic. Didn’t shove him away. Didn’t open my eyes.

His hot mouth drifted across my skin, tracing my throat upward. The sudden touch of his sharp teeth sent tingles rushing down my spine, and I forgot to breathe.

“Do you like this?” His voice vibrated against my skin, his mouth pressed to my racing pulse.

“I … I …” An exhalation shuddered through me. I cracked my eyes open, but I saw only the ceiling, my head tipped too far back. “Yes, I like it.”

His tongue slicked across my pulse, and I quaked.

His lips moved. Sucking, nipping. Another brush of his sharp teeth across my skin, and my head fell back even farther. He pushed his nose into the soft spot under my jaw, inhaling, then his mouth took its place. Teasing touches of teeth traced my jaw to my chin. My breath quivered in my lungs.

“What are you thinking, vayanin?”

“I … I want …”

Couldn’t say it. Self-conscious shyness fell over me, silencing my voice. My blush reignited and I couldn’t stop myself from pressing back into the sofa, retreating from him.

He leaned over me, head canted as he studied my reddening face. “Do you remember, vayanin, that you promised to tell me a secret thought?”

In the Arcana Atrium. He’d told me what “protect” meant to him, and I’d promised to share something in return.

I swallowed hard. “I … I remember.”

His face dipped down, his mouth finding my ear and his husky voice shivering through me. “Tell me what you want … your secret want that you have hidden so long.”

I stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. Heart pounding. Belly flipping. I gripped the sofa cushions, clinging on for dear life.

“I want …” My head spun, too many thoughts at once, uncertainty and yearning and fear and desire. “I want you to …”

“Hnn,” he murmured.

My breath hitched, my eyes going even wider. His nose slid along my cheek, and my fingernails scraped across the cushion fabric. I reminded myself to breathe but my lungs ignored me.

The soft heat of his mouth brushed across the corner of mine.

I arched back against the sofa, my head thumping against the cushions. The motion was reflexive, driven by the part of me that kept running away from him.

His hands found my sides, then slid up my back until he was cradling the back of my head. Bracing me. Holding me steady. My hands unclamped from the sofa and latched onto his upper arms instead.

My fingers dug into hard muscle, strength and power, and my pulse leaped.

His lips found the corner of my mouth again. Air rushed through my nose. His hot tongue touched the spot, tasting the sweet residue of strawberry, then his mouth moved sideways, grazing my lower lip. I sucked in a breath and held it.

Another skim of his lips against mine—another test. My heart fluttered. My head spun. I stopped pushing back into his hands. Our noses touched, hesitation flitting between us.

His lips brushed across mine, careful and gentle—then his mouth covered mine.

Hot, soft, fierce. His lips moved hungrily, exploring, finding the shape of my mouth. His tongue traced my upper lip, then he pulled my lower lip between his. The press of his pointed canines surprised me and I gasped. My innards were molten, my breathing too fast.

A rumble vibrated his chest. He nipped my lower lip again, harder, the faint sting sending a fresh tide of heat rushing through me. My lips parted on another gasp, and when our mouths met, his tongue found mine. I tasted him for the first time.

Sweet and smoky. A hint of tartness.

As my hands slid over his arms to his shoulders, the last of my anxiety spiraled away. I melted into his arms, head tilted back, lips parted. My self-conscious fears had fled, and my core was liquid heat that danced with each press and pull of his mouth against mine.

In the place where fear had lived in my mind, suddenly there was dark fire.

A crimson presence with a core of sleek darkness. Ferocity and cunning and scorching passion. My eyes flew open, then slammed shut again as I wrapped my arms around his neck, my hands fisting in his hair.

Flashes of his essence collided with mine—thoughts, emotions, reactions, all tinged with the savagery that was his deepest essence. My mind was spinning just as much, a thousand thoughts careening in my brain at the same time I couldn’t think at all.

A thought flickered from him to me—an awareness of our surroundings that I’d lost. A presence. An approach.

I jerked back with a gasp. “Amalia is coming?”

He looked toward the door. Footsteps. He could hear them even over my breathless panting. The door clattered—Amalia inserting her key.

Panic hit me, dousing the fire in my blood. Zylas still had me pinned against the sofa, his arms tight around me and one hand tangled in my hair. I might have faced some fears, but I wasn’t ready to face my cousin.