Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
He reached his piece of meat forward slowly, and the heavy emotions through the bond started to make my heart thump quickly. He brushed the meat against my lips, and I opened my mouth to take it from him. The overall piece was too large to take in one go, though.
“Use your teeth,” he whispered, his eyes rooted to my lips.
Something about the command was incredibly erotic. It was like when he ran his teeth down my throat, raw and primal.
I did what he said, savagely tearing a chunk off and eating it as he leaned in a little closer. His kiss was possessive and hard, and it ignited my entire body.
“That’s why I couldn’t suffer another person feeding you,” he said while I finished the bite and swallowed.
“And what about the other way around? Do I get to feed you?”
His intense gaze hadn’t lifted from mine. “If you like,” he said softly.
So that was a big yes.
I did the same as he’d done, but as I moved, something stalled my hand. My gargoyle, obviously. What else could it be? I could sense what was happening on a primal level but didn’t understand it logically. Regardless, I allowed it to lead me. My hand stopped short and a bit below his lips, hovering in the air, waiting. I knew expectation lit my eyes.
Austin’s eyes sparked in return. A tiny smile flirted with his lips. He understood what was happening, but he didn’t fill me in. Instead, he dipped his head and captured my offering with his teeth. He pulled back, taking my hand with him, until he was standing straight again. Only then did he rip off a chunk and eat it.
Something hot and glorious flowered within me. It seeped into my blood and coursed through my veins. An overwhelming urge to drag him into the trees had me grabbing his shirt with a fist.
“You feel it,” he said, not at all perturbed by my sudden dramatic shift. Liking it, even. “Imagine some other female—”
I put a finger over his mouth. “Let’s just stop you right there before I do something crazy. I catch your drift.”
“When yis are finished staring at each other, can we move on, like?” Niamh asked.
Austin turned and put his arm around me, eating the remainder of the bite left in his hand. I followed suit. The meat was bland, but my hunger had dissolved my ability to care.
“I think I’ll let you rip off the chunks, though,” I told him as our basajaun led us to the right and stopped on the outskirts of the clearing. “I’m not really a fan of ripping off pieces of meat in front of someone and then gnawing on them. I never did get behind the turkey legs at the fair.”
“My pleasure,” Austin replied, and stopped beside a lush bed of clover flanked by ferns.
We dropped down onto it, taking a seat, then freezing when Edgar picked his way past…and sat directly behind us.
“Why are you at my back, Edgar?” Austin asked in a gruff tone.
“I apologize, alpha. But you’ve chosen the only bed of clover, and I really must work on my ability to find four-leaf clovers. It seems I am a little rusty. Broken Susan seems to find them so easily. There really shouldn’t statistically be as many as he is finding, yet he keeps spotting them. I think someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes. Just in case, though, I’m honing my skills, as it were.”
Austin turned to me slowly with a bewildered look. I started laughing as he turned to face front again, and I knew he was debating moving locations and letting Edgar win.
“It’ll be fine,” I whispered, patting his arm. “He won’t bite you. Right, Edgar? You don’t bite friends.”
“Not if I can help it, Miss Jessie. I remember when I bit you out of necessity. My eye still hurts sometimes. That was a mean poke. I assume Alpha Steele would rip out my eye entirely. I’d rather not endure it if I don’t have to.”
“There. See?” I leaned against Austin and smiled up at him. “Totally safe.”
He just shook his head and leaned into me.
We fell into silence for a while, listening to the music and watching the basajaunak. Our crew and pack were spread out around us, some in larger clusters than others. Sebastian sat at the edge of the wood with Niamh. To my surprise, Nessa was near Broken Sue. They were chatting—well, she was chatting—and occasionally, she would reach out and pat him on the shoulder or rub the top of his knee. Her touches were always in safe zones and never drawn out, almost like she was trying to cheer him up more than seduce him.
I made a mental note to check in with him when I could. My gargoyle magic had slunk away again, and I couldn’t assess his mood through our connection.