Jane’s nose scrunched. “That is so—”
Paris leaned in close to Jane and inhaled.
“Do you want to kill her?” Aidan asked, then held his breath. Just because his beast was in control around Jane, it didn’t mean that other werewolves would react the same way. In the cemetery, Quint Laurel had certainly been desperate to get at her…but the young alpha had already been in a killing fury. Had he attacked because Jane was in his way? Because he recognized her and wanted her dead? Or had it been something else entirely?
If her vamp scent was going to send his wolves into attack mode, then Aidan would have to leave the city with Jane. There would be no other choice.
“I don’t want to kill her.” Paris seemed surprised. “Didn’t want to kill her at the cemetery, either. She…kind of smells like apples.”
“And lavender,” Garrison blurted.
Aidan’s gaze shot to the younger wolf.
“That’s…how Jane has always smelled,” Garrison’s cheeks flushed. “Apples and lavender. She’s still the same.”
No, she wasn’t. She’d changed, and there was no going back. Just as my mother changed. But this time, things were different. Aidan was using science and magic and even his own blood to ensure that he didn’t lose Jane to the darkness. He wasn’t his father. She wasn’t his mother.
Their ending didn’t have to be the same.
“Everyone…get the fuck out,” Aidan ordered.
People got the fuck out—fast. And they sealed the door shut behind them. Aidan stayed at the side of that exam table, unable to take his eyes off Jane. He’d had the exam room put in because he’d needed a place to patch up injured wolves. He’d never realized Jane would be in that little room.
“Am I really…some half wolf, half vampire thing?”
He put his hands on either side of her head and leaned closer to her. “You are Mary Jane Hart. The woman I love. Always. The most beautiful person I have ever seen.”
Some of the pain vanished from her eyes.
“I want you to drink from me, Mary Jane.”
He could see the tips of her fangs peeking out behind her lips. Earlier, Vincent had warned him that when Jane woke up, she’d be hungry. He’d said that her hunger would be the strongest during the first few weeks as her body fully adjusted to her new state.
But Vincent doesn’t know anything about werewolf blood.
“Don’t let me hurt you,” Jane said, voice trembling.
“That’s why we have the straps, remember?” He gave her a smile. Then Aidan lifted his right wrist and put it at Jane’s mouth. Her eyes were on him. She licked his inner wrist, just over his pulse point, then she bit him.
There wasn’t pain from her bite. A hot lancing seemed to pierce his skin and then pleasure flooded Aidan’s veins. Thick and wild and consuming, the pleasure had his body stiffening, his cock hardening, his heartbeat racing—
Jane pushed his hand away. “I hurt you.”
Hurt sure wasn’t the word.
“Aidan, I’m so sorry.”
He grabbed the bar across her chest and yanked it away. The heavy steel broke with a hard groan. Then he tore away the bar that covered her hips. “I want more.”
“You…what?”
He pulled her up. Stared into her eyes. “I like your bite, Mary Jane.”
“That’s…that’s not possible.”
He was pretty sure that anything was possible, with her.
She swung her legs around to dangle off the table, and he stepped between her spread thighs. He curled his hands around her hips, bringing her closer to him, and then he offered her his neck. It was a move that an alpha werewolf was never supposed to make to another. It was submissive. It was…
Me, offering myself to her.
Her mouth pressed to his throat. She licked him again and then she bit him.
The pleasure was even more intense this time. Firing his blood, making him shudder and quake. His cock jerked toward her, wanting inside her body, and he wasn’t about to stop. Perhaps, after everything that had happened between them, he should have used finesse. Charm.
But, no, because of everything, the moment was too elemental. The desire too fierce. He needed to take her, to claim her, to know that Jane—his Jane—was still with him. Always.
Forever.
His claws shredded the pajama pants he’d put on her so carefully. He ripped away her panties. And he shoved down his jeans so his cock could be free.
She kept drinking from him.
He kept needing her.
He positioned his cock at the entrance to her body. She was wet, eager for him. He tightened his hold on Jane, and then Aidan thrust deep.
She pulled her mouth away from his throat, gasping.
“More, Jane,” Aidan said. He didn’t know if he was talking about her bite or the pleasure they were giving each other. He just knew it couldn’t end. They couldn’t end.
This wasn’t the end.