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“Aiden, never be sorry for who you are. For what you are. And what you are is no monster. You’re beautiful.”

He kissed her palm. “I wish I could heal it for you.”

“What?” Her brows raised, lowering her arm. “Don’t tell me you have the ability to heal,” she said in a flat voice. That would be overkill.

“I do, but only my bites. A Korrena’s saliva holds healing properties. It’s why when I broke your skin before you had no wound. I didn’t use my fangs, but I was rough.” He grimaced. “Sorry about that.”

“Why? I’m not.” Her skin heated. “I liked it. A lot. Is that a Vasirian thing?”

“What?”

“The roughness. The marking and the way you talk.” The more she said, the more she felt like her skin might catch fire.

The corner of his mouth tilted up and his eyes narrowed. “No. It’s not a Vasirian thing, Charlotte. It’s not a Korrena thing either. It’s what you do to me. You drive me mad. I can’t help but want to devour you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. The temptation to tell him to do it buzzed inside her. But that might be too much after everything they experienced tonight. Instead, she redirected the conversation.

“I don’t understand all this. Magic, Korrenas, Vasirian—not vampires… but I won’t run away. I want to learn more.”

“Yeah?”

When she nodded, he reached out and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her forward to seal his mouth over hers, making tingles spread over her skin. She moaned, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth.

Kissing Aiden was addictive.

Leaning in, he lowered her down onto the bed. Her head nestled against his pillow and the smell of him surrounded her from beneath as his body covered her front.

Breaking the kiss, he worked his way over her cheek to her neck, kisses alternating between gentle and firm with a bit of suction.

When he lowered his hips between where her legs bent to cage him in, his erection pressed against her core, making her moan.

“Is this okay?” He kissed across her neck and up to her lips where he hovered over them, waiting for her answer.

She didn’t know if she liked his hesitation. She wanted the uninhibited Aiden. The one who didn’t hold back and succumbed to his wants without overthinking it. Overthinking was something she did; she needed him to be certain. Although she was open to tenderness and savoring the moment, she sensed only caution from him.

Her hands came up to bracket his head from both sides, the stubble from the day’s growth on his face scratched her hands. “I need you to stop worrying about me being afraid of you.”

“But—”

“No. Aiden, I want you.” Her eyes narrowed. “All of you. Stop holding back.”

He lifted his hands to grasp her wrists. “You think I want to hold back? I don’t.” When her brows lifted in surprise at the sudden harsh tone, he kissed her palm, tempering his voice. “When I said I wanted to devour you, I meant it.”

“So devour me, then.”

Aiden moved her arms over her head on the bed, putting her hands together. “Don’t move them.”

Clasping her hands together, she watched as Aiden rose, kneeling between her thighs. He didn’t move, and the longer he stared at her lying beneath him, the heavier her breathing became until she felt like a needy mess. He wasn’t even touching her; at least, not with his hands.

His gaze roamed over her body, clad in nothing but his T-shirt that fell to her mid-thigh and boxers. The heated look in his eyes made the slow drag of his gaze feel like a sensual caress.

When it felt like she would combust if he didn’t touch her, his hands slid beneath the T-shirt and worked it up her body until it bunched above her breasts. Steady hands grazed the sides of her breasts, thumbs moving across the nipples but not lingering.

“Do you know how obsessed I am with these?” he asked, giving her breasts a firm squeeze, making her gasp.

Even though she always hated the size of her breasts, and considered a reduction at one point, the hungry way he touched and looked at them made her second-guess doing anything about their size. The way he handled them, like they were something to cherish, made her rethink her opinion. She didn’t mind his focus on them.

He bent, leaning in to glide the flat of his tongue over her nipple as he pinched the other between his thumb and forefinger. “Do you know how lucky I feel?” he murmured against her skin, before kissing the peaked bud. “To have you here, knowing the truth, and not running away? It feels unreal.”