But when he put her on her feet, she planted her hands on his chest. “Thorne, there’s something I need to say to you before we go any farther?”

“What?”

“Well, I’m so very sorry about José.”

He put his fingers on her lips. She was sure he meant to be gracious, but she really needed him to understand. She started to protest, but he said, “I morphed.”

She blinked. “What?”

He shrugged. “Remember earlier at Medichi’s when the warriors talked about how I morphed into Greaves at the very end?” He let the words hang.

“Yeah, I thought it was amazing. But…” She broke off. She blinked. She put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“You were José, that big beefy Mexican?”

“Yep.”

“What the hell?” She shook him off and planted her hands on her hips. She scowled. “What do you mean, you were José?”

He shrugged. “It’s a newly emerged power. Uh, it emerged, I think, because otherwise I would have killed that bastard.”

She screwed up her face. “You were José…?”

“I was.”

“Now you’re freaking me out. But when … oh, yeah. You had him in the bed of his truck, didn’t you? That’s why you jumped down from there, but it was you.”

He nodded.

“Shiiiiit.” She drawled the word. She was so conflicted on so many levels. Here it was how many days later and he hadn’t confessed this really important truth to her, that he’d deceived her and let her wallow in all her terrible guilt feelings because she’d thought she’d cheated on him.

But another thought soared to the front of her mind, a really wicked one. “So you can morph. Huh. So, when I was with José, I was really with you?”

“Yep. Aren’t you mad? I thought you’d be clawing my face off about now.”

She could hardly confess the direction of her thoughts and she could feel her cheeks warm up. She couldn’t exactly look Thorne in the eye.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “What are you thinking?”

She finally looked up at him, drawing her lips in. She just stared at him, willing him to figure it out.

His hazel eyes widened. “Oh, my God. You’re liking the idea.”

She put her fingers on his arm, playing with his muscles. “I … I think it has possibilities.”

“I’m smelling roses. You’re outrageous, you know. God, I love you.”

She thought there was only one way out of this, so she folded off her clothes. He laughed.

He carried her to the side of the bed and mentally pulled the comforter back then laid her on her back.

“Take your clothes off,” she said, stretching an arm above her head, letting it rest on the pillows. “Let me look at you.”

He got that look on his face, that Thorne look that was just a little bit arrogant because the man had confidence. He knew he was built, stem-to-stern, and he also knew just how much his body pleased her.

As he folded off his clothes, she leaned up on her elbows. His long warrior hair flowed over his muscled shoulders and arms. Some of the strands hung over his thick pecs.

She shifted position and knee-walked to the edge of the bed. His gaze slid over her breasts and straight down to her bare mons. His jaw trembled as he sucked in a long stream of air. She pushed his hair back and put her hands on his chest. The man was stacked. As she ran her hands down his arms, she leaned forward, took his nipple in her mouth, and suckled.

He pushed his chest toward her and moaned.

Her hands ran to his fingers and she held on as she suckled. His body rolled beneath her mouth.

Thorne, I love tasting you … everywhere.

You do me in. One touch, one lick, one good suck, and I’m ready for you.

As she continued to suckle, she released his hand and slid her palm over his hip, his thigh, back up in an arc over his lower abdomen, then down until she felt the hard base of his cock and the curls that framed him. He was right. He was ready for her.

She drew her hand up his thick stalk and caressed the tip with her thumb.

Roses, he murmured.

His scent, so very male and infused with just a hint of that sweet cherry tobacco bouquet, had the same usual effect. She wept for him.

His hand found her chin and he lifted her up so that she popped off his nipple. When she met his gaze, he said, “I need you sucking something else.”

She shuddered, a sensation that tightened her internal muscles. Oh, yeah, she sent. She never needed much encouragement.

He pushed her head down in the right direction, but she had a different idea and dematerialized behind him. She gave him a good hard shove so that he lost his balance.

But being a quick vampire, he flipped onto his back at the last moment, falling down on the bed and laughing with a chuckle. She caught his hands and pulled him to a sitting position.

She folded the comforter beneath her knees and spread his legs so that all that size and beauty was displayed just the way she liked it. She ran her hands up the insides of his thighs.

Play with my mouth while I do this, she sent.

He groaned and, using one finger, he rimmed her lips. She didn’t know the why of it, but it made her tingle just about everywhere. He must have liked it as well, because a roll of cherry tobacco almost pushed her backward.

She suckled his finger as she kept moving forward, her hands massaging his thighs until she reached his sack. She moved higher, leaning forward, and as her tongue touched down on all that hardness, Thorne kept his finger-massaging her tongue and alternately rubbing himself.

She followed where he rubbed, nipping at him, licking, and sucking until his finger reached his tip. She got so hungry she took him inside, sucking him and savoring the wet sounds. All the while, his hand moved over her cheeks, her lips, and sometimes she brought his finger in her mouth while her tongue played over his cock.

His hips rocked into her and he moaned heavily. But after his breath caught on a solid hitch, he pushed her shoulders away from him and did some deep breathing.

“God, I don’t want to come, not yet, but you feel like heaven to me.”

She leaned back and withdrew her hands. He was so close.

“Thorne.”

He opened his eyes, his lips parted, his chest still dragging in air. “Yeah.” But he smiled.

“I love doing this with you. I love it so much. Damn, I was such a fool.”

He leaned forward and caught her beneath her arms. He dragged her to recline on top of him. “Hold on. Let me get us more comfortable.” In a quick motion he glided them both up the bed so that he could lie flat.

She straddled one of his thighs, careful not to touch him when he was so aroused. She put her hand on his face and kissed him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. God, I love you so much. I can’t believe I was such an idiot not to have seen this sooner.”

“I know.” She kissed him again, then stayed connected with his lips until they were fully engaged, mouth-to-mouth, his tongue sweeping inside her mouth the way she loved.

I’m really hungry, he sent. Downright starving.

Then you should eat, she responded.

He left her mouth and moved with such speed that before she could blink, he had taken her very bare mons in his mouth and sucked, his hand pushing on her ass.

“You’re gonna make me come like this.” She was breathing hard.

Exactly what I want you to do. Your blood tastes better when you’ve come a few times.

She shivered at the thought of sharing blood. To complete the breh-hedden, they’d both be taking blood at the same time.

He opened his mouth wider and took as much of her in his mouth as he could. With him using alternating sucks and licks, along with the pressure of her ass, the orgasm was suddenly there, traveling like a streak of lightning along her clitoris, up into her well, catching her hard. She opened her mouth and groaned, as he worked the orgasm, sucking on her faster until her hips settled down.

Heaven, she sent.

He licked her lightly then shifted to raise up on his elbow so that he could look up at her. “I love how you taste,” he said. “I always did but now there’s this flavor of roses and it gets me every time.”

She reached down and thumbed his lips, then dipped inside his mouth. He suckled.

You’re frowning, he sent. What’s going on?

This is a virgin experience for us, isn’t it? The first time we’ll complete the breh-hedden.

Yes, he responded, but he kept tonguing her thumb.

Do you know what I’d like you to do?

At that, he released her thumb and looked at her, suddenly intense. “What?”

She smiled and leaned up as well. “Come up here.”

He moved to stretch out beside her again, facing her and cupping the back of her neck. “What? I’ll do anything. You know that.”

“I do know that.” She loved that about him. He was so present with her and so willing.

“I want you to go deep inside my obsiddy power again.”

He closed his eyes and trembled, head-to-foot. When he opened his eyes, he smiled. “Is it possible we won’t survive this experience?”

She leaned into him, sliding close and pressing as much of her up against him as she could. “That would be one helluva way to go. I say we give it a shot. You do my obsiddy power then I’ll do yours.”

Again, he trembled, his shoulders jerking.

She kissed him hard. Fuck me, Thorne. Fuck me hard and fast like you’ll never get another chance.

And before she knew what he meant to do, he pushed inside her mind and was suddenly diving down the long tunnel of her obsidian flame power. Pleasure flowed so that she hardly noticed when he pushed her onto her back and pierced her low.

He was rocking into her when he reached the core of her power. Once there, he did something amazing as he flew all around the edges of it, grazing the sensitive sides until she was moaning against his mouth and then his wrist was just there so that she grabbed his arm and held him in position. She licked in quick swipes to draw the veins forward then struck.