Page 21 of Live Love Lasso

“That hurt,” she whines softly.

I move my fingers from her skin and lift my forearm to show her the mustang tattoos on my skin. “I’m able to sense how animals feel. The tattoos extend that power.” Almost as if I willed it, the silver tattoos seem to shimmy and shine, iridescence pulsing along the thin lines.

“How unusual.” Lemon’s eyes are wide, her mouth dropped slightly open. “I’ve never known a dark elf to have animal tattoos.”

I laugh. “Or useless, if you’re my father, and you wanted your eldest son to go into the family security business.”

Her cheeks go pink. “That’s definitely a more common dark elf job.”

“It is.” I grab a bandage and apply it over the cuts on her knee. She hisses but allows me to do it. “My father is gravely disappointed in my life choices, but the reality is, living out here, doing what I’m meant to do, that’s never felt wrong to me. I’ve never been happier than I am now, doing what I love, protecting the animals. Although this week has been hard, for obvious reasons.”

Dark lashes flutter against high, elegant cheeks. “I understand what it’s like when a parent doesn’t approve.” She mutters something, but I can’t entirely make it out.

I plant a hand on either side of her thighs, staring at her. She’s so godsdamned pretty, it almost hurts to look at her.

“Your family don’t approve of you being here?”

She grumbles again. “Au contraire. My father sent me here to learn from Letitia, but it’s a punishment for a fuckup that wasn’t entirely my fault.” There’s so much bitterness in her tone, I feel it right in my bones.

“I don’t get on with my father, either,” I offer. “Pine Gulch is a good spot for second chances, Lemon.” I reach up and tuck a stray blonde strand behind her ear. Her hair’s soft as silk, and I ache to wrap my fist through it.

She gives me a suspicious look. “Is that what you’re doing out here, Furyon? Are you not investigating me?”

“Oh, I am.” I gotta keep that clear, mostly for myself. It ain’t a good sign that I found her at the literal scene of another crime. But every intuition I have tells me she’s not at fault.

I lean forward and bring my nose just beneath her ear, flaring my nostrils as I scent her. I get exactly what I expected as various smells burst over my senses. The horses. The river. The blood of her scraped knee. Plus her natural sunshiny smell. Then, of course, there’s the depthless richness of the blood coursing beneath her skin and pounding through the vein that throbs along the side of her neck.

“This is incredibly concerning,” she says softly, white lids flashing over her eyes again as she bares both fangs. She’s tense on the counter, ready to flee. But I don’t stop my careful perusal.

“Is it?” I press her thighs wide and slot myself between them. I’m working on pure instinct here as I slide a hand to the back of her neck and grip it tight. “You kindly reminded me that you need investigating, and as a dark elf, I got better senses than most. I’m just investigatin’ you…”

Lemon remains tense, crimson eyes dropping to my mouth when I lean in again.

She lets out a pretty little moan and drops her head to one side, baring her throat to me. Oh, fuck. Who am I kidding?

I’m on her in a second, opening my mouth to press my lips and tongue against her throat. She jolts, but she’s caught against my body. The feel of her skin beneath my mouth has me letting out a growl that’s somewhere between possession and warning.

Her thighs snap shut around my torso, and she grinds against me. Her head falls back into my palm as I brush my fangs over her skin, leaving red welts in my wake. It pleases me to see the raised stripes as her breath falls off into rapid-fire pants. She’s all pent-up emotion and sensual, seductive need.

Pulling back, I stare at her bobbing throat as she lifts her gaze to mine.

“Let’s be clear. I am investigating you, Miss Knox. But I also can’t keep my hands off you,” I growl into her ear. “You’re tense, baby girl, and you need to ease some of that.”

She looks up, her lips touching mine. Her breath’s sweet, and I nip at her lower lip. It’s fat and juicy, and it needs my teeth. Every inch of her needs my godsdamned teeth.

She lifts her chin, defiant again. “You’re the literal reason for the tension, Furyon. Maybe this is all just some elaborate ruse on your part. Perhaps you wanna toss me in jail for a crime I didn’t commit just so you can bend me over some⁠—”

Insolence. I slant my mouth over hers to silence her, sucking at her tongue as she cries out in surprise. For a moment, there’s nothing but the clash of our fangs, then I’m lost to heat. Every muscle locks up tight as I devour her, slicking my mouth over hers again and again.

One second I’m sucking on the tip of her tongue, then she’s fucking biting mine. We crash together as I hold her tight to me, fingers twisting her long hair around until I can use it for leverage to angle her to one side and eat her alive.

Sound, space, time, everything fucking muffles because the only thing left is the woman giving as good as I am. Lemon slides her hands up beneath the hem of my shirt, fingers trailing my abs. By the time she reaches my chest, I’m losing my fucking mind. I pull back just enough to rip my shirt open, watching as she feels her way along every inch of my pecs.

She stares up at me, that gorgeous second eyelid white over her crimson irises. It stokes that deeply instinctual part of my nature that wants—no, needs—to hunt and be hunted. Without thinking, I press closer and let my head fall to the side, exposing my throat to her. I don’t even realize I’ve done it until her teeth are there, stroking along an old scar and drawing goosebumps to the surface of my skin.

“Fuck,” I groan as I step back just a little. I lost it there for a second. She could have bitten me, and I’m not ready to go there.

Lemon reaches up and strokes pinprick scars beneath my ear. “You were a blood giver? Is that what these scars are?” Her tone is careful.