Page 165 of May: Bloom & Bane

Her fingers tighten on our shoulders.

“I know,” she whispers. “I can feel you too, Ash.”

I press our face forward, resting it against her stomach. The scent of sugared blackberries and sun-warmed earth fills our lungs until my fangs ache.

Easy, Sage breathes. She’s right here. We have all the time in the world now.

That may be true, but I was the half stuck in darkness, and now nothing is holding me back. It’s just her, warm and ripe, life pouring into the coldest part of me like she’s trying to thaw the whole underworld with her bare hands.

I hook one claw beneath the hem of her shirt and drag it upward until the soft plane of her stomach is bared to me. The skin here is warm, glowing faintly gold in the low light. I tease my mouth across her belly, and she shivers beneath my lips.

“Ash.” Her fingers slide into our hair. “Your fangs⁠—”

“I know,” I rasp. “I won’t. I would never. But vresh, ash’kaela, you smell like the only thing that’s ever made me want to be alive.”

“I want them, though.”

My fangs throb like a second heartbeat, and for one blinding moment the whole world narrows to the two inches of air between my mouth and her pulse.

Ashán, Sage warns. She wants you right now. But remember what she asked for when you took her into the void. She wants you to mark her the first time you’ve fully shifted.

I know what she asked for, I snap.

Her pulse is right there. It would be so easy. Just one bite. Sinking my fangs into all that warm, blooming life and finally making her mine in a way no one could ever question.

“Ash.” Eden tips her head back, baring her throat to me. “I can feel that you want to. Don’t stop because you think you’ll hurt me.”

“It’s not that.” The tendril at her wrist slides up to caress her forearm. “You have no idea how badly I want to.” Our face slides from her belly to her neck. “You asked me to wait. In the void. You said you wanted my true form to be the one that marks you. Remember?”

Her breath stutters. “That was before your shadow could touch me on its own.”

Sage must feel my restraint teetering because he forces our eyes closed.

Open our eyes, I growl at him. Let me look at her.

No.

“My shadow isn’t the same, mí’maru.” My voice cracks against her collarbone. “A piece of me reaching for you isn’t all of me claiming you. It’s a—a finger through the bars of a cage. Not the door opening.” The tendril tightens mournfully around her arm. “When I mark you, I won’t be reaching out of him. I’ll be standing in front of you. Whole. My fangs. My venya in your blood. My eyes watching yours when I take you for the first time as only myself.” A shudder rolls through us. “I will not give you a fraction of myself and call it a gift.”

“Ashán—”

“Please.” The word trembles on the way out. “Do not ask me to break this. Not when I’ve come so far. Not when I can already feel myself becoming the male you deserve.”

Bloodlust howls inside of me, venom pooling so full my gums threaten to split.

The tendril at her wrist surges, and a second peels from our spine, then a third—winding up her arms, across her ribs, cradling her like a dozen cool hands, and through every one of them I feel her, pouring into the void until I think it might finally be full.

Slowly, Sage allows our eyes to open, but he holds the reins just enough to pull our face away from the temptation of her neck.

A desperate whine escapes our throat as I stare at her, our dual gaze locking onto her flushed face. My hands slide down to her thighs, fisting into her t-shirt just to keep from reaching her pulse point.

“Not like this, ash’kaela,” I whisper. “Not when I’m hidden in Sage’s flesh.”

“Okay,” she agrees. “But…”

Her glassy eyes drop to our mouth, delicate fingers sliding to cup our jaw, her thumbs pressing right against the corner of our lips.

“If you won’t bite me tonight…” The scent of sugared berries is so thick it chokes us. “Let me take it from you. Let me drink your venom.”