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I needed a method of restraining her and exchanging blood that did not end with my cock buried inside her.

My body wanted exactly that.

The tether wrapped around me like a living thing, tightening every time she moved, every time she breathed, every time her scent thickened the air. Not unlike my shadows did as they called out to her without words.

Restraint no longer felt like honed discipline.

It felt like slow suffocation.

Sitting at her side, I partially shifted my left hand to cut into my right forearm. Blood poured from the wound, dripping onto my pants.

Her breath caught in her throat.

“I won’t cut you. A bite will be less painful for you. This is only to open myself to you since you cannot summon fangs.”

While we knew she wasn’t a pure-blooded Shyrlivi, we didn’t know the extent of her ability to shift into her alternate form—if she had one at all. She hadn’t fully transformed in Cholian.

“I’m going to bite you in the same place as before while you drink from my arm.” I touched the fleshy area above her collarbone on her left side, making her shiver. “And if you will allow it, I will use my free hand to bring you physical relief while you heal, since we both know my bite can trigger heightened arousal.”

More than heightened sensation, what she truly needed was a reprieve.

Pressing my arm over her stomach while I touched her wouldn’t offer much restraint, but if I gave her more, as I suspected she desired, we’d lose ourselves.

“I already said yes,” she whispered, cheeks flushing deeper.

“Very well.”

I bent toward her, and she rolled her head to the side to allow me access. The moment I sank my fangs into her skin, I buried two fingers inside her wet heat. She arched. A mewl like I’d never heard before reached my ears.

Her inner walls pulsed around my fingers as I began thrusting them shallowly, pleased that by biting her and giving her what she needed, I’d brought her the relief her body had denied itself.

Though it was strange to experience euphoria at pleasing my unbonded mate for the first time, I understood the significance. Meeting a Nyrith’s needs fulfilled deep, instinctual urges in Shyrlivi.

I lifted my arm, holding it in front of her mouth now that she’d stopped coming. “Drink, Raelynn.”

Her lips pressed against my skin. The way she lapped at the wound sent shivers through me.

As her sucking intensified, I resumed feeding.

Her hips writhed against my touch, and a sharp gasp escaped her as my thumb grazed her sensitive clitoris. To avoid hurting her, I slid the pad of my thumb over her folds, parting them and relishing the way her body shuddered in response.

Soon, the starmin flavor dissolved, leaving the rich, potent essence of her lifeblood in my mouth.

I lifted my head, pulling my arm away from her mouth.

With bloodied lips and ragged breaths, she lifted her gaze to meet mine.

Even as the moment passed, my fingers remained inside. Why hadn’t I removed them? She was free of the starmin’s effects, yet her scent continued to call to me.

“Ezra,” she whispered.

I remained silent.

Speaking right now was dangerous.

I needed to leave.

My shadows lashed beneath my skin hard enough to force me forward until I braced a hand on the bed. They wouldn’t let me leave.