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"You need more," he murmured into my mouth, and I answered, "I’ll take what I need"

When he tried to pull back again, I settledfrorip onpossessively on my hipbones He jerked me closer and pulled up his knees behind my back We were lined up in the most primal way, and I found that in this sense, at least, I liked being trapped

"I need more," he whispered in my ear, and I turned my neck for hie euphoria of hi his fangs I gasped as he latched on, and he h the layers of fabric to reach the most secret part of me Tentatively at first, thenthe pulse of his lips sucking at ether like the waves I’d seen at the ocean and never, ever dared touch They were dangerous, those swells and crests, and I knew that they held the power to destroy ht, and if there was any threat ofapart, it was froht on fast, h counterpoint I wanted so I couldn’t describe My hands found his bare shoulders, broad and an to understand what could inevitably unfold between two people, but at the saain And hungry, so hungry For him

With one last, wild lick, he pulled back fro, his mouth ith my blud

"Do you need more?"

"I’mI needI don’t know" And I didn’t

"Do you want et it, I’ to rip you to shreds"

"No," he barked, and when he stopped ainst me, I hissed and focused on him, our eyes but inches away He chuckled and drew back, holdingme to look away, his smile kind and dimpled but his eyes stern "No, darlin’ No We’re way past that adorable little vicious act of yours If we’re doing this, we’re doing it as equals I’m not your pet anyer than he had been and kept th

"Why does it matter?" I said "Don’t you need it, too?"

"I need you, not it And I’oing to start giving back, and I’ll start with your heart"

For that second, I swear er and desperation faded in the face of his demand Could it be possible that Casperlovedreetings were s were almost unknown, for how could my mother draw hed s you felt for your country, for your favorite hat, for the wolfhound that greeted you without fail at the door But to expect love frohable Almost unheard of I had never considered, in all my life, if my parents loved each other I knew for a fact that they didn’t

And here ere, tangled up and blood-spattered on the floor of a Moravian inn, and this er, wanted my heart He wanted my mouth to say words I had never heard spoken He wantedwith hiers of the Maybuck meet, flesh to flesh The day before my final stand, before I planned to murder a dictator at a holy rite in front of my people, he wanted me to make a commitment that no princess, no Tsarina, could s he had awakened in s, that satisfaction--they weren’t worth lying to hi promises I couldn’t keep Maybe the inti process, part of the powder’s ic Maybe I had to admit to myself that my beast had desires, and blood was apparently not the only one

Or htin my chest In Casper’s eyes, I saw nition, acceptance, and dedication It was all written there for ainst the blue This s for er confused, lost within hi like me, powerful like me And he wanted me, he loved me, as sure as his blood beat in my veins

In that moment, it went from impossible to simple