Page 45 of Harbinger

“Let me see,” he said, easing my scarf down even as he spoke the words.

I batted his hand away and loosened it so he could see exactly what he’d done, while I covered the marks from view so no one else could see. I guess I was still hoping that it didn’t get back to Kai.

“Wow,” he breathed when he saw his dragon hickeys all over the side of my neck, the red-raw angry flesh there, as well as some deep bites from his teeth, not just sucking on my skin. “I didn’t honestly realize I’d gone that far. I was caught up in the moment. I must’ve wanted to make a mark on you.”

“I’d say.”

“I mean, something akin to a claiming mark. It was a purely animalistic impulse.”

“So Kai would see and it would cause a whole drama.”

“No. In fact, I’ll prove it to you. Right after class, come to my dorm room and I’ll take them away.”

“You can do that?”

“I can. I mean, they’ll heal in a couple of days, but if you want them gone right away, I can make that happen.”

“Yeah… well… thank you.”

“No worries, babe.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“You like it when I do. You demonstrated that last night.”

I could feel my face flushing.

“Wow,” he said. “You’re all so much about repressing your true wants and desiresandabilities around here, huh?”

“Maybe. To an extent.”

“More like definitely. And to the nth degree.”

“Yeah, itislike that actually.”

He laid his hand on mine. “Maybe it shouldn’t be.”

Our gazes clashed.

“You let go of that repression last night and it was a fucking revelation for you, wasn’t it?”

“It was an experience, yeah,” I admitted.

“Then why go right back to repression?”

“You don’t get it. Because my head wasn’t clear today, I accidentally infected several students with my allure.”

“There are worse things they could be infected with.”

“It’s not the point.”

“You didn’t take advantage of them in the midst of that, did you?”

“No. Of course not. That would be a major violation of consent.”

“Then, no harm, no foul.”

“That’s not exactly—”

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