Page 80 of Blood Sweeter than Honey

As soon as I’m finished, he appears behind me in the mirror to begin our morning ritual.

The one where he braids my hair.

Fucking swoon.

Gingerly brushing my hair back, his eyes meet mine in the mirror.

“You know you could still be sleeping right now, don’t you?”

I purse my lips at him in the mirror of his closet door. “You know, Gideon Kincaid, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you didn’t want me out there helping you.“

In the mirror, I watch Gideon’s brows knit tightly together as he finishes neatly weaving my hair into a simple braid and wraps a hair tie around it before turning me around to face him.

“Angel, you have no idea how much I love you being out there with me, taking care of the land and animals that have helped me heal and become a man that is… well, I don’t dare sayworthyof you, because I can’t pretend to be more than a tamed beast, but the idea of you forcing yourself to shovel cow shit into a fertilizer pile everyday because ofmekinda breaks my heart. I want you to be my queen, my princess. Queens and princesses don’t shovel shit...” pausing his words, he collects the long plait of my strawberry blonde hair over one shoulder as if for emphasis, “… they have beasts like me do everything for them.”

A smirk tilts my lips, despite how scarily accurate his words are.

If he only knew.

Since our episode in the kitchen, Gideon’s been woefully self-controlled. Incredibly affectionate, but… somewhat distant in away that makes me anxious. It makes me feel like he’s waiting for something, but for what I don’t know. That anxiety is further inflamed by the fact that I can already feel my body’s craving for blood.

Closing the scarce few inches between us, I stand on the tips of my toes to whisper against his lips.

“Is that what you are then? My beast?”

Gideon cradles my waist as he groans into our kiss. My hands slide up his chest, fingers seeking buttons, and one by one they’re undone until I’m pulling the flannel shirt tails out of his jeans. We’re both a little breathless as we pull away to catch our breath, and he presses his forehead to mine. “Angel, you make me something I’ve never been before.”

“What’s that?”

Gideon hesitates for a moment, pressing kisses along the curve of my jaw as his fingers work to unbutton my jeans.

“A gentleman.”

My heart skips at the declaration.

“And if I want the beast?”

Against my throat, I feel Gideon’s lips part in a smile.

“Oh, angel... You may have tamed the beast, but I’m still a fucking monster.”

His words make my core clench with need. I want him so fucking badly it causes me physical pain, but I can’t bring myself to deceive him. I have no idea how to tell him the truth. Before I can think any further of it, his teeth sink into the delicate flesh of my neck as he yanks the open waist of my jeans down over my hips and pulls down the white lacey panties he procured for me on a place he simply referred to asonline.One hand dives between my thighs and presses two fingers against my entrance. His teeth release me and his mouth parts in another grin when my pussy greets his fingers with slick arousal.

“Already so wet for me, angel…”

“Always,ferion.”

With a growl of approval, Gideon licks and sucks away the pain. Small bruises are peppered all over my neck, breasts, thighs, and stomach—little markings, evidence of his claim. And while I love seeing them, the sight of them is also threaded with fear because it’s also evidence that my magic is well and truly waning.

It’s not even been two weeks. Violette told me I had at least a month, but perhaps she meant I’d die or be lost to blood lust by then, and she just didn’t clarify when my symptoms would begin.

My gut churns with anxiety just as Gideon straightens. Holding my gaze, he brings those two wet fingers to his mouth and sucks them clean. “You trust me, sweet girl?”

The words send a tendril of excitement coiling through me—one that helps to alleviate my fears. “Yes, sir.”

Gideon reaches for something on the top shelf above my head as his neck cranes down to capture my lips. His tongue works in sensual, leisurely passes against mine, in between taunting my lips with his teeth as his free hand teases my nipple beneath the fabric.

Distracted by his kiss, I hardly notice him collecting my wrists in one hand until he raises them all the way above my head and begins wrapping a silky fabric around them.

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