“Baojia—” She tried to lean closer, but he put a hand on her shoulder, halting her.

“You can die,” he said again. “And you would be gone. And I would have nothing.”

He heard her tears again, felt them against his skin when she pressed his hand to her cheek, but she had no response.

“Do you even understand how fragile you are?”

“Tell me I’m not an assignment,” she whispered as he drew closer, brushing the hair from her temple and framing her face with his hands. Slowly, he leaned forward and kissed the scrape on her forehead, licking the blood from his lips. “Tell me this is real.”

“I would have nothing,” he whispered, kissing her again. He lowered his head and kissed the delicate skin of her eyelids, tasting her tears. “Do you understand?” He still held her face, and her hands came up to cover his as he kissed the rise of one cheek, then the other. “Tell me.”

He thought he felt her nod as he captured her lips. Fear gave way to need, and he pulled her closer. She grabbed at his shoulders and tugged, knocking him off-balance as she pulled his body over hers. He crawled up the pallet, carefully moving her body under his. Her legs parted and he moved closer, their lips still fused in a desperate kiss.

Alive. Alive. Alive.

She was alive, and she wanted him.

Bracing himself over her, Baojia pulled away a fraction of an inch, staring into deep blue eyes.

“I need you,” he said softly. “I need—”

“Yes,” she breathed out her answer, then reached up and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Need. Desire. Ache. He ached for her. He felt her hands ripping at his shirt as he tore at hers, desperate to feel the pulse of her heart against his chest. Desperate to hear her blood. Desperate to hear her call his name. Natalie’s quick fingers slipped down the front of his slacks where his flesh, roused by anger and desire, leapt beneath her fingertips.

“Aah!” He arched up, fangs dropping as the ecstasy of her touch ignited him. His eyes sought hers, locking on to her hungry gaze as he sat back on his heels, stripping the jeans down her legs, fumbling with the shoes she finally kicked off. His hands ran up the inside of her legs, lingering behind her knees when he heard the quick intake of breath. He reached up and pulled at the blue panties she still wore. They were torn at the corner, from her fall or his hands, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. He rid himself of his own clothes before he bent down.

Bh=" were toraojia breathed in, letting his senses fill with her scent as his fangs scraped along the inside of her thigh. “I want to bite you.” He licked at her flesh. “Here.”

Her heart was racing. In excitement or fear? “It won’t hurt?”

Baojia’s mouth moved along her shivering skin before he looked up to meet her wide blue eyes. “I’m going to bite you here, put my mouth on your flesh, and suck. I’m going to let my amnis flood your senses until the only thing you can feel is fire in your veins. You will experience the most intense pleasure imaginable. You will come. And you will want more.”

What do you know? He’d finally rendered her speechless. All she could do was nod.

He fluttered his tongue along the artery, sucking until her skin was red and swollen under his mouth. At the same time, his fingers stroked along her belly, up and over her breasts, finally running down the length of her arms until he had linked their hands, palm to palm. And everywhere his hands went, his cool energy went, too. He could feel her react, her body flush with life, her skin prickling in awareness. And when she started to pant, he bit.

“Baojia!” she cried out as he drank from her, swallowing thick gulps of her rich blood until her back arched and she came with a violent shudder. He immediately sealed off the wound, then he slid up her body and inside with one smooth movement, capturing her cries in his mouth as he thrust. His hand ran down over her thigh to grip and lift it higher. He listened for her pulse, timing his steady strokes to the beat of her heart as the air around him became laden with the scent of her pleasure and blood and sweat and life.

She was alive. In that moment, she was everything.

And when he felt her come around his flesh, felt the heady rush of pleasure course through her again, Baojia let go and surrendered.

Natalie was curled into his side, still naked. She was so warm, he wanted to drape her over his body like a cloak. His hands teased through her hair, pulling out tiny pieces of rock and debris from her run through the desert. He could feel his senses slowing. Sunlight was near.

“Natalie?”

She was drowsy, too, nuzzling into the skin of his chest. He could feel her tongue flick out occasionally to taste his skin. Her lips closed over one nipple and bit lightly as his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Hmm?” she purred.

“Dawn is coming.”

That brought her up short. She looked around the room. “Are we safe here?”

“I don’t feel anyone around, and anything truly dangerous will be sleeping soon. Reach into my pants on the floor. Sewn into the front of them is a weapon.”

“You could definitely say that.”

He closed his eyes and laughed. “No, a sword.”

“That’s certainly one name for it.”

“Woman—” He reached down and pinched her backside. “An actual sword. I’m going to pass out in a few minutes. I’ll be asleep until nightfall. Keep the sword out, just in case.”

Her voice was suddenly insecure. “I thought you said we were alone down here.”