The Shadows Have No Face || 𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑

This is Too Intimate

content warning: smut *dances into a hole so no one ever sees me again*

~)(~

I kissed him. I kissed Azriel—kissed my mate. He was my mate, and I kissed him, and he kissed me back. And I didn't want to stop, didn't even want to think about stopping. It wasn't a possibility anymore.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him so his lips could press harder against mine. I simply kissed him, simply breathed him in and sucked up everything about him like I was some dry sponge. It was everything to me now, just to exist with him.

My hand slid up his chest to his neck, where it met with smeared thick liquid. Blood. I pulled away from him and looked at my hand. My finger pads were covered in bright red. The line across his neck was now a closed, light pink marking, but the blood remained fresh on his skin.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't say that—not when I deserved it," he said, before his hand went to the nape of my neck and he moved my head back to kiss me again. I smiled against his lips and took my other hand to wrap around and pull him closer. I wanted to feel every inch of him against me.

He kissed me softly, gently. Because it was the easiest and simplest way to show affection. To bring together skin as smooth as rose petals, as soft as feathers. Like we had never kissed before. Like we were the first to ever try it—to ever test how it felt. And it was time-stopping. Simple as that.

When he pulled away from me again, he studied my face. To see what I was thinking, what I was wishing. I was thinking of a lot of things and wishing even more. But what I did now—that changed everything.

I rubbed my bloodied fingertips together, seeing that the blood wasn't dry yet. It still slid slowly down his neck—painfully slowly. I looked back up at him through my eyelashes and did something I had wanted to do for a long, longtime.

I tasted his blood.

My tongue pressed on my fingertips and brought each one into my mouth so I could lick off the blood. It tasted salty and metallic, as expected. But there was also a sweetness to it. Perhaps that was from my own skin.

My eyes didn't leave his, and he watched me closely—intensely closely. I lifted my fingers back to his neck and picked up the rest of the blood, then brought it to my lips, savoring the taste of it.

I honestly don't know why I wanted to taste his blood so badly, but doing it made me feel things I didn't think I could feel. The tingling heat that pulled at my core, the tightening of my stomach and throat. The sudden sensitivity of my skin.

It undid me—it undid him.

My back slammed against the wall, my left foot up two steps and bent around him as he pressed against and devouredme. I thought I was going to do the devouring—thought I would enjoy that better—but... Mother above, I would let him consume me entirely.

I opened my mouth with a moan and felt his hot tongue slip between my lips, tickling the roof of my mouth and sliding against mine. I grabbed at his shoulders, tugged at his hair. Closer—closer. I wanted him closer.

I wanted to be consumed by him, by his scent and his warmth. Wanted my lips bruised and bleeding from his rough kiss. My breath pounded from my lungs as hard as my heart raced. If I could take it, I would. I was starving for it.

And... Cauldron boil me, he was my mate. I so desperately wanted to tell him that truth. It was the truth—no matter what I might try to say to convince myself otherwise. He was my mate, that was final. The Mother decided something stupid, and she couldn't—wouldn't—change her mind.