Bane inhaled, a sharp sound in the quiet forest.

So let’s do it right this time. Make it the night it should’ve been. Body and blood, I want all of you, and for you to take all of me.

“Even after… what we tried?” he asked quietly.

I smiled at him enigmatically. Things are different now.

It was my hands that had given me the idea. Shattered beyond belief, and now perfectly whole. To a bloodwitch, my flesh was raw material to be shaped and molded, ever so slightly altered into something less… vulnerable.

Sit there. I pointed to the stone I’d chosen.

Bane obeyed, his pupils dilating despite the curiosity wrinkling his brow. He let out a low grumble as I stood before him, claws plucking at my gown, and I reached out to run my fingers over his beautiful, terrible face.

The only face I wanted to see every day for the rest of eternity, the one face I couldn’t live without.

He leaned his cheek into my palm, eyes closed, and I lowered myself into his lap, a mirror of our first real night together. I breathed in the scent that was home to me now, the smoky woods that made my skin tingle with desire.

I love you, I told him. By the Light, you are more than I ever could have asked for. I’m the luckiest woman in the world.

His breath was a rumble, vibrating through my bones. Already his fangs gleamed with the faintest hint of venom, and his tongue flicked out to stroke my throat, tickling the sensitive skin.

“Don’t make this into a contest,” he whispered huskily. “You’ll lose.”

I laughed silently, closed my eyes and leaned in. Kissing him was no longer strange or terrifying. My lips knew the contours of his mouth, the hardness of his teeth under the smoothness of his lips, where the point of every fang ended.

He was as familiar to me as my own hands. He was home.

As my lips moved over his, the kiss became deeper, his tongue snaking over mine, the tips twisting and stroking.

His hands moved over my hips, fingers rising to trace the line of my bared spine, his skin a warm shield against the cool air.

Now, I said, breathless. Paint me red, Bane.

He exhaled, tipping his head, the prongs of his tongue dancing over my cheek and jaw, down to the column of my throat once more. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close and tight as his fangs distended, grazing my flesh.

His tongue laved against the racing pulse in my throat—and then came the sweet-sharp pain of the bite, flesh parting like butter, the hot torrent of my own blood steaming in the cold air.

It flooded over my chest, tracing the contours of my clavicles and breasts, soaking into the glistening white fabric. Still hot, vital with life, staining through the silk in a billowing tide of crimson.

Bane took a deep draught, tongue lashing, his cock throbbing hard and ready against my wet core.

I exhaled at the pain of it, the sensation of blood being forcefully taken from my body, but the venom began to spread in a cloud through my veins, turning the sharpness to a pleasant tickle.

My heart pumped another gush of blood over my chest, the blood soaking further into the bodice, spattering the lap of my skirt and Bane’s white shirt.

As he lapped again, groaning at the taste, I unbuttoned his shirt, stroking the hard muscles of his abdomen, and my fingers moved down to untie his breeches.

Bane paused, making a movement like he meant to stop me—but I shook my head ever so slightly.

Drink, I commanded, and untied the laces with a smooth motion.

“My lady,” he breathed, fastening his lips over the wounds in my throat.

It took creativity and patience to remove his cock from the constricting trousers whilst seated on his lap, with his mouth at my throat, but I managed with eager hands, the stroking movements of my fingers making him growl.

Shifting my skirt, I settled myself against him, arching my hips as he throbbed against my clit.

Anticipation writhed inside me, the frisson of excitement settling in my core with molten heat. With Bane’s cock nestled firmly between my legs, I leaned forward to press myself against him fully, letting my head loll back as he drank.

The spiny crown of his cock dug into my lower belly, twitching with every slight shift of my hips.

I wanted him now, wanted to try my slightly-altered body and see if the tiny change would make a world of difference, but I didn’t want to stop the dizzying sensation of his sucking pulls, the clasp of his lips on my throat.

Not until he lapped his tongue against the wounds, sealing them, his eyes opening to reveal the glistening, ash-smeared gold of his irises.

He raised his claws to his own throat, waiting for me to say the word.

Yes, I said, taking his hand and moving his claws away. It was my turn to tilt my head, kissing the strong, corded muscles of his neck, tasting skin musk and salt. I moved down to the thick muscle between neck and shoulder, nipping once and then sinking my teeth in.

I didn’t break the skin. Not even close; my blunt human teeth would never pierce Bane’s dense, armored flesh. But he burst out with a brief laugh, his hips jerking upward, the rigid barbs on his cock flaring.

“How vicious,” he murmured with a grin. I dragged my teeth over him, finding the thinnest skin on his throat and kissing his own racing pulse. It thrummed against my lips like a bird’s wing, powerful but contained.

Here, I told him, and ran my tongue over the spot.

Bane nicked himself with his own claw, and unlike mine, his blood didn’t burst forth. It dripped like dark syrup, sweet and spicy, and I let it flow before catching it with my tongue.

The heat filled my throat, burning all the way down to my stomach and into my veins. I felt him filling me, the bond between us growing every time I drank from him.

It was a never-ending circle inscribed between us now. Me and him, him and me, from one into the other and back again. We were in each others’ veins, flowing through each other’s hearts, written together all the way down to the marrow in our bones.

The circle between our blood and souls had met, and I wanted our bodies to match, finishing the loop of completion.

Before Bane could have second thoughts, before he could warn me or stop me, I rose up, the barbs grazing my stomach and mound, until he was poised at my wet entrance.

I sank down, not giving myself any time to worry. There was the pressure, the sensation of being invaded, and then… rich fullness. I gasped, wriggling down further, even as Bane let out a strangled snarl.

“Cirri, for… how?”

I was impatient, I signed quickly, gripping his shoulders as I took more of him. The barbs flared inside me, locking him deep in my pussy.

I knew my idea had succeeded when my stretched core reached the base of his monstrous cock, and a thrust of my hips ground my clit against the hard plane of muscle above it. No pain, only pleasure, that fullness.

Bane grumbled, hands clamped on my hips, and he sucked in a breath as I rose again, feeling the length of his shaft sliding easily inside me.

I couldn’t break the bond between us, not with those flared barbs, but I rose high enough to drag my tongue over the wound in his neck, lapping at another spicy, burning mouthful of blood.

He groaned for me, thighs flexing to drive his cock upwards, deeper.

Yes, I signed again, braced on my knees and clinging to his shoulders, lips wrapping around his throat as he pumped into me. The heat in my veins melted into the spiraling bliss in my core, the barbs of his crown smoothly grazing my pussy with every thrust.

They stroked against that sensitive spot deep inside me, melting my knees to liquid, a squirmy, unfamiliar but not unpleasant feeling rising. I pulled from his throat, licking my teeth for every last hint of that spice, my breath coming quick and hard as the sensation increased.