Page 75 of Alaska Lights

None of it has brought me the peace and happiness that sitting here between Alaska’s legs brings.

“Hmm,” he hums, drifting his fingers up and down my arm. He turns me around on his lap until I’m straddling him. “I want to see your face when I talk to you.” His thumb brushes across my cheek. “So damn beautiful. I can’t get over it.”

I fist his shirt and pull him to me, pouring everything I feel into the kiss. “Tell me,” I beg, the desperation cracking my voice.

He sighs and leans away, keeping his hands on my hips. “Before you, I was on my last six months to live. Vampires don’t live forever. Once we are turned, we have two hundred years. We can mate for companionship if we don’t want to wait for Fate to give us our mate, because Fate might not deliver. If that happens, we can live for a thousand years, or we meet our mate, and we live forever.”

My heart fills with hope. “And I’m your fated mate, right?”

He leans forward, pushing my curls out of the way, and slants his lips on mine. “Yeah, Honeybee. You’re my fated. You’re everything I had no idea I needed, but we’re on a timeline too. So I’m in danger in one way more than the other now.”

“You’re kidding? What else is there?”

“We have around five days to complete the bond, or both of us will die. Our souls are connected now. We have each other’s blood in our systems, so it kick-started it.”

“How do I have your blood? I think I would remember drinking that,” I mumble, not liking the idea, but I suppose that’s normal when it comes to blood.

“You were pretty bad off from the crash, Helios. Bleeding out. You didn’t have much time, so I gave you my blood. Soren offered, but the thought—” He snarls, closing his eyes to relax. “The thought made me want to kill him. You shouldn’t have even been tired or sore the next day, but since I was dying, my blood didn’t work as well. It healed you, but not like Soren’s would have.”

“You saved me?” I run my palms over his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You saved my life?”

His gaze darts between mine, a wrinkle growing between his brows as he gets his thoughts together. “Of course I did. Fate gave me you. I couldn’t lose you when I just got you, even if I was confused by the fact that you were a man.” He chuckles, and I do too because yes, it wasn’t expected at all.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” we say at the same time.

“Thank you. For doing that.”

“I would have died too if anything happened to you. That’s how Fate works once mates are brought together. We can’t live without the other half of our souls, not once we find her or him, in my case.” Alaska presses a kiss to the middle of my forehead, his lips warm and soft. “Paranormals don’t care about sexuality. Not like humans.”

“I’m not like regular humans.” A conceited smirk overcomes me.

“Damn right you aren’t,” Alaska agrees, clutching my hips to pull me closer. “You’re so much better than any human I’ve ever met. Dead or alive.”

I know he means it by how he looks at me. It almost seems as if he is in pain, like I’m too good to be true and might vanish before his eyes.

Pushing his hair over his shoulder, I lean down and press a kiss to the side of his throat. Alaska hums in contentment, his fingers curling around my nape.

“There’s no one like you,” he adds, gasping when my soft exploration turns into wet, heated kisses, my tongue teasing his neck.

“What do we do to complete the bond?” I whisper into his ear, nibbling the lobe between my teeth.

“Helios,” he grits out my name in warning, paired with a squeeze on my hip.

“What? I’m only asking questions.” I know he can hear my grin in every word as I brush my cheek against his beard.

“You’re making it very difficult to focus. I had plans. We talk, we drink a little, we might get lucky seeing the northern lights, and then where the night leads, I’ll happily follow.”

“Then tell me what we need to do to complete the bond,” I urge. “Here. I’ll even get off your lap so we can focus.” I swing my leg over, and he presses me down against his long, thick erection.

“Don’t even fucking think about moving. You belong right here.” His hands become greedier, slipping around my thighs to hold on to my ass.

I gasp at the unexpected yet welcomed touch.

“This okay?” He squeezes each cheek.

I swallow with a nod. No one has ever really paid attention to me like this before, and I’m finding I am completely dependent on it now. Alaska has turned me into a needy, clingy partner.

“To answer your question, in order for us to complete the bond. Two things have to happen.” His other hand cups the side of my neck, his thumb swiping back and forth over the same spot. “I’ll bite you here while I fuck you, filling you up with every fucking drop. You’ll be marked on the inside while marked on the outside,” his vampire grips the words in his throat.