Two faint, parallel lines marred the perfect skin of her left hip. They were shallow, but they'd broken the surface. A pale pink bloomed along them.
A half-mark. He'd stopped the full, deep etching, but his claws had still broken her skin in his moment of climax.
Shit.
He withdrew from her body, the loss immediate and hollow. He quickly yanked his boxers and shorts back up, his mind racing.
"What's wrong?" Riley's voice was soft and confused. She pushed herself up on her elbows, following his horrified gaze to her hip.
"I gave you a half-mark," he said, the words heavy with self-disgust. "I didn't mean to. I thought I stopped in time."
She frowned, touching the marks gingerly. "I told you to mark me. It's fine."
"It's not fine." He shook his head. "It's not the completed bond, but it's not nothing. It's going to change you, Riley. I don't know how, or how much, but it will."
Her brow furrowed. "Why didn't you give me the full mark, then? Why did you stop?"
The flicker of hurt and rejection in her eyes was a knife to his gut. "Because you were lost in the heat of it," he said, forcing his voice to stay even. "And this isn't a tattoo. It's binding your souland your body to mine. Forever. There's no undo button. You'd be tied to me, to my pride, to this life, permanently."
He watched the words land, saw the passionate haze clear from her eyes as the staggering reality of 'forever' dawned.
"Forever?" The word was a whisper.
"Yes." He held her gaze, letting her see the absolute truth in his. "You could walk away, but the bond would be a phantom limb for both of us. And the political fallout… it would be a mess."
She sat up fully, pulling her clothes to her with a sudden, protective motion. The overwhelmed look was back, the one she'd worn when he first told her what he was. She looked from the faint marks on her hip to his face, her expression a storm of conflict.
"I… I need some space tonight. To think."
His protective instincts roared in protest. Letting his mate walk away alone, especially now, with a nascent mark on her skin? Unthinkable.
"I'll walk you home," he stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. "It's late."
"I've walked home alone in the dark a thousand times, Adrian."
"You weren't my mate then." He finished dressing, his movements efficient. "You are now. Even with a half-mark, the scent will be different. I'm not taking any chances."
She let out an exasperated huff as she pulled on her own clothes, but the fight seemed to drain out of her, replaced by a weary understanding. "Even being your mate now, I can protect myself."
"I know you can." He softened his tone marginally. "But let me do this. Please."
With a resigned sigh, she grabbed her purse and keys. He followed her as she moved through the gym, turning off lights.At the front door, she keyed the lock and stepped out into the cool night air. He fell into step beside her, a silent, vigilant shadow.
God, this woman was stubborn.
And now he had a new, gnawing worry.
What would a half-mark do to a human?
She wasn't worried yet, but she probably should be. The only thing he knew for certain was that everything had just become infinitely more complicated.
NINE
RILEY
The Philadelphia sidewalk stretched ahead of them, bathed in amber pools of streetlight that carved shadows between the buildings. Riley's sneakers whispered against the concrete as she walked beside Adrian, hyperaware of every inch of space between them. The cool night air kissed her heated skin, but it did nothing to ease the storm raging inside her chest.
What the hell had just happened?