When he finishes with one thigh, teeth scraping and tongue licking, Nathaniel begins on the other. As he reaches the space on Asher's thigh where Asher has been marking him on his own, he bites sharply, his fingers brushing over his vampire's sac.

His beast wants to bite, to take, to rut, and the human still inside him wants to prove he's not hopeless. Not helpless. He's a predator, too, now, and he will, if needed, protect himself.

Nathaniel's lips reach Asher's groin, and noses in the amber hair there, inhaling Asher's scent with a growl.