Covet Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: Her Monstrous Mates, #1)

by Kel Carpenter

But the truth of it was that I didn't just meet Niall. I’d met him four years ago. And for four years, he'd been

trying to find his way back to me.

He didn't make the deal with my father because he didn't respect me. He’d made the deal with my father because he wasn’t g...

He put us in this terrible situation where I didn’t trust my mates or their motives, when no one had been more hurtful than him.

Well, I was done. I was done letting him take things from me.

Hearing him respect me enough to not just give me my truth, but his own as well—to know that he was willing to do anything to have me? Yeah, it got me a little hot and bothered.

“Nikki, there is no try when it comes to mating,” he said in a strangled voice. “If we fuck⁠—” “I know,” I whispered in his ear, and my hands lifted to his chest. “There's no going back,” he said gruffly. “I know,” I repeated, trailing my lips along his neck.

I liked his taste. I wanted more of it. My teeth nipped him lightly on the ne...

I'd been about to tell him that I wanted my mate. I wanted the man that never chose to walk away and kept trying. The one that saved me from hell. The one that gave me a choice. I wanted the person that was meant to be mine.

“I told you that I refused to have sex and so they drugged me, to make me do it. Nikki, I haven't had anyone since I left the facility. I couldn't . . . I wasn’t going to sleep around on you when you were recovering for all I knew—and no, I don't expect that you stayed loyal to me. If you didn't remember,” he added quickly upon seeing the change in my expression.

“I didn't know there was someone out there waiting for me.”

I learned quite a bit about how to manage myself, because when I did come to you, I didn't want to be a broken mate. I wanted to be a man that could fulfill all your needs.” Emotion swelled in my throat.

He was so rough and jagged on the outside, like an uncut diamond forged in fire and pressure. Beneath that hard exterior was something soft and so vulnerable.

There wasn't enough bar stool underneath him for me to balance on. So I settled for falling . . . directly against his cock. Then began to writhe.

“Okay,” I said, choosing to trust him—even if I did cling to him like an octopus.

“It'll get easier,” he said softly. “What?” “Trusting me.”

I didn’t understand why it was turning me on so much, but knowing it was doing the same to Niall only spurred me on.

“I told you, Nikki. I like control. You keeping your fuck buddies at a distance was how you controlled the situation. I’m your mate, not a body to help you get off. I want far more than a quick release and distant relationship. I’ve waited four years. I’ll wait more if I have to, but I won’t accept half measures.”

If you don’t reject me—once we complete the bond—all your previous partners are a thing of the past. This is a warmup, Nikki. I’m yours whether you’ll have me or not, but if you’re not ready to be mine, then walk away now, before it gets . . . complicated.” “No.”

“Say, ‘yes, Mate.’” “What?” He pinched my clit between his fingers, taking away the pleasure and bringing only pain. I cried out. “Yes, Mate.”

“I want to claim you, firebird,” he breathed roughly. “Do it,” I said in a strangled voice.

A faint point grazed over the juncture between my neck and shoulder. Before I could tense for the expectation of a sting, fangs punctured my skin. I threw my head back as two worlds collided. Blood and pain. Sensation and pleasure.

Niall was moving me. Repositioning me over his lap. He pulled one leg over him, maneuvering my body to straddle him.

Niall groaned, leaning into the shoulder he bit. He licked the already healing wound, sending another pulse of heat through me. “I need . . .” I grasped his shoulders with both hands, steadying myself. His neck appealed to me, but I didn’t have fangs. Biting, while fun, didn’t feel like the claiming I needed right now.

My phoenix urged me to follow my instincts. I let my left-hand snake down his chest, stopping over the center. There. That’s where⁠— Fire kindled beneath my palm. Niall’s nails turned sharp, biting into my hips. Another orgasm hit me out of nowhere. Niall moaned, thrusting upwards while dragging me down. Our bodies came together. The hard smacks of flesh meeting and stinging skin only pulling us both higher.

Niall erupted inside me. His cock twitching madly as he filled me. The bond snapped fully into place. Our emotions merged. Our souls met. The sheer ...

They all belong to me. There’s no going back. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mate.” My hand dropped from his chest to reveal a burned handprint. It left me with a supreme sort of satisfaction to see my mark on him. To know that he wore it proudly. I could tell he felt the same about his bite on my neck.

I needed him more than I needed air. Every part of him.

I was eternally grateful that that had never happened, especially considering I’d found Malachi as my mate so young. I think the heat would have killed me.

Oftentimes I’d felt like a piece of me was missing, and I'd always attributed that to losing my twin sister and having Malachi reject me.

Finding Niall was finding those missing pages. Gaps were filled and I had a better understanding of my past—a truer version of it.

He had been by my side comforting me and my sister. He heard my cries in anguish at her loss. He watched me lose my other half. He watched me damn near destroy myself and everyone else for it. He didn't leave me even as the world burned and crashed around us.

No matter what I'd thought all these years—no matter how I'd felt every day since—I wasn't alone. I never had been, and looking forward, I never would be.

I had three mates, and I'd only bonded with one, but it was the beginning of something new. Something completely different from wh...

Yeah, we were mates, but I didn’t know how to have a conversation that said, Yes, I just got done fucking you, and now I’m thinking about fucking your best friend. My mate. It’s not weird. Don’t be jealous.

The muscle beneath my hand loosened and that made me smile. Who knew I would have that kind of an effect on anyone? Usually, my antics were the cause of someone being tense.

Instead, she seemed more affectionate. Suggestive innuendos. A touch here, and a graze there. This morning when she kissed each of us in front of each other, it was no light peck on the lips.

I was theirs unequivocally. Irrevocably. But I was still insecure about our bond.

“But you have no family?” D continued, pushing the topic. “You're looking at her,” Niall said, making my chest feel warm and fuzzy. He might not be a man of many words, but he knew how to make them count.

“What if the ones that voted for me were wrong and I'm going to make a terrible chancellor?”

“Only because my family killed half the candidates.” “Semantics.” “Facts.” “Unrelated facts.” “Relevant facts.”