“Hmm,” she responded huskily.

“I need to ask you something.” Costin had not planned on doing this now. He had planned on waiting until the time was right, when the atmosphere was romantic and sexy. He had wanted to show her just how much she meant to him and how he wanted to shout from the mountains that she was his. But, sometimes life did not give us the perfect moments that we've longed for and so we had to turn a small part of the messed up moments into cherished ones.

“Stop touching me if you want me to think clearly,” she teased him as her lips turned up in a sultry smile.

“Maybe I don’t want you to think clearly when I ask you this.”

Sally’s eyes snapped open as she heard the worry in his voice.

“What’s wrong Costin? Are you okay, is everything okay?” Sally didn’t like it when she felt the confidence he carried, so casually slip, it made her feel inadequate as a mate when he felt unsure about her.

“Nothing is wrong, beautiful. I just wasn’t planning this, but I feel like it’s the right time.”

“Okay,” Sally said cautiously. She started to sit up but Costin stopped her with his hand on her hip.

“Stay here with me,” he told her, softly. He moved closer to her and raised himself up on one elbow so he could look down at her. She rolled to her back and placed her right hand on his chest, over his heart. She felt his heart beat quicken and frowned when she realized how hard it was beating.

“Costin?” She asked, nervously.

“I love you,” he told her. He released her hip and brushed the wispy hairs from her face. “I never imagined anyone as amazing as you, could ever be mine. But, now that you are, I will never let go. You are mine Sally and I am every bit as much yours. I will forsake all others for you. I will die for you, kill for you, and live for you. You’ve accepted me as your mate, you’ve let me claim you through the Blood Rites, you have my markings, and you bear my bite on your incredibly sexy neck. Now, I would ask that you accept me as your husband and wear my ring.”

Sally’s mouth dropped open when, seemingly from nowhere, Costin produce a small ring. A solitaire diamond, princess cut set in platinum. It was beautiful. She looked more closely and realized that there was an inscription etched into the band. She couldn’t read it though.

“What does it say?”

Costin smiled. “You’re going to make me sweat aren’t you?”

Sally let out an airy laugh, and then blushed when she realized that she hadn’t answered him. “Oh, shi–,” she slapped her hand over her mouth before the word slipped out and stared wide eyed at Costin who was grinning like an idiot, obviously enjoying her embarrassment.

“Sally,” he pulled her hand away, “for goodness sake, love, end my torment.”

“Yes,” she told him.

“Yes, you will end my torment or yes, you will be my wife?”

“Yes,” she answered again.

Costin grinned and then leaned down and kissed her gently. He nipped at her lips when she refused to part them.

“Sally,” he growled.

“Not until you tell me what the inscription says.”

Costin held the ring over her face so she could see it. He smiled roguishly. “You want to know what the inscription on this ring says.”

“I just said that,” she growled and he laughed as it made him think of an angry kitten.

“Calm down brown eyes. I have a proposition for you.”

Sally’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious. You aren’t going to tell me what my engagement ring says without making a deal with me?”

“You’re a sharp one,” he joked and whipped his head away just in time to miss her teeth from biting his chin. “Play nice Sally,” he warned, though his eyes glowed with a different kind of warning. Sally quivered under his hungry gaze.

“I will tell you what the inscription says if you allow me to kiss you.”

Sally thought it sounded too easy, but she brushed aside the apprehensive thoughts and nodded.

“Okay.” She licked her lips in anticipation for what she knew would be a smoldering kiss. Costin’s grin grew impossibly wider.

“Roll over,” he told her.

“What!” Sally tried to scurry away, but Costin caught her ankle.

“Ahh, ah, ah,” he chided, “you made a contract with me love.”

Sally shook her head. “I didn’t sign anything.”

“You agreed verbally, you are bound babe, pack magic.”

Sally balked at him. “You can’t be serious; it was just a playful bargain.”

“Not to me it wasn’t,” his face grew serious and his eyes began to glow. “I want to kiss you.”

“I know that, I was waiting for you to.”

Costin licked his lips and Sally tried hard not to follow the slow motion of his tongue. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she looked up from his lips to his eyes and he winked at her. That damn wink, it was a weapon he wielded shamelessly against her.

“You didn’t clarify the location of the kiss my succulent, shy mate,” Costin’s voice dropped to a growl as he crawled towards her on the bed. Sally had reached the headboard and there was nowhere else for her to go. For that moment in time, she understood what those poor little bunnies must have felt like when the wolves were hunting them.

“Worried I’m going to eat you?” Costin asked her as he picked up on her thoughts. Sally’s face discovered a new shade of red in the rainbow as she watched her mate stalk her. She couldn’t believe that she had missed that loop hole. She never missed loop holes when Jen was bargaining, but then Costin’s hands, lips, and eyes weren’t involved when she was bargaining with Jen.

“Where exactly do you want to put this kiss?” She asked, when she finally found her voice.

“I want to see my markings,” he rumbled.

“Then go take your shirt off and look in the mirror,” she retorted.

His smile made her shiver as goose bumps dotted her skin. “When I say my markings Sally, I mean the ones on your body, the ones that are identical to those on my body.” Sally didn’t know how anyone could make the word body sound so sexy, but Costin had found a way.

“So, please, roll over and allow me to look at them.”

“So, you just want to kiss the marks on my back?”