Take My Hand [Brac Pack 28] by Lynn Hagen

done. Raven had tried to stay away. He tried to resist the aromatic scent of his mate. But Darcy was just too damn tempting for his own good.
    And when Raven heard his mate call his name, he could resist no longer. It was like a siren call in the night, begging Raven to come to the sweet sound. As hard as Raven resisted, he found himself in Darcy’s room, desperately wanting what he feared to take.
    What was rightfully his.
But he hadn’t planned on feeding from the human, although Raven couldn’t find any regret inside himself for indulging. Darcy had tasted even better than he smelled. Raven was a bit surprised he hadn’t come from the scent of his mate’s blood and seed clinging to the air in the bedroom.
Being with a man wasn’t as awkward as Raven had thought it would be. Maybe it was because Darcy was his mate, but Raven wanted to explore some more, preferably naked.
“You take my self-control, Darcy. You shred it with your sweet smell.”
Darcy chuckled softly.“Thanks.”
Raven ran his hand over Darcy’s soft brown hair, wishing he could look into his mate’s coppery eyes. He hadn’t drained Darcy like he had feared, although he had taken more than he should have. Even so, he thought maybe they had a chance together. Darcy’s blood was temptation incarnate, but Raven had held back. He didn’t think it possible, but he had. “I think we’d be good together, Darcy.”
Darcy stiffened, pulling away from Raven and putting space between them.“I need to get some sleep. I have a job to go to in the morning.”
Ouch! Raven knew a dismissal when he heard one, and he didn’t like it. He had set aside his reservations about Darcy not only being a man, but a human, and now Darcy was excusing him from his bed because he mentioned something about being a couple? He could feel the tic in his jaw begin to beat as Raven uncurled his body from the bed. Maybe he had moved too fast, but in the world Raven lived in, he should have had Darcy the moment he scented the human as his mate.
He had resisted for a few hours. He should get some damn credit for that.
Raven glanced at the door, refusing to look back at Darcy. It would be a cold day in hell before he allowed Darcy to see how hurt he was.“Good night.” The words were sharp, even though Raven was trying to keep his anger out of his tone.
“Good night,” Darcy replied as Raven walked out of his mate’s bedroom. Never before had he been dismissed in such a way. Raven wasn’t sure what to do about it. Instead of going back to his bedroom, he headed downstairs and walked outside. Standing on the front porch, Raven glanced up at the sky, vibrating with rage.
“I usually eat chocolate when I’m that mad.”
Huh? Raven turned to see Sterling laid back on the porch swing. He had been so preoccupied with thoughts of Darcy that he hadn’t even noticed his mate’s kid brother. Raven really should work on his “ignoring everything around me” when he was pissed.
“Chocolate helps?” Although Raven wasn’t going to try any to find out. He was a vampire. The whole drinking blood thing kind of stopped him from eating human food.
Sterling kicked his foot out, the swing swaying gently back and forth. It must be nice to look as though there wasn’t a care in the world.
Raven wished things were that easy. He had a feeling dealing with his mate was going to be anything but easy. The guy was hot and cold in a span of minutes. Raven couldn’t understand what had happened, and thought once again that maybe he had moved too fast.
If that was fast, Darcy was in for a shock. Raven didn’t plan on letting the man go. His mate better get used to the idea of having him around, because Raven wasn’t going anywhere.
One mate.
That’s all Raven would get. And fuck if Darcy was going to blow him off. He was seething with anger at the dismissal.
“It does for me, but then again, I don’t take too many things seriously. Darcy thinks I’m immature, but I think he’s