“Look what you did! How the hell am I supposed to cover this now?”

I could have sworn I saw a satisfied smirk as the bastard kissed my shoulder. “You’re a Hunter, pretend it was a…training injury.”

“Yeah because this definitely looks like I got hit by something,” I said sarcastically as I squirmed away to grab my makeup bag. Hopefully my concealer would hold out for the day.

Sylus looked slightly disappointed as I tilted my chin up to apply the makeup. He sighed and pulled back. “I won’t leave any marks in such obvious places next time,” he said, appeasing.  

I huffed. “Just not when I have to go to work, okay? It’s…embarrassing.”

Sylus froze for a moment and I thought I saw hurt in his eyes before he shook himself and snorted, kissing the top of my head. “Well, I wouldn’t want to embarrass Miss Hunter, now would I?” He headed to the door of the bathroom. “I put coffee on, I’ll put it in your travel mug.”

I nodded in thanks and continued working to cover the mark. I couldn’t help but remember the feeling of his mouth on my neck, teeth nipping just slightly. I guess I should have stopped him last night, but I didn’t have the willpower then.

Sylus always made me forget everything else but him. But this wasn’t the first time he’d marked me in such an obvious place. The last time I hadn’t even noticed my collar didn’t cover the mark, and thankfully Tara pointed it out to me and lent me some makeup at work. She’d thought it was funny, but I’d been completely mortified. Not only with the thought of one of my superiors seeing, but I couldn’t afford to have people ask about Sylus. If anyone found out we were dating I would definitely lose my job. He’d already gotten too close with his ‘Skye the fruit seller’ persona and I was afraid that someday someone would make the connection and once they did…

I loved Sylus. I had come to that conclusion on the night we confessed to each other last winter, when all the tension between us had finally broken and we hadn’t bothered to hold back our feelings anymore. But I also loved being a Hunter—it’s what I had always wanted for as long as I could remember. And at the moment, I didn’t have to choose between them as long as I was careful.

I successfully covered the mark and finished dressing, strapping on my holster before heading out to the kitchen where Sylus was filling my mug.

He handed it to me along with my lunch cooler and my heart melted a little.

“Thanks,” I said.

He hummed and leaned in to kiss me. “I’ll lock up the apartment when I leave. Be safe, sweetie.”

“You too,” I insisted.

He smiled. “See you next week?”

I nodded, smiling back. “Yeah.”

The week went by like normal and Sylus and I met again on Sunday, driving out to one of his safehouses.

The night inevitably ended with us making out on the couch, ignoring the movie we’d put on.

My heartbeat raced as Sylus pressed his lips to my pulse, letting his teeth graze the area. I clenched my hand in his hair, tilting my head back. Sylus seemed to take that as an invitation.

I was lost in pleasure for a moment before I realized what he was doing, then pushed at his chest. “Sy…”

“Mm,” he murmured but pulled back and gave the spot a little kiss before moving further down.

There were more marks before the night was over, both given and received, but I didn’t truly realize the damage until I groggily crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom in the morning.

At least five marks peppered the area of my neck and collarbone, at least two of which would not be covered by my uniform. I groaned and felt annoyance creep into me again.

I crawled back into bed and poked Sylus awake with a groan.

“Can you go one time without marking your territory?” I demanded.

His eyes scanned me, seeming to light up just little at the sight of the marks. He stretched languidly like a pleased cat “You could have stopped me if you didn’t like it, kitten.”

“Can’t you have a little self-control?”

Sylus sat up and touched a mark I’d left with my teeth in his chest. “I don’t think I’m the only one.”

“But what if I left a mark on your neck right before you go to some dangerous deal? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

Sylus huffed a laugh. “You really think it would bother me what others think? I’d say let them look and let them know I have a loving little tigress at home who isn’t afraid to leave her mark on me.”

I flushed a little, but Sylus reached out to catch my chin. “You really don’t like it?”

“It’s not that, I just…” I struggled to think of how to explain it. “I don’t get why you don’t just heal yours since you can. I-I don’t want other people thinking—”

“Who cares what other people think?” Sylus cut in. He took my hand and pressed my fingers over the bite mark on his chest. “And I don’t want to heal them. These remind me of you when you’re gone.”

I felt a little flutter in my stomach as he said that. “Sylus I’m not trying to forget you, I just want to look professional at work.”

He cupped my cheek, gazing at me with a genuinely loving look. “I know. And you are, sweetie, you’re a brilliant Hunter and anyone would be foolish not to see that.”

“But why do you keep doing this even when I ask you not to?”

He sighed and looked away, an odd gesture for Sylus who usually always met my eyes. “To tell you the truth, I can’t help myself,” he admitted. “It’s almost instinctive. I just…want to leave a part of me with you so I can live in your world.”

“Sylus…”

He caught me in his arms and pulled me onto his chest. “Do you know how much I want us to be able to announce to the world that we’re together? How I would love to show up to your company events as your boyfriend—as myself—not ‘coincidently’ showing up to sell fruit.”

I could see the longing in his eyes, the hidden pain, and my stomach clenches.

“I want us to be seen as we are like this. So, yes, I mark my territory because it’s all I can do. I can buy anything in this world, but I cannot have the thing I truly want: to live, uninhibited, the two of us as we are. To let everyone know what we mean to each other.” He smiled wryly up at me. “And I know that’s an unreachable fantasy at least as it currently stands. But sometimes I have to wonder if you even want the same thing.”

I remembered the look in his eyes when I’d said I was embarrassed and felt a pang of remorse for making him think it was because I was embarrassed of him. I took Sylus’s face between my hands.

“Sy, you know I would love nothing more than that. I do want the same thing, it’s just… impossible.”

His mouth turned up slightly. “Why do you think I keep asking you to join Onychinus? We wouldn’t have to hide then.”

I gave him a sad look and he kissed my forehead. “But I would never force you do that. I know you’re happy where you are, and that makes me happy. But I also hope that someday we can love freely without worry.”

I cuddled into him, tucking my head under his chin, feeling like I understood everything better now. “Me too, Sylus.”

That day, instead of covering the marks with makeup, I simply kept my hair down, which concealed everything unless you were specifically looking for it.

Sylus seemed a little surprised, but I gave him a smile. “Maybe I kind of like it after all,” I admitted.

He huffed a laugh and leaned over to kiss me.

I pulled him down and sucked a mark into the soft spot just under his jaw. I felt Sylus’s breath hitch and smiled cheekily as I pulled away.

“Let me know what your enemies think of that,” I teased.

Sylus laughed and pulled me in for another, hungrier kiss. “Oh, sweetie, I think you need to give them a little more to talk about.”

~~~~~~~