“You mean that?” Her heart beat into her throat.

“I mean it. But—”

So there was a but. She shouldn’t have rejoiced too early. Her shoulders dropped in defeat.

“You have to accept me, and once I tell you what the witch found out, it’s up to you to make a decision. I love you. I want you to know that, but I can’t ask you to be mine until you know what I am. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Now confusion set in. There was a hesitation in his voice she hadn’t heard before, almost as if he was uncertain of how to broach the subject. “What you are? What do you mean?”

“I’m not a full-blooded vampire.”

The news didn’t mean anything to her. How could he not be a full-blooded vampire? By everything she’d seen so far, he was definitely a vampire, and a very potent one at that. She’d seen his fangs, felt his strength. She’d seen him drink blood. “How can you not be a vampire?”

“I am, but I’m not, at least not fully. I wasn’t human when I was turned. I just never realized that until now. My turning was much like yours, and now I understand why. Like you I almost died a second time, as if my body was rejecting becoming a vampire. But I pulled through, just like you did.”

She remembered all too well how painful it had been. “I live because of you.”

He pressed his forehead against hers. “But I don’t ever want you to think you owe me for that. I did it for a very selfish reason: I wanted you to live, because I wanted you to be mine. Right there, that moment when I first saw you lying on that bed in Samson’s house, I knew I would love you.”

“How could you know that? You didn’t know anything about me.” Yet, there was such certainty in his words.

“My body recognized you. We’re alike, Maya, much more than I could have ever guessed. I’m part satyr, and so are you.”

The news hit her like a freight train slamming into a brick wall. Satyr? “A beast with hooves?”

Gabriel shook his head. “You mean a Minotaur. Satyrs are different. They are mythical creatures, part man, part animal, but the animal part only manifests itself in their strength and thirst for carnal pleasures and in the male of the species in one other piece of anatomy. Otherwise our bodies look entirely human. All that about hooves and horns came later in mythology. Anyway, that’s why I never knew. I didn’t know my father, so there was nobody to explain to me what I was.”

“And you say I’m a satyr too. But how?” It didn’t make any sense. She’d always felt human.

“You’re aware that you were adopted?”

She was surprised he knew. “Of course. My parents never made a secret of it. Besides, they are blonde and fair skinned, and I’m anything but.”

“Your biological parents, or at least your father, must have been a satyr.”

“How can the witch be so certain? She hasn’t done any tests on me.” The witch’s claim was too outlandish to believe.

“She doesn’t have to because of what’s happened to me. I’ve gone through a change.” He swallowed hard. Maya could see his Adam’s Apple move up and down.

“What kind of change?”

“After we had sex.”

“Damn it, Gabriel, would you just come out with it.” She planted her hands at her waist, but instead of releasing her, he only pulled her closer.

“This change.” He pressed his hips into hers. “The mass of flesh you saw. It’s changed. It only does that after a satyr has sex with his satyr mate for the first time. Maya, it’s turned into a second penis because you and I had sex.”

She gasped, sucking the air into her lungs quickly to supply her brain with oxygen. He had two penises? She pulled away from him and instantly noticed his disappointed frown. But she couldn’t concern herself with that right now. Her hand went to the place where his jeans bulged. When her palm connected with the hardness beneath, he jerked for a moment before he pressed against it.

Then she felt it. There wasn’t just the outline of one erect cock pulsing under her palm, but she could clearly feel a second one, just as hard but a fraction smaller. It strained against the confinement of his pants.

“I want to see.” She licked her lips and went for the zipper.

His hand stopped her, locking her in place. “Maya.” His voice was strangled, and when she looked at him, she saw the barely contained desire in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to devour her, and considering what she felt under her hand, she had a pretty good idea what he wanted to devour her with.