Risque didn't bother to remove herself from his hold as she exhibited a perfectly formed patience for that cowboy. Was she not allowed to admire what was hers? She did not anticipate for those mismatched eyes to darken, for that flicker of discontentment to assault him in the same breath. His hold tightened, fingers curling into her wrist along with his fangs tightening their hold as well. Although, it wasn't enough to break the skin, even though the pressure did cause that wound to split, Those fangs would leave indents. He was slipping away, regressing in an instant. Did she give him too many options? Too much of an opportunity for failure? Perhaps she had enough morbid curiousity to find out even at the sacrifice of an appendage.

The choice was his and yet that choice was not without consequence. How they teetered on the ledge of disaster and ruin. She saw a whisper of the wild man in the forest... but only just a touch. He was made up of brutal, wicked savagery and yet had some so far from the beast of a man she knew still existed to a degree. Yet, it was quite clear he was in control. He was hardly as rough as he could be even though part of her expected it in that moment. Darcy didn't dare harm her. It would have been at that moment when she seized control and yet... for whatever possessed her then, she waited. Long enough for him to make that choice. Only it happened almost instantly. Like a lit candle wick snuffed out between two pinched fingers. If she hadn't seen it so blatantly before her, she wouldn't have believed it. The pressure from his jaw released it's hold upon her thumb in an instant and yet still it remained, still unwilling to give up his prize. What was that? What was so powerful a thought to enter his mind and simply deactivated a bomb about to blow. Like someone had cut the right wire and it wasn't even her. A normal being would snap their hand back out of instinct and self-preservation and yet she refused to react, allowing herself to remain shackled, perhaps by her own curiousity and a willingness to explore his unique brand of brutality in all its facets. "What was that?" She prompted although a little irritated that she couldn't understand her lover even though she had placed all the fail safes inside of his head even if had been fostering another side of him. This, was once more.. was all him.

Risque allowed him that time to sift through the gears and cogs of his thoughts. To come to his own conclusion. Because this.. somehow mattered. What belief would win? If he assumed she had only set to trap him when her every action showed... dominantly otherwise. If he would treat her like she was in fact the monster that so many perceived, perhaps that was exactly what he would receive in turn. For she was also a fickle creature by her very nature, with those multifaceted complexities that so many failed to even comprehend or even scratch the surface of.

Somehow, far too much seemed to hinge upon that very moment. One she hadn't quite known existed... How could this happen in just a few moments? When did it pivot?

A scant few moments, close to ten human heartbeats later was all that was needed to know he had come to some realization of his own. His tongue idly lapped at the wound to keep his prize to himself or perhaps, to distract. Regardless, that minor blip had left him. Far more determined to steal every single molecule of her blood that that puncture could provide, the sting was barely noticeable to her. Those fangs could do far worse. His hand that still gripped her wrist, refused to let her go even though he suddenly removed her hand from his mouth in order to speak.

The words that left her cowboy were surprising lucid, no strain of any existing fear permeated them either. Words that sliced right through her very being. No one had called her out like that before, not even him. How she almost felt those defensive urges swell and yet she did not let even a flicker of it rise to the surface. The feline queen shifted in her seat perhaps the only indication of something brewing... despite her limited movement. Oh, he knew did he? How strange a feeling was to have her own convoluted workings suddenly set upon her. "Oh, is that so? I wasn't planning on tricking you if that's what you think." Did he truly know or merely just think he did?

Yet... again her mate seemed to shapeshift right before her eyes. Almost like he did in that truck.

A man that was driven with animalistic urges to hold a comparable level of control over himself. It was said to be.... Impossible for a vampire of his unique species to possess any of it. In fact, she had relied on his intrinsic nature to work with him to train him far too many times before. It worked, without fail. But he had become something else since then. Unique. Bolder. Something that did not outright challenge her authority but... silently demanded that she adapt with it. The only thing those words suggested was that he knew... and he didn't care. But why? There were many reasons that welled up within her mind before he did what she wanted anyways.

Suddenly, his lips peeled back to give her that full view she had requested... revealing those fangs like a dragon drawing closer with his maw on display and yet held no intention to bite. There was no denying that to her, those teeth were remarkable. A violent work of art, designed for one thing only, to maim, to destroy. Her gaze lingered upon every brutal point... her tongue absently drawing across her own fang as she finally eyed that broken, jagged tooth again. It was like she couldn't help but fixate upon it, truly getting a proper look at it.

How she could once more feel that vindictive whip lashing within her, a potent need to assure the being that dared to mar what was hers meet an unpleasant end. It was perhaps fortunate the hunter had already met his demise because she was certain his destruction met by her would be far worse. Risque forced the sensation to remain buried and nothing more than a gnawing within her gut even though that flash of malice within her hardened diamond eyes told another story. How easy it would be to miss.

It didn't seem to bother her lover, no, he was the only being who seemed to like to dance in the burn of her flames many recoiled from. He seemed bolder than he had before. Completely confident to lick her thumb once more to not spare any ounce of blood she had shed.. his fangs still on display and yet possessed no ounce of malice.

Just like that... the tension held between them shattered like glass being obliterated to sand... falling away even though the barest of it still clung to his figure, as if all he had to was just wipe it away and it would be gone. He actually relaxed as if that fear was all but dialed down to a new low. Yet, it was like a thought spurred within his mind, causing him to shift once more. It prompted a sort of bafflement within her. Tipped her head to the side, she eyed her lover like he might have well and truly snapped into a fit of mania as that lopsided grin found his lips. There was an ease to his words that he hadn't possessed before. That abrupt shift startling, like a school boy with a crush only he was so clearly not a boy. She could have sworn he actually looked sheepish. A strange look for her murderous cowboy especially after that fear he had displayed. He claimed it wasn't out of respect or anything that he found himself unable to bite her... Then what was it?

He cut off anything else she might have said. Abruptly silencing her with his words that he spoke many times before and yet baffled her all the same. She fixed him with a perplexed look, unable to hide that he had caught her off guard. Where was that fear now? He spoke that claim so easily, as if it were the most natural thing to say. As if that suddenly explained everything. Was this a trick? Did he feign fear for this? Surely, he wasn't capable of that level of deception. "So I could have ripped out your fang at any moment and you wouldn't have bitten me.. because you.. love... me? Is that what you are saying?" She spoke those words, guarded. All of sudden she understood that same instinctual need to move away. Like he did when she grabbed for his chain. Only this was far more metaphorical for her than out of fear.

He was bold, even in that moment to so much as lean in once more to lick at that thumb again that reminded her almost like a brief kiss of sorts. The act almost playful in her eyes. He was now leaning so far in that he was almost eating out the palm of her hand. He was almost where she needed him to approach the removal of his fang... But it was like he was the one who held her in the shackles with his words. Love..

Risque powerfully drew to her feet abruptly, tempted to thrust the cowboy away. His hand still wrapped around her wrist, that felt all but binding as a shackle in those moments.

Just as swiftly, he injected those words. Perhaps the only daring words that caused her to pause. Unless she didn't trust him. It drew her turned away gaze back to him. Was he daring her?

It was almost like they both held a loaded gun pressed to their temples. Silence it overtook after that and it was deafening. Even though she could have easily broke away from his hold, she didn't go beyond his arm's length as she hesitated, halted by those very words. It would have been far simpler if he were simply scared of her. If he deemed her the monster. It was far easier to be that fear when all those around you expected it, they just didn't know when. It was a kind of power she utilized well.

"Fine." Was all she said clipped, although a little pitched. "Fine." She said again, this time haughty, as if cementing it into place. "I thought you would have preferred my way.. but if that is what you want." In the cusp of that moment she tipped her chin in the air, matching those words. To think! She went through all of this.. just to ease him into it and now he baited her to do it! Incroyable! The gall of her lover to twist this at the last moment. To claim love and then in the next breath to question her trust. She would show him trust.

"Put your lover's words where your mouth is, Darcy." She warned, although the tone wasn't chiding even though it tried to be. It was the only warning not to bite she would offer.

One moment she was standing as far as his arm that still gripped would allow.. As if she was halfway ready to drag him to the door before. She arched her back, looking every bit something regal and elegant before she lowered herself onto his lap.. Her free hand, smoothly pushing him firmly down into that couch.

He wanted her trust not her love... yet... why did they seem so close to the same thing? Perhaps one was distinctly worse. There was no time to meddle with it. She had a point she wished to drive home.

Risque did not shy away from that new course she adapted and committed to. The hand that he held drew to his lips, in spite of that hold. She moved with that same grace, her pale gaze slide to his own. "The thing with trust.." She-devil leaned in, her lips pressed against his ear as plush of her wounded thumb that attempted to heal dragged upon his lip for entry, painting his lower lip with the last drop. It was a silent demand to open. Her finger slid into his mouth but brushed across every sharpened fang as she did with a clear boldness. Just as she positioned her finger and thumb upon what remained of that jagged tooth before she pinched firmly. "It cuts..." Those French lyrics purred into his ear just as she acted with a firm downwards yank she was met with a little resistance from the tooth itself before the inevitable give, unless he attempted to stop her. Perhaps it was a mercy to offer that mere distraction. Maybe it was being well versed in this that made her more fitting for that job. "Both ways." She added smugly, a little too pleased with herself before understanding a little too late.

Did she avoid one bite for a bite of another? Trust, as she said, cut both ways only... she hadn't quite expected to be cut in quite this way.