His words were a confession, and I moved to help him as he pushed my robe from my shoulders. He immediately cupped my breasts, kneading them softly under his palms as I watched him, arching into his touch, pressing wantonly forward.
“I could torture you,” he murmured softly. “Make you want me until you’re as half-crazed with it as you make me feel.”
I laughed at the sudden rush of power his words gifted me. “I make you crazy?”
“Fuck, yes.” He lapped his tongue over my nipple, watching it harden beneath the wet fabric of my bra. “You make me so crazy,” he murmured. “So hard…” He fisted his cock through his pants as if to demonstrate and groaned before letting his hand drop away. “Fuck. So ready.”
My body throbbed with awareness of him, and I wriggled, grinding teasingly against him as I reached between us to release his button and zipper, setting his cock free.
I was so greedy for him, touching that soft, hot skin with my fingertips and taking the hard shaft in my hand, smoothing up in a hesitant stroke.
He rolled his hips, burying his face against my hair, his breathing coming in spurts against my ear. “Never wanted anything more.”
“Nothing?”
He drew back, a half grin tilting one corner of his mouth. “Well, I might currently be thankful you’re wearing a robe today. Remind me that you never need clothes ever again. Just more robes.”
As he spoke, he skimmed his hand up my right thigh, and I caught my breath on an inhale, my top teeth pressed softly to my lower lip.
Part of me wanted to stop him because even now, the intimate touch was almost overwhelming. The rest of me wanted to spread my legs wide and guide his hand to touch me where I needed it most. I giggled.
“You okay?” His hand stilled.
I nodded. “I just really want you touch me. I don’t think I can wait.” I still gripped his cock in my hand, fluttering light touches over it to make him spasm and to hear strange gasps emerge from him.
“What do you want, Nic?”
When he groaned this time, it rumbled through his chest. “All of you.” He moved, the fabric swishing as he changed how he sat and his grip on me.
My panties were suddenly a scrap of material in his hand, and he tucked them into his pocket. Like he was starting a collection or something.
Cool air hit my clit, and I shivered. His fingers trailed forward, stroking me then doubling back, the same way I teased him with lazy strokes. He kissed the edge of my jaw, teasing me there too, with soft nibbles of his flat, straight teeth.
I bent my neck and pulled my hair over my shoulder, my invitation unspoken as his eyes bled to the dull red I’d come to associate with heightened emotion. Currently, it was desire, lust, want.
“What do you want, Nic?” I asked him again as he circled his finger around my clit, my voice breathy, my words a little broken.
“All of you,” he repeated, his voice strained now too, as I stroked him with greater urgency.
I wasn’t playing now, wasn’t teasing, and I leaned to kiss him then paused as I just touched his mouth with mine.
“Bite me,” I whispered, and a sound of need worked through his chest, vibrating against me.
My arousal increased and his nostrils flared as he groaned again.
“Your scent…” His hands were on my waist, and he lifted me, positioning me over him and holding my waist as I gripped his cock and nudged it against my entrance.
I wriggled, taking him inside me, and he sucked in a breath as I rose back up then down, allowing my body the time to accommodate him. I breathed out a long breath as he filled me. Part relief, part satisfaction. All was right in my world as Nic and I joined, although I almost laughed at the flowery, romantic thought that we’d somehow become one.
I just couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be, or anything I’d rather be doing. Only one thing could possibly improve this moment.
I bared my neck again, and Nic’s voice emerged as a growl.
“Tease.”
I moved gently up and down on him, easing his cock in and out of my body as his fingers still worked over my clit, stroking the delicate bundle of nerves. I wrapped my arms loosely around his neck. “I want you to bite me, though.”
“Are you sure?”
“Are you kidding? It feels amazing.” I lowered my voice on the last sentence. “You make me feel amazing.” I almost swooned thinking about it.
Instead of replying, he picked up the pace, not waiting for me to move against him, setting the rhythm and taking control, his finger pressing against my clit, stroking it, thrumming it, until my control started to loosen, my body threatening to fragment.
“Leia.”
I looked into his eyes at the urgency of his voice, and he revealed a hint of fang as my body began to tighten around him. I nodded then his mouth was at my neck, his fangs piercing my skin as my orgasm crashed through me, washing away all of my thoughts, and drawing me to a place of ecstasy and tightened muscles as I splintered around him to the beat of him drawing the blood from my vein.
As my breathing steadied, the only sound left in the room was Nic’s gentle sucking, the only sensations the tug on my skin and echo of the way my body had pulsed around him.
Then he drew away, arched his back, and a guttural groan emerged from his throat as he thrust his hips one last time and shuddered against me. I smoothed my hand over his back before he dipped his head and his tongue slid over the sensitive skin on my neck.
He grinned at me, and I pushed my hands into his hair, claiming his mouth as I rocked carefully against the hardness still inside me, enjoying each flutter and spasm of pleasure, and each tiny murmur of the same from Nic.10LeiaOne week later, life had already settled into a predictable routine. I woke in Nic’s arms, offered him my neck, and he fed a little, sometimes while he finger-fucked me, but often while he just created networks of goosebumps over my body by stroking his hands across my skin, weaving a fragile net of bliss around my body. It was almost my favorite part of the day.Almost. Except our nights were even better. So many orgasms, even more bliss.I floated from moment to minute to hour to day…thoroughly annoying Aimée every time I zoned out on our conversations, I was sure. But I couldn’t help it.Nic filled my thoughts and my senses.“Hellooooo,” Aimée waved her hand over my face. “I assume Flight Nicky-Forever has already departed this morning, with you well and
I could say almost anything while she wasn’t looking. “I overheard Nic talking to some of his guys the other day…”She lifted her head, her face now streaked with grime, and raised an eyebrow. “You overheard?”My face heated. “Yeah. He was on the phone in the other room…”She’d disappeared back into the box and started taking out books that looked like they needed delicate handling and just allowing them to thump to the floor. “You were waiting outside a room while he was on the phone?”“Yeah.” I’d been eavesdropping—Aimée and I both knew it—but I just needed to style it out. “And it sounded like the war with New Orleans, against Francois, is escalating. Do you know anything about what’s going on?”She paused again, long enough to cast me a skeptical glance, her eyebrow raised. “Don’t you think that might be a question for Nicky?”I huffed out a sigh. “He won’t tell me anything. Just keeps saying to stay out of it and let him handle it. But…”“But what?” Her tone was muffled now. “You
He hissed a breath and closed his eyes. “Leia.”“Do you need blood to help you heal?” I automatically offered myself to him as I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his tattoo then followed the paths of some of the lines with my tongue.“Leia.” He groaned my name and cupped the back of my head, his fingers threading into my hair. I kissed his chest gently before sucking experimentally at his nipple, probing the tiny nub with my tongue, and he hissed again. “We’ll never make it down to dinner with Aimée and Tomas, if you keep teasing me.”I glanced up at him. “Do you think they’d mind?”He chuckled. “I’m pretty sure Aimée takes very little pleasure in nursing a goblet of warmed blood while we watch you eat. She’ll take even less in nursing that goblet and simply looking at your empty place.” He dropped a kiss into my hair. “Raincheck on the teasing and the blood?”I nodded. “I guess.”He strode to the closet and shrugged out of his jacket and shirt as I tried to ignore his obvious aro
“But I said thank you.”Nic grumbled but didn’t chastise him further.“I came to see how you are, to see how you left things…” Sebastian glanced at Aimée and Tomas and me. “Earlier.” Then he looked at Aimée again and inclined his head. “Sister.”It was a very polite, neutral greeting and I filed it away as one of the things to explore about this mysterious family one day. None of them seemed to truly get along, but then how could I expect them to if they’d all been plucked from their human lives and just lumped together?I shuddered at fresh thoughts of becoming a vampire. So far, nothing I’d seen presented it as a good lifestyle. They couldn’t enjoy Chef’s food, for a start.“I found Nicky’s Book of Gray,” Aimée said conversationally as she watched Sebastian.Nic rolled his eyes. “Aimée,” he started.“No, no, I think that’s a really good idea. Well done, Aimée.” As Sebastian praised his sister, she preened a little, and I held back a chuckle. Their family dynamics really were insane.
I never actually wanted to be alone again.So I needed to turn her.But how could I talk to her about that? She’d allowed my claim, but we’d never discussed her being anything other than human. I didn’t know what she wanted. I wanted her with me forever, but I couldn’t force that on her.I looked away. At first, I’d thought I just wanted power. The power a virgin could bring me, then the extended power of a true mate by my side.But by the time I’d claimed her, it had been about more than power. And a true mate turning, according to the Book of Gray, was about love. It was the biggest gift I could give. It was immortal life.Of course, it was also a selfish vampire gift—a lover and true mate, by my side, for eternity. But it was a commitment. A choice. A wedding. The most insane version of marriage ever—where as long as we both should live took on a whole different meaning.It would mean giving all of myself and accepting all of Leia, too.Which I wanted with a yearning that surprised
“Nic.” Kyle stepped inside, a box in his hands, and his face immediately paled. “Uh, shit.”He covered his mouth and nose with one hand and moved his head to beckon me over before backing out the door.“What’s up, Kyle?” I glanced at Leia before I joined him in the corridor and closed the door.His cheeks reddened, something I’d never seen from Kyle, who was one-hundred percent pure soldier, cold mercenary, and always completely unflappable. “I just… I, uh… I didn’t expect her scent to be so…” He squared his shoulders and looked at me, his eyes the usual harsh clarity I’d come to expect. “I’ll be prepared next time.”“What?” My hand itched as my fingers formed a fist. My mate’s scent had affected him? “She’s claimed,” I ground out.“But not turned,” he replied, his voice even.I sighed. For fuck’s sake. Another person to make me feel guilty—like I didn’t feel guilty enough already. And how the hell did every other fucker know this very important detail?“Is that a problem?” I kept my
“Witch?” Leia struggled against Kyle, and a growl rumbled through me at the sight of his hands on her as he tried to remove her from the room.“Release her,” I snapped.Immediately, Kyle raised his hands and backed away from my mate.She whirled toward me and crossed the room before I could stop her. “Oh, Lettie.” A tear ran down her cheek even as she looked into the box. Then she raised her pale face to me, her eyes dark. “Who would do this?”I shook my head. “Perhaps Francois suspected…”“I should check on Temple.” Kyle hurried from the room.“She died because of me?” Leia kept looking at Lettie’s head in the box and I gently closed the flaps back up before handing it to Jason.I shook my head. “No, Lettie didn’t die because of you. She died because of what Francois did, because he took you, because of the decisions she made, maybe. But make no mistake, Lettie died because of Francois.” Even if he hadn’t been the bastard to rip her apart.Although it had definitely looked like the w
She nodded and cleared her throat as she patted her hair back into place. “Got it.”I broke into a jog as I headed toward the high roller room. Damage control. Shit. Had the main door to the casino been closed soon enough? Locked? I fucking hoped so. I couldn’t allow anyone out onto the streets with tales of a vampire on the loose in my casino.Okay, so chances were, no one would believe a day-drinking gambler, but there were always people who followed up on shit like this, and the red-topped tabloids that printed the stories. It would always be too big a risk to take.Shit.Valérie had been right. The room where the vampire had attacked his victims was a bloodbath. Red blood spatter stretched from floor to ceiling, and the four dead victims lay brokenly over tables and chairs. A group of survivors huddled in the corner of the room, and I made my way over to them, already talking in my most soothing voice.It was going to be a long fucking day.12LeiaAimée’s eyes widened. “Some fuc