by Leia King
Ryan looked his way, frowning. He had good instincts. He knew something was the matter. “We haven’t finished our discussion,” he said, drawing his gaze away to look upon Vazra.
“I am sure the Dark Realm will be a better venue for that.”
Ryan refused to back down, something Nathanial applauded. He would not allow the most manipulative being in all the realms to push him into anything. “I’m not going anywhere without my son.”
“As you wish then,” Vazra grunted. He turned to address him. “Nathanial, normal rules apply. Keep a low profile, do not feed from any of my subjects, and keep out of the royal gardens.”
“I am well aware of your rules.”
“And, yet, you still enjoy breaking them.”
“It was one brief indiscretion, centuries ago.”
“With dire consequences.”
During one particularly infamous visit to the White Realm, Nathanial had taken part in an orgy in the waterfall down by the royal gardens. He hadn’t realized the effects of the water. He certainly hadn’t imagined that it would lead to him killing all of the faeries he’d bedded on the banks and subsequently embarking on a killing rampage, which Vazra had only just managed to stop with the full force of his magic.
Nathanial narrowed his eyes at Vazra for referencing it and in front of the young ones, no less. “I do not intend to bother anyone.”
“I will make the necessary arrangements for your stay.”
“I need to feed. I am weak from too long spent in the human realm,” Nathanial informed him.
“Yes. I am aware. I will see to it.”
20
“Better?”
Nathanial glanced up as he finished off the last blood bag, to find Vazra watching him intently.
“You need to keep some fresh blood around here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I am no longer ravenous, so that is the main thing. Thank you for the hospitality,” Nathanial said, pushing off the chaise and turning to leave.
“You’re not going to ask me?”
Nathanial stopped in his tracks.
“Ask you what?”
“Where Oriana is.”
He tensed at the sound of the devil woman’s name. “No.”
“You ask me every time we cross paths.”
The old bastard was fishing. Why? He turned around, regarding him shrewdly. “I do not need to.”
Vazra cocked an eyebrow. He looked so incredibly curious. It was beyond normal curiosity. Something was going on. Was he in league with her? The thought was incomprehensible and the consequences even more so. Nathanial hoped that it was just misguided concern for her wellbeing. Concern she certainly did not deserve. “You don’t?” Vazra uttered in a casual tone, which did nothing to fool Nathanial.
“Her grandson was born tonight. She will come soon enough of her own accord. After I have left the White Realm, I suspect. But, regardless, she will come.”
He barely seemed surprised at the suggestion, as he asked, “What are your intentions?”
“Not what you believe them to be.”
Done discussing the unsavory subject, Nathanial swept out of the throne room without another word.
In a burst of vampire speed, he stood outside the bedchamber that had been prepared for him. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, kicking it shut behind him.
He took in the room and smiled at the huge, four-poster bed. Just what he needed. It had been a while since he had last slept. With his power and strength depleted, to say he was exhausted was a major understatement. He would take great pleasure in some much-needed rest. He approached the windows and felt the dark red drapes, satisfied when he found they were thick enough to protect him from the sun’s rays.
Blowing out a long breath to relieve the day’s tension, he unbuttoned his silk shirt and draped it over an armchair in the seating area at the back of the room. He popped his fly, but a sharp knock at the door prevented him from getting any further.
Surprised to have a visitor, given his unsavory reputation thanks to White Realm rumors, he spun towards the door. “Come in!”
It opened slowly.
And there she was.
A woman of unrivaled beauty.
She stepped inside hurriedly, then sealed the door shut behind her.
“Marella?” he queried, wondering at her presence in his bedchamber.
She had changed out of the robes she had been wearing during the birth and she was dressed the way he remembered her. Sophisticated and elegant.
A silky, silver gown hugged her in all the right places, brushing the floor majestically. She flipped her snow-white, curly hair out of her face, revealing her incredible royal-blue eyes. She fiddled with her hands, giving away her nervousness. She risked looking at him directly, but she could barely hold her gaze steady against his for a couple of seconds. Some things never change.
“You do not need to remain rooted to the door. I will not bite,” he told her, grinning. She made her way deeper into the room. “Unless you want me to,” he couldn’t help adding.
Her cheeks heated. “I just came here to thank you for what you did to help with the birth.”
“I believe you have already thanked me.” He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her. “Why are you really here?”
“I… uh… I wanted to see you,” she spoke, unsteadily.
“Is that a statement, or a question, Marella?” He moved closer. “I heard some hesitancy there.”
“No. It’s not… I mean… You….”
“I… what? I make you nervous?” he asked, stepping into her personal space. He smiled to himself when she did not back away. It would have been an act of weakness and Marella had never been weak.
“Maybe a little.”
He leaned into her and breathed in her ear, “I know who you are.”
She drew back. “I don’t know who you think I am, Nathanial, but—”
“You are her sister.”
“I… no….” she fumbled.
He smiled with amusement. “You cannot deny it. I can smell your blood. Just like Oriana’s. Just like Ryan’s. You are their blood kin.”
She released a heavy sigh of defeat. “Yes.”
“You have kept that secret well. You told the wolf, though. I saw Cornelius’s ring on him. You saved his life by giving it to him when you did.”
“He is family. It is my duty to protect him.”
“I am glad that you did. The wolf is important to me.”
She shook her head sadly. “You cannot right the wrongs that you inflicted upon his father, through his son, Nathanial.”
“Is it not my duty to try?”
“Have you told him the whole story of past events? The true story, I mean?”
“Not yet. He was not ready to hear it. There was so much else for him to absorb.”
“He still believes you forced his mother into hiding then?”
“Yes.”
“You should tell him that, after what she did, your advisors wanted you to torture and kill her. They thought it was the only way for your to overcome the embarrassment and maintain your impervious image as King of the Dark Realm. Tell him that you saved her instead.”
“Perhaps. When the time is right.”
“Good.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “So, how long have you known about me? My connection to Oriana?”
“Always.”
“What? Why didn’t you say anything in all these centuries?”
“I sensed you did not want Vazra to know. I am not sure why you chose to hide it from him. Regardless, I did not want to make things difficult for you.”
“Why? What concern was it of yours?”
His gaze softened. “It was a great concern to me.”
“Because of Oriana?”
“No, because of you,” he said, taking her hand in his and pulling her close. “I have always liked you. I’ve wondered what it would be like with you for a long while. I saw yo
u long before Oriana, but you were with a warlock back then.”
She grimaced at the memory. “I remember. He was abusive. He met a brutal fate when he was murdered by a vampire.”
Nathanial told her pointedly, “I know.”
“It was you?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“He hurt you.” He reached out and trailed a finger lightly down her soft cheek.
“Stop, Nathanial.”
He pulled back, watching with a heavy heart as she hurried to the door.
No.
He couldn’t accept it. Not after so long spent waiting for her. To come to his bedchamber meant she had thought herself ready. She was just letting her nerves get the better of her.
“If it makes you feel better to continue to deny it to yourself, so be it. I will not take an unwilling woman. But you cannot deny it to me, angel. I have seen you look my way many a time with passion in your eyes.”
Her hand stilled on the door handle. Relief flooded through him. He’d managed to reach her.
“It is wrong,” she murmured.
With a burst of speed, he stood beside her. “How so?”
“Because of Oriana.”
“What about her? She left me two centuries ago for another man. No. She is not your excuse. Do not insult me by trying to hide behind that.” He clasped her arms and eased her against the wall. “Say it,” he commanded. He trailed his fingers down her neck, to her chest, her cleavage. “Speak the truth,” he pressed.
“You’re… too strong.”
There it was. The beginning of the true reason she’d been reluctant to act with him. “And?”
“You jeopardize my ability to maintain control.”
“You do the same to me.”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
He leaned in, his mouth just a hair’s breadth from hers. “True passion is not about control.”
“No. It is not,” she agreed, smiling up at him. Her eyes flashed with desire, giving him the green light.
Nathanial reached for the straps of her sexy dress and drew them slowly off her shoulders.
He felt her pulse quicken as he continued to strip it from her body until it pooled at her feet, leaving her standing naked before him. He took in every inch of her body, a body he had coveted for centuries.
“Tell me, angel, have any of the lovers you have taken over the years stood to admire all of your glory? Have they told you that your exquisite body is the definition of true perfection?”
She smiled shyly at his compliment. “A line you no doubt tell all your whores.”
He kissed her cheek tenderly and whispered, “You are not my whore. If that were the case, I would have seduced you long ago.” His lips brushed hers softly and he looked deeply into her eyes. “But I waited for you to come to me.” He lifted her chin, guiding her gaze to his. “Now that you have, I know it was worth my wait to see this look in your eyes.”
“What… look?” she eked out, finding it hard to concentrate, as he slid his hands up and down her sides.
“That look of love that you have tried to hide from me for so long.”
She broke his gaze. “I….”
He cupped her breasts, kneading them gently, and she arched her back, pushing them further into his hands. “Do you deny it, angel?”
“No,” she whispered.
And that was all he needed to hear.
He pressed his lips to hers, capturing her in a long, lingering kiss. Her mouth opened for him and his tongue plunged inside, tasting her, exploring her. She responded earnestly, deepening the kiss, her tongue dueling with his with a passionate fervor.
He slid his hand down to her pussy and she gasped as his icy fingers slipped between her slick folds.
“Cold,” she cried, breaking their kiss.
He smirked at her as he continued his ministrations. “Do you wish me to stop?”
“Never,” she said, gripping the sides of his face and forcing his mouth back to hers.
He teased her clit, his expert fingers quickly bringing her to the brink of ecstasy.
She whimpered in protest when he suddenly pulled his hand away.
“Nathanial.”
He held her gaze as he tasted her arousal coating his fingers. “Mmm. Even sweeter than I had fantasized.”
And then he swept her off her feet and carried her to his bed. He laid her down and shed the rest of his clothes quickly. Cupping her face in his hands, he confessed, “I have waited a long time to have you in my bed.”
“Take me. Now, Nathanial.”
“Yes, angel. Yes.” Holding her gaze, he slid inside her, sinking deep.
“Oh God!” she gasped, jerking beneath him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Nathanial,” she breathed in pleasure.
“You feel incredible, angel.” He began to thrust at an easy pace, grunting at the delicious feel of her slick, warm walls clamping down around him.
“More,” she pleaded.
He grasped her ass tightly, holding her to him, at his mercy, as he began to thrust hard and deep.
Her cries of pleasure and his grunts of satisfaction filled the room.
“Marella,” he gasped. “The urge to taste you is overwhelming.”
“You are asking to… bite me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Wow. I—”
“I desire you like no other. That is why.”
Her eyes lit up. “Me too. I’ve wanted you for a long time.”
“I know.” He stilled inside her, gritting his teeth with the effort. “You may taste me.”
Her gaze was riveted on him as he called a talon forth and swept it across his chest, drawing a shallow wound.
“Your dark power,” she breathed in awe.
“Yes.”
He teased her with his cock, easing out of her slowly and plunging back inside over and over again, encouraging her, tempting her.
And then he felt it. Her lips on his chest.
He moaned as her tongue darted out and tasted him.
Within moments, the heady power of his blood had her in a frenzy and she sucked at his chest ravenously, drawing more of his blood into her mouth.
“Bite me,” she begged.
Those words had him losing control. He picked up his pace and thrust into her powerfully, the force of his thrusts driving her up the bed. He gave her everything he had and she responded in kind, meeting his pleasurable assault head on.
He let the demon take him and his fangs scraped over the sensitive flesh of her neck.
She whimpered with a medley of fear and anticipation as his fangs pierced her neck.
Her blood hit his tongue and it was the sweetest, most delectable thing he had ever tasted. She came around him with a shriek, squeezing his cock like a vice. Feeling her orgasm ripple through her blood as he tasted her was pure, unadulterated bliss. Incredible. It was too much and he shot his seed deep within her, roaring out his intense release.
“Nathanial!” she exclaimed in a panic, her sharp tone cutting through his pleasurable reverie. “Your eyes! They’re glowing!”
He blinked hard to come back to reality. And that was when he noticed that hers were glowing also. “Yours, too, angel.”
“What? No. Pull back! Pull out!”
“It is too late.”
He withdrew from her and settled himself beside her. He watched her eyes fix on his cock.
“How can you be so sure? You’re still as hard as you were when we began.”
“I am a vampire, Marella. It is par for the course with my kind. I am sure.”
“I see. I have never been with a vampire.”
“I am well aware.”
She frowned. “You are?”
“I have kept myself informed of your romantic entanglements over the years. It is how I also know that it has been a long time since you have taken a lover. It is why I took it easy on you tonight.”
“Wow. That is… a lot to absorb.”
�
��I apologize. I have told you how I felt about you all these years. I had to ensure you were safe and happy. That is all, angel.”
She rolled to him, grasping his arm and holding him against her. “It’s okay. I know it came from a good place. It’s very sweet, Nathanial.”
“Now we know why we have never been able to let these feelings for one another lie. What just happened speaks for itself. I just cannot believe that neither one of us even suspected as much. Many distractions have come between us though. Perhaps, if they had not, we would have realized the truth.”
She pulled away and sat up, staring at him with a deeply pensive expression. “You think we are fated?”
“Our eyes were—”
“Glowing,” she cut in, anxiously. “We might just be reading into it, Nathanial. I mean, your eyes always glow a little by default. And mine? Maybe it was just a trick of the light.”
He frowned at her excuses. “Why are you so intent on denying this?”
“If this is true, the consequences will be dire. Especially for me, given my position on Vazra’s court.”
“An external issue that we can deal with together.” He shifted, sitting up in bed. “Marella, this should be a cause for celebration. It is a rarity to find this in any lifetime.”
“If it is actually what you think.”
He sighed inwardly, realizing continuing to push the case was futile. She was obviously in shock over it. She needed time to accept it. The last thing he wanted was to pressure her and have her run from him. He had waited so long to have her, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.
“Of course,” he forced himself to respond nonchalantly. He gently drew her back down under the covers and cradled her against his body. “Let us sleep now. We have talked enough for one night.”
“Yes. It’s been a long day.”
As she relaxed back against him, he tightened his hold around her and nuzzled her shoulder, breathing her in. He smiled to himself.
She is the one. My true mate.
21
Ryan strode into Josh’s room, his son cradled carefully in his arms.
He did a double take at the sight of Josh sitting intimately close to Shaye on the couch, the two of them whispering back and forth.
