by Kitty Thomas
He struck and drank deep as she squirmed and mewled beneath him. Dominic would never have a private moment like this. August would always be at the top of this food chain, and Nicolette would always remain at the bottom.
He tore his mouth from her throat. “Look at me.”
Her glazed gaze slid reluctantly to his. Shame. Desire. Anticipation. Fear. Loathing—for herself or him he couldn’t be sure. What was the difference anymore?
“I will bite you when Dominic feeds to keep him from hurting you, but I will have you every day privately first. Do you understand?”
A quick nod.
“Say it. I want to hear it. Not some slight jerk of your head that you can later deny.”
“Y-yes, I-I understand.”
“Good girl.”
August raised his weight off her. Nicolette was flushed. As much as he’d drank, a normal person would be dead or else so pale it would be hard to tell the difference.
“You may sleep with your husband tonight.”
She got up and slipped past him to the door. She paused when she got there, then came back and offered him a chaste kiss. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Letting me keep him.”
He sighed. “I told you I’d give you anything, poppet.”
August watched her leave. A few minutes passed before he heard the sounds of love exchanged between his mate and Dominic down the hall. He tried not to visualize their limbs tangled together, each clinging to the other like a life raft lost in a dark ocean without end.
He gripped the edge of the vanity and focused on his reflection, as if by looking long enough and deeply enough he could unravel all the bits of himself that had tangled in the past centuries. As if he could somehow make sense of any of it, or superimpose a deeper meaning or purpose over the top like a fresh coat of paint on an old shutter.
It was what the humans did. It was what he had once done. To be able to go back to that world where things must make sense. Where everything locked together in a complex puzzle no man understood the entirety of, but that surely would all be explained in a glittering afterlife somewhere.
He’d been wrong. It wasn’t his humanity he’d perceived the nights he’d prayed for the ability to die. He’d had no time or room for reminiscing on what it meant to be human when his existence had revolved around the singular moment of pleasure in feeding before the world crashed down each night.
Yet now, a new eternity unfolded before him. And a new need. The need for love, acceptance, family. The need to not give in to the monster underneath, the one that might like killing a little too much.
Eternal or finite, life was suffering, and there was always a new and more creative way to suffer.
He held his gaze in the mirror as he picked up the jewelry from the dresser and secured the cross around his neck. The familiar weight settled against his bare chest, the silver searing through each layer of skin to burn straight into his soul. The smoke rose off his flesh like dramatically timed fog in a ballet. His heart fluttered in an uncertain and curious cadence. No longer the dull, steady thrumming—the march that went beyond the edges of the universe and kept going. It was a new beat. One that could change. Or someday end.
Through the smoke, August glimpsed the ghost of a smile.
If you enjoyed Blood Mate, please consider some of Kitty's other titles:
(note: links go to the US Kindle store)
Submissive Fairy Tales: A collection of novellas: The Auction, Awakening, and The King's Pleasure
The Auction: Belle lives on a planet where women are auctioned off on their 18th birthday, but the rich girls don’t have to worry as they are soon set free. Belle has bargained to get a friend to buy and release her, but her plan goes awry when one of the alien creatures on the planet outbids him.
The King's Pleasure: Abigail is moments from losing her hand for stealing bread in the castle, when the King is awakened by her screams and decides he’d rather keep her.
Awakening: Nerina is a mermaid unfamiliar with the sexual ways of humans, until she washes ashore and a wealthy landowner becomes determined to awaken her in order to turn her human.
The Last Girl: (Another vampire tale) Juliet is haunted by dreams of a man who once broke into her home but left her unharmed. He’s been waiting for the right moment to come back for her.
Comfort Food: A woman held captive by a man who refuses to speak to her. Touch is the only form of communication he’ll offer.
Mafia Captive: Faith witnesses a mob hit and instead of being killed, becomes an unlikely Christmas present for the mobster’s kinder twin brother.
Guilty Pleasures: Vivian is sexually shut down until she meets massage therapist, Anton, who will go to any lengths to awaken her body to him.
Tender Mercies: Grace doesn’t want play kink. She wants a real master. But will it cost her everything?
Big Sky: Veronica is deep in debt until an attractive rancher comes along with an offer that is too good to be true.
Author's Note:
If you enjoyed Blood Mate, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a review at the place that you purchased it and tell your friends via Facebook and Twitter! :)
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Acknowledgment
Thank you to the following people in no particular order:
Robin for cover art! And for re-doing it to a new template size when we realized the page count estimate was WAY off!
Karen and Michelle for beta reading. Extra thanks for coming to my aid in brainstorming developmental editing sessions and continuing to take a look at changes, new scenes, etc. Definitely above and beyond when I was in a tight spot!
M for digital formatting and putting up with my angst-puppy routine during the final stages of the book. Love you!
Table of Contents:
Front Matter
Blood Mate
Also By Kitty Thomas
Author's Note
Subscribe for updates
Acknowledgments
