Black Magic Rose

by Jordan K. Rose

  “There’s no other way? Nothing? Not one thing could save him?” She felt Dragomir’s heart beat against her breast. The fast pounding told her he was frightened. She squeezed herself closer, rubbing her cheek against his.

  “If she’s so inclined to save him, she will have to mate him,” Fergus said. “Are you willing to bless a union with him?” The disgust in Fergus’s voice stabbed at Sofia’s heart.

  Dr. MacDuff blinked at her once. Something lit beneath his sparkling green irises. He brushed the hair from her face and nodded. “A union would save him. Save you both.”

  “Wait. What? Union?” She blinked rapidly, unsure of whether the tears on her cheeks were for Dragomir or herself. “Save us both. What’s wrong with me?”

  “They’ll hunt you. When word spreads that you drank from him, you won’t be safe anywhere. Even the other members of The Alliance will want you dead.” Dr. MacDuff dropped his head and sighed. “Mating Dragomir is the only way out of this.”

  “You mean…is that like marrying him?”

  Something in Dragomir’s pants moved. Hardened. Sofia couldn’t help but bear down on it. Dragomir groaned. She squeaked.

  “Yes, Sofia, except the ties of mates are more than just words. It’s an eternal, spiritual bond that links your energies. The existence of each mate is intertwined. They need each other to exist.” Dr. MacDuff rested his hand on her head and held her hair away from her face.

  Sofia wished like all hell he’d stop touching her. She honestly wished he and Fergus would get the hell out and let her have a few minutes alone with Dragomir. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

  “Forever? So Dragomir would be dead in about fifty to sixty years or whenever I die?” She tried to think clearly, to ask the right questions. “I’d be condemning him to death in this lifetime.”

  “Possibly, but unlikely,” Dr. MacDuff answered.

  Dragomir’s fingers dug into her. His chest tightened. His arms locked around her.

  Sofia swallowed. “What? Oh, can’t you just explain it?” She couldn’t stop the moan that escaped her lips and had to turn her face into Dragomir’s neck, unable to stand the thought of Dr. MacDuff or any other person seeing her like this.

  The smell of Dragomir’s flesh filled her nostrils then her lungs and she could barely follow the rest of what Dr. MacDuff said.

  “As your mate Dragomir would be free to feed you whenever you desired. It would extend your life.”

  “Like I said, we’d be dying in about fifty to sixty years,” she mumbled into Dragomir’s skin. And as she thought about that she couldn’t help but feel selfish. She was pretty sure she’d be getting fifty to sixty years of damn good sex and then he’d have to die. But he had to believe that was better than dying here and now without sex.

  “You will drink from him tonight, if you mate him,” Fergus snarled. “We will know the truth. We will see the union sealed.”

  Sofia stiffened. Just the thought of someone’s blood in her mouth was enough to cool her desire. Her mouth was suddenly dry.

  “It would only be a small amount, Sofia. Just enough to form the binds,” Dr. MacDuff said.

  “It’s drink or he dies,” Fergus said.

  “Oh all right. Let’s just get this over with,” she said.

  Dr. MacDuff sighed. He stood and placed one hand on Sofia’s head and one on Dragomir’s. “Witness now the joining of two souls.”

  Dragomir moved with speed Sofia could not have anticipated. He ripped her turtleneck and scarf from her neck and lunged for her skin, biting into her flesh with such drive she thought he’d bitten through her. Instead, a wave of pleasure even more amazing than the one from last night hit her and she slammed her hips onto his, moaning. He held her tight against him and drank. He sucked and swallowed, sounding like a starving man feasting after weeks with no food.

  Sofia’s mind went completely blank. She couldn’t focus on a damn thing. Not until he spoke to her. She heard his voice, felt him inside her, in her mind, in her heart, in her body. He was everywhere. His scent. His essence. His love.

  “My mate, I swear to protect, cherish and honor you. I will provide for all your needs. I bind you to me as my mate, my wife, my friend, my lover from this day until the end of all days. Eternally bound, I will love no other.”

  His lips left her skin and he held her before him, her body slack from his feeding and her own pleasure. She blinked lazily, then licked her lips.

  “Do you take me as your mate?” He asked the question out loud for all to hear.

  She stared at him. His face was flush, hair a mess, skin slick with sweat. Deep within his dark eyes hunger burned. He wanted her, truly wanted her for his own. It was a desire she’d never seen in a man before, not even in a ravaging animal. He needed her as though she was the very air he breathed.

  Her heart pounded. He would be hers for eternity.

  Eternity was a long time.

  He didn’t blink, just held her and waited.

  She hardly knew him. Could she possibly spend eternity with someone she didn’t know? He was beautiful. And strong. And he had been kind. Though he was also pigheaded. And difficult. And ruthless.

  A devilish grin tugged at his lips.

  He loved her. She felt it. The way his energy swirled around her and within. He never pushed or tried to influence her. He waited eagerly, hoping she’d say what he wanted to hear.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “I give myself to you, my mate. Everything I am, my very essence is yours.” He pulled her to a seated position and removed the knife from his side. He ripped his shirt from his chest and drew the blade over his heart. A thin line of red appeared. “Take from me. Bind me as your mate.”

  His hand slid up Sofia’s back to rest on her neck but he didn’t force her.

  She swallowed hard and closed her lips, pinning them together between her teeth.

  The moment of truth. Could she truly bind herself to him? Could she drink blood? She tried to swallow again, but her mouth was so dry her tongue stuck to the roof. She coughed.

  “It’s all right, Sofia. Relax. He will not taste like blood to you. He will taste like your mate.” Dr. MacDuff knelt beside her.

  “It’s dripping.” She moved to wipe Dragomir’s chest.

  Dragomir caught her hand and shook his head. “Use your tongue.”

  In a bedroom alone with him those words might have been very erotic. But with an audience including her father’s friend and a pissed-off werewolf the mood was slightly more distressing and much less arousing.

  She couldn’t catch her breath. She tried to inhale but came up short. Loud gasps and her thundering heart made her more uncomfortable.

  “What does he smell like to you?” Dr. MacDuff asked.

  “The forest.” She huffed. “And soap.”

  Dragomir smiled and laced his fingers with hers. “Calm, my love.”

  “Clean. Fresh. Inviting. Wild. Familiar.” Dr. MacDuff’s voice was suddenly distant.

  Dragomir surrounded her, held her close. “Drink, Sofia. I will taste as sweet as nectar for you.” His voice, so gentle moved within her.

  She rested one hand on Dragomir’s hip and clung tight to his other then leaned forward and let her tongue catch the blood trailing down his chest. Her lips sealed over the slash and she tasted him.

  He was sweet, yet manly.

  She felt him writhe against her. He released her hand and both arms encircled her, holding her to him, squeezing her body to his. His cock throbbed against her so hard it hurt her abdomen. He moaned and then yelled her name.

  She suckled the wound, transfixed on the idea that her lips and tongue were bringing him such pleasure. Her hands slid around him, her fingers digging into his back, her mouth working his chest. She held on, never wanting to let go, wishing his pleasure would last forever.

  The wound sealed and she rested her forehead on his chest. Dragomir curled forward, cradling Sofia on his lap, his head resting against hers.
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  Their breathing rasped, uneven breaths announcing their completed bond.

  Dr. MacDuff stood behind Dragomir and replaced his hands on their heads. “What bond has formed tonight no entity may destroy. Eternal happiness be yours.”

  Sofia heard the door open and footsteps exit the room but she was too comfortable in Dragomir’s arms to care what was happening.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was several minutes before either Dragomir or Sofia moved. And when finally he shifted, he scooped her against him, stood, and carried her to the desk where he gently placed her on the edge. He stood silently in front of her, his legs brushing the insides of her knees.

  Sofia reluctantly let her arms drop from around him. Her skirt had crawled all the way up around her waist and her plum-colored stockings now sported holes in both knees with runs shooting up to her hips and down to her toes. She straightened her skirt, wiggling it down to her thighs and fussed with her shirt, the collar of which hung open to her waist, exposing lots of cleavage and a bright pink bra. She tucked the collar back up and tried to button her jacket, but the buttons were no longer attached. She wrapped the blazer one side over the other and folded her arms across her abdomen.

  “Thank you for doing this.” Dragomir’s hand touched her thigh.

  She nodded.

  “Sofia, I—”

  “Don’t.” She put her hand up to stop him from saying anything else.

  She couldn’t look up. She couldn’t look him in the eyes. She’d done it again. Only this time with an audience. She stared at a file on her desk. Personal and Professional Conduct. The lump in her throat literally hurt to swallow. Was she truly fit to be the Employee Relations Manager? She’d just dry humped Dragomir in her office in front of the Chief Medical Officer and the CEO. Was it even possible to step any further over the line of professionalism?

  She sighed and tears pooled in her eyes.

  She hardly knew Dragomir. All she really knew was he was handsome. Beyond handsome. Gorgeous. Oh, and dead. Of that she was also absolutely certain. She’d done the deed with the dead guy again. Her mother would be so proud.

  A tear ran down her nose and hung on the very tip, dangling like a single raindrop poised to fall into the torrents of a whirlpool, to forever be lost, void of its own being. She wiped the back of her hand over her nose and sucked in a shaky breath.

  She’d done more than just fool around with him. She’d vampire-married him, an eternal commitment. She’d tied herself to a stranger for all eternity. And for what reason? Because he’d broken some vampire law?

  “Is it true?” she whispered. “Did I drink vampire blood? Before tonight, did I do it before tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  He needed to leave, to just exit the room, turn off the light and get out. Then she could slink to her car, which she’d probably drive off the nearest bridge.

  What have I done?

  “Why?” She tried to inhale, tried to pull some clean, non-Dragomir-smelling air into her lungs. It was a pointless endeavor.

  He didn’t answer.

  She gasped and more tears ran down her cheeks. She tried to cover her sob with a cough. “You should probably go.”

  He didn’t.

  Instead, he stepped closer and tilted her head toward his.

  Sofia wanted to push him away, slide off the desk and curl into a ball on the floor. Staring up into his dark eyes was not what she needed. Watching him study her face, feeling his thumbs tenderly wipe tears from her cheeks, letting his warm skin touch hers—none of it was what she needed. But it was everything she wanted. None of this made sense.

  “I am sorry for all that’s happened.”

  She blinked and tears poured down her cheeks. “I just married you.” She pressed her face to his chest and sobbed. She’d always imagined marrying a man she loved, one she’d dated for a while, one who loved her, too. She never in a million years expected to marry a man eight hundred years older than her. A cold-blooded killer. A criminal vampire.

  He stepped forward until his legs were flush with the desk. His arms wrapped tight around her and he held her to him. He stood there silently, just holding her.

  And she cried.

  And cried.

  Between sobs she mumbled, “Married.” She cried some more. “Vampire.” What was left of his t-shirt was soaked to his skin. “Eternal.” She wiped her nose on his sleeve. “Blood.” She coughed and choked, and he finally reacted.

  “Calm down.”

  The two words did not have the effect of calming her down. She shoved out of his arms. “Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss of me. I’m the boss of me.” She wiped snot on her sleeve. “I’m going home. And you’re not welcome in my house.”

  She jumped off the desk and toppled to her right. Dragomir caught her. “Damn shoes. Let go of me. I don’t need your help.” She jerked her arm and teetered on her high heel.

  He propped her back onto her feet and released her.

  She grabbed her handbag and lunch bag. “I don’t drink blood. How dare you?” She marched toward the door. “Get out of my office.” She held the door open and glared into the hallway.

  Dragomir gathered his knife from the floor and stepped past her, keeping one eye on her.

  She flicked off the light and slammed the door behind her, then walked to the elevator. “I ride alone.” She pushed the button and watched the doors close between them.

  When she stepped from the elevator on the ground floor, Dragomir was already waiting at the entrance. Sofia walked past him refusing to make eye contact with him or anyone else. She noted Jamieson at the desk, flanked by Fergus, Osgar, and Meg. No one looked happy.

  Fergus cleared his throat and Sofia couldn’t help but look at him. His eyes narrowed and she thought his lips curled back. It was hard to tell with the mustache and beard. “She’s expected back in the morn. And in the same condition.” Fergus looked Sofia up and down. “Human.” His attention fell to Dragomir. “Do what you will, but keep her as she is.”

  He saw me with him. She whimpered and rushed to the door trying to make it out of the building before the blubbering started again.

  “Nice. Real nice,” Osgar said. “The least you could do, Dragomir, is not make her cry.” He stepped around the desk. “Sofia, wait.”

  “Leave me alone.” The cool night air hit her cheeks making her skin sting below the tears. She didn’t bother to wipe them away. More kept coming, so what was the point? Osgar’s truck was no longer parked behind her Camry. She climbed into the car, jammed the gear into reverse, and hit the gas.

  A horn blared behind her and she swerved to avoid an oncoming car.

  The Camry spun out and landed in a ditch, where it stalled. She put her head on the steering wheel and cried some more while she fumbled in her handbag for her phone.

  Before she could call for roadside assistance, Dragomir had pulled the car from the ditch and opened her door. “I will drive.”

  She’d have argued, but the truth was she didn’t want to drive. She just wanted to go home. She climbed out and he walked her to the passenger side, opened the door, and waited for her to get in before closing it.

  They rode the remainder of the twenty-minute ride in silence. At least Dragomir was silent. Sofia whimpered and hiccupped and sniffled and then sobbed again. “Forever,” she blubbered. “That’s a long time.” He’d trapped her. He’d done something heinous to capture her. “Vampire tricks.”

  “It doesn’t have to be, if that’s what you’d prefer.”

  “It what?” She rummaged in the glove box for a napkin or paper towel, but came up empty. She leaned into the backseat and found a file full of drafted policies. She grabbed one titled Personal Appearance and blew her nose.

  “If you would prefer we die sooner, it can be arranged.” He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “We do not have to live long lives together.” It was a statement, not a threat or promise. “We can die.” His unemotional comment simply hu
ng in the space between them, sort of like an annoying dog who’s supposed to sit in the backseat but keeps sticking his head between the front seats.

  She looked out the window and gulped. Then she rolled it down so the wind blew a chilled blast into the cabin. He’d rather die than live with her. He’d rather die now than live forever with her. After all this he wanted his freedom.

  “Until you decide how long we shall exist together you must train. You must learn to defend yourself.” Dragomir parked the car in its spot across from the porch. “With Bas Dubh’s open attacks and your refusal to stay at Cader, we can spare only one night. Tomorrow you will train.”

  The crying started again. “I never wanted you, either.” Sofia yanked open the door, jerked off her high heel, and ran for the house. “Stay out. Just stay out.” She slammed the door and the deadbolt clicked shut.

  Chapter Twenty

  Dragomir stared after Sofia, more confused now than he was when she threw herself between his heart and the stake.

  The woman kept him dumbfounded. Even when he thought he understood her motives, she fooled him.

  He’d been fairly certain she’d interrupted his execution out of her nonviolent workplace philosophy. She so firmly believed Cader should become a gentler place to work. It only made sense to believe an execution would not align with her goals.

  He’d have gone to his death willingly to keep The Alliance strong. No one could ever know about Jankin’s deed. That information must be kept hidden. Dragomir’s false confession guaranteed Jankin’s safety. Even if Noelle ever admitted to knowing the truth, no one would believe her. They would question why Dragomir would have admitted to something so egregious if he hadn’t committed the crime.

  Dragomir glanced at the passenger seat. Sofia had forgotten her bags, left them in disarray among a dozen tissues and crumpled papers on the floor. Lipstick, a wallet, and some sort of hair clip had fallen out. He tucked them back in and set the bag on the seat.

  His new wife didn’t understand the danger surrounding her. Each time Sofia let loose a new ability she announced that something unnatural had occurred. Either someone had done something or she wasn’t entirely human. She had no idea how to control herself or how much danger she posed to herself or Jankin and in turn, The Alliance.