Sable was grinning when she dared to look at her.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Olivia slumped onto the barstool Loren had occupied and rested her arms on the bar top, and her chin on her arms.
The bartender said nothing but Olivia could feel that she wanted to, just as Sable did.
Once they had paid for the cocktails and the brunette had gone away, Olivia sighed and twirled the silver umbrella in her drink, staring at the rich purple liquid. The colour of Loren’s eyes and just as intoxicating.
Sable sipped her drink and then set it down. “Listen, Liv... I’ve known you a long time and I know what you’ve been through... but I also know Loren. He isn’t here because he wants to hurt you. He’s here because he wants to protect you. He isn’t here because he wants to bring down Archangel... he’s here because he wants to protect his people from a maniac. He is nothing like the demon who screwed you over.”
“He’s a fae,” Olivia said and took a gulp of her drink. Yup. Just as intoxicating as Loren. It warmed her just as fiercely too, making her head fuzzy and heart pound.
“I’m not listening to your excuses.” Sable downed her drink and slammed the glass onto the sticky bar top. She pulled Olivia up and frowned at her. “I can’t believe you’re going to pass up on eternity with a gorgeous, noble, immortal prince because some arse broke your heart years ago.”
Olivia played with her drink again, withering under her friend’s glare. Sable knew her history but that didn’t mean that she knew her feelings, or her fears, or could stand there lecturing her about Loren. She didn’t know what it was like to face the prospect of becoming immortal and entering into an eternal bond.
Sable took her drink from her. Olivia snatched it back and held it closer to her, scowling at her friend.
Her golden eyes turned cold and serious. “Liv, I know you’re scared... and I know it’s hard for you... but love isn’t easy and I don’t want to be sitting here with you in one week or two week’s time because you found a way to break the bond. I know you’ll regret it when it happens, and Loren is gone, and there’s no way of getting him back. Ever.”
Olivia stared blankly at her drink, Sable’s words sinking in and making her heart and head spin more than the potent cocktail. The chill of dread replaced the heat of it in her veins and she blinked slowly.
She hadn’t really thought about it before and she didn’t want to think about it now. She had grown used to Loren being around, encouraging her when she was tired and near the end of her rope, taking care of her when she was hurt, protecting her when she was scared, and standing by her through everything.
It hit her hard.
She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it now.
She didn’t want to imagine it.
Because she loved him.
She didn’t want to go back to microwave meals at three in the morning and spending every hour in her lab because she hated being at home because it reminded her that she was alone. She didn’t want Loren to leave and go back to his world.
She didn’t want to break the bond.
She wanted to complete it.
CHAPTER 17
Loren turned away from Bleu and Kyter when the door to the small back room of the club burst open. Olivia stood there, hands braced on the doorframe, breathing hard. The wild look in her brown eyes unsettled him and he was moving towards her before either Bleu or Kyter had even looked away from the bank of monitors they observed.
“Olivia?” Loren looked beyond her to the corridor that led back to the club, sure he would find his brother or another male after her. “What happened?”
She shook her head and fought to catch her breath, and then she was in his arms, kissing him senseless.
Loren’s wide eyes slowly closed and he gathered Olivia against him, wrapping his arms around her and settling his hands in her upper and lower back. He leaned into her, bending her to his will, seizing control of her frantic aggressive kiss.
Bleu grumbled, “I have a sudden urge to kill something.”
“I told you not to look. That female is throwing off pheromones that any shifter within three miles will be able to smell.” Kyter chuckled. “If you’re lucky, we’ll find a clue as to your other elf prince’s whereabouts and you can go kill him. If you’re not, I’ll give you a bottle of Hellfire to dull the pain in your thoroughly seared eyeballs.”
Loren broke the kiss and growled at them. Olivia grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the grim dimly lit corridor.
“I can’t find a way to break the bond.” She rushed the words out in one stream and he frowned at her, confused by the sudden announcement and her emotions.
She had been melancholy when he had found her in the laboratory before, but she hadn’t mentioned that she had failed her mission. There had been times this evening when he had felt she was keeping something from him and perhaps this was it. But she looked happy. That didn’t make sense at all. Unless.
Loren held both of her hands and ventured a brave step forwards. “I am sorry my blood did not give you the key to undoing our bond. I know how much you desired to be free of me.”
Olivia shook her head, her chestnut hair shifting across her bare shoulders. “I didn’t finish my research.”
Loren arched an eyebrow.
She gripped his hands and moved closer to him, until only a few inches separated them, and looked up into his eyes. “I can’t find a way to break the bond because I don’t want to break it, Loren. I want to complete it.”
A shiver ran through his body, cascading over his arms and down to his toes. His markings flashed beneath his armour in response, spreading heat across his skin in a rippling wave.
He stared at her, sure he was mistaken. His heart beat steadily, a sign that hers did the same, and her emotions felt stable, showing no trace of the distress he would expect her to feel if she feared there was no way out of the bond and she still wanted it broken.
Loren still couldn’t bring himself to believe what he had heard.
He shifted his hands to her face and held both of her cheeks, tilting her head back so he could peer into her eyes. He searched them but they revealed only positive feelings to him, and he couldn’t detect a lie in them.
Olivia grabbed his shoulders, tiptoed and kissed him again. He groaned and couldn’t help kissing her back for a handful of hard heartbeats before he got hold of himself and pushed her away again.
He had to be sure.
“Swear you are of sound mind and know what you are saying.” He clutched her face, his gaze searching hers for a flicker of doubt. “You are committing to centuries together. You are talking about completing a bond and making it unbreakable, Olivia.”
A touch of nerves entered her eyes and her heartbeat, and her fine eyebrows furrowed. “Are you trying to ruin the moment?”
He shook his head, meaning it with all of his heart. “No... but I must know that you understand what you are entering into.”
Olivia smiled and his breath caught in his throat. She settled her hands against his chest, her soft touch burning him through his armour, causing his pulse to quicken and his blood to heat.
“I know,” she whispered, sincerity and tenderness in her sweet voice. “I’m getting a future with the man I’ve fallen in love with.”
Loren knew that it took a lot for her to say those words after everything she had been through. He drew her into his arms and kissed her, and opened the portal to his rooms in the castle at the same time. Bleu would have to handle scouring the video footage with Kyter for a sign of his brother. His second in command would understand Loren’s need to leave with Olivia and complete their bond straight away, even if he would make a fuss about it later.
Olivia ran her hands over his shoulders and then his chest, causing his markings to trigger, heating his skin. She mewled and he obeyed her silent command, sending his armour away. The black scales swept over his body, cascading up his legs and torso and down his arms to the twin bands around his w
rists.
She moaned then and her hands scorched him, blistering his skin and burning him with a desire to have her naked against him. He broke the kiss and hastily peeled her purple top up, pulling it off over her head and freeing her bare breasts. He groaned and tossed the garment onto the dark stone floor, and cupped her breasts, weighing each of them and thumbing her nipples.
Olivia loosed a low moan and arched into his caress, her eyes turning hooded and the connection between them speaking of her desire. She wanted him, and he ached for her, but he refused to rush this. This time when they made love, they would complete their bond, forming an eternal cycle between them, an unbreakable link.
He would take her blood and she would take his.
Loren groaned at that thought and kissed her again, devouring her mouth and aching to possess all of her. He had never been bitten before. No one had ever tasted his blood. The thought of Olivia taking it, becoming his first and his only, made him want to rush just as she did.
Olivia tangled her fingers in his hair, kissing him deeper, her soft tongue playing with his and teasing his lips. She flicked the tip over his canines and his fangs emerged, drawn out by her touch. She caressed them again, from root to pointed tip, driving him crazy with need. He wanted to bite her again, to sink his teeth into her sweet flesh and drink of her blood.
Loren swept her up into his arms, carried her to the bed in the middle of the room and kneeled on it. He laid her on the dark purple covers and kissed along her jaw to her throat, and followed the smooth column downwards, his lips brushing her flickering pulse. He growled, saliva pooling in his mouth at the thought of biting her, and forced himself to move onwards, trailing his lips over her collarbone. She arched her breasts towards him and he obeyed her again, kissing his way down to them and then swirling his tongue around her left nipple.
“Loren,” she husked and he sucked the puckered bead into his mouth
She cried out and grabbed his shoulders.
He groaned at the feel of her short nails digging into his flesh, clutching her to him, speaking of her need and how her desire already had her skirting the edge of madness. He rocked his hips, thrusting his hardening shaft against her thigh, and frowned when he encountered denim and not her soft warm skin.
Loren tore himself away from her breasts and kissed down her stomach, his desire to get her naked gaining a new reason behind it as he kissed and licked her supple flesh. He wanted to taste her again.
He tugged the belt of her black jeans open and unbuttoned them as he kissed ever downwards. She lifted her backside off the bed. He gathered her jeans and underwear, and kissed the length of her long legs as he drew them both down to her ankles. She quickly toed her shoes off and Loren removed her jeans, underwear and then her stripy socks.
He sat back and raked his gaze over her. His female lay on his bed, her milky skin a delicious contrast to the rich purple covers, and her chestnut hair spilling around her bare shoulders. Her eyes lingered on him, dark with desire, passion that he stirred in her. She ran them over him, mimicking his own actions, and nibbled her kiss-blushed lips. Her cheeks coloured and her gaze darkened further. The way her teeth sank into her lip, tugging at the soft flesh, called to him.
Loren moved onto all fours and crawled up the length of his beautiful Olivia, each brush of their bodies sending a hot shiver through him. He covered her body with his, bringing them slowly into full contact, and she moaned. He swallowed the end of it in a kiss, aggressively claiming her lips and tunnelling his fingers into her hair to hold her against him. He wouldn’t let her escape him. She had sworn to be his and she would be.
Forever.
Olivia skimmed her hands over his shoulders, the action stirring his markings again, their emergence heating his skin as fiercely as her touch did. She swept her fingers upwards over his shoulders to his neck and claimed the nape of it, one hand curling around it and the other raking through his hair. He groaned and kissed her harder, grinding his shaft against her core at the same time, ripping a low moan from her throat.
Her left hand claimed his shoulder and he didn’t resist her when she pushed, rolling him onto his back. She straddled his hips and kissed him, her hair tickling his chest and her hands pressing into his shoulders with force that he enjoyed. He had never met a woman like Olivia. She took command when the urge struck her, unafraid to force him into submission, dominating him in a way that he found pleasurable because it spoke to him of the fierce desire she held for him, a need that echoed within him.
She kissed his lips and then his chin and along his jaw, moving downwards towards the left side of his throat. Loren’s instincts kicked in, commanding he give his neck to her, exposing it for her lips, and her teeth. He wanted to feel them in his flesh even when he knew that was impossible. Olivia was not of the fae or demon breed. She had no fangs to satisfy his dark needs.
He still needed to feel her lips on his flesh though and his blood flowing into her, forming and then forging a permanent bond between them.
The black and silver metal bracelets around his wrists heated and his armour swept over his hands, turning his fingers into razor-sharp claws.
He clutched Olivia’s shoulder with one hand, careful so as not to cut her, and gently pushed her away from his throat. He curled the fingers of his other hand around, leaving only his fore and middle finger extended.
His ki’ara had no fangs of her own, so he would make the marks for her, twin puncture wounds that he would proudly wear on his throat for all to see, and all would know this female had claimed him.
He brought his hand up to his throat and pressed the tips of his claws in, but Olivia caught his hand and stopped him.
Cold slithered through him and he frowned at her, fearing she had changed her mind and didn’t want to complete their bond now that she knew what it entailed.
Blood.
She held his hand in both of hers and he stared up at her, afraid to speak in case he prompted her into voicing words that he didn’t want to hear because they would shatter him completely.
Olivia stroked the black scales covering his left hand, her brown eyes fixed on it, her fingers trembling. What internal war was she waging as she sat astride him?
She finally lifted her eyes to his, her fine eyebrows furrowed, and spoke softly. “I want to do it.”
His heart missed a beat and it took him a moment to comprehend what she was saying.
His ki’ara had no fangs of her own but she wouldn’t allow that to stop her from making her mark on him. She wanted to be the one to puncture his flesh with the tips of his claws, and the look in her eyes and the way she held him firm said she would accept no argument about this matter.
Loren nodded, his fangs aching with the need to bite her too. He sat up on the bed, the action causing his erection to slide against her most intimate place and she gasped and moaned, tensing in his arms.
He needed to be inside her when they exchanged blood. He couldn’t do this any other way and the dark hungry look in her eyes and the way she rocked her core against him said that she couldn’t either.
He sent his armour back into the bands around his wrists and clutched her backside, drawing her closer to him. She kissed him again and circled his neck with her arms, and rocked her hips against him, sliding her moist core up and down his aching length. Loren moved her too, guiding her actions and making sure her heat stroked every inch of him, all the way to the sensitive head.
She moaned and deepened the kiss, her tongue playing with his and her fingers clawing his hair. He held her tighter, his fingertips pressing into her buttocks, and lost himself in the feel of her against him, rubbing herself along his body. He couldn’t take much more but he couldn’t bring himself to make her stop either. It was bliss to have her in his arms like this and to know what they were about to do.
“Loren,” she murmured against his lips, the hard peaks of her breasts rasping his chest. He lifted her higher, bent his head and captured one nipple with his mouth, pu
lling the bud between his lips. She moaned and arched into him, and he shifted one hand to her upper back, supporting her as he licked, suckled and teased her breast. “Loren.”
He dipped his other hand lower, curling under her buttocks to touch her most sensitive flesh, and she jerked and moaned, her body quivering in his arms. He circled her entrance and she arched further, pressing her backside higher, allowing him to ease his fingers into her. She groaned as they slid into her wet sheath and she flexed around him.
His shaft pulsed, aching to be inside her and feel her contracting around him, drawing him deeper into her heat. He wanted to take her hard and fast, a rough coupling that would have her crying his name in bliss and feeling all of his strength.
“Loren,” she moaned again, husky and pleading, driving her hips upwards and taking his fingers deeper inside her. He couldn’t take any more.
Loren released her breast and withdrew his fingers. Before she could complain, he had flipped her over onto her front before him. He rose up behind her, pressed her shoulders down into the mattress, and shoved his cock deep into her body. She gasped at the sudden intrusion and it melted into a groan as he withdrew and slid back into her, letting her feel every inch of him and how hard she made him.
How wild.
He released her shoulders and grasped her hips, holding her firm as he thrust into her, hard and fast, causing her to rock forwards with each powerful pump of his hips. She moaned and curled her hands into fists, clutching the purple covers. Her hair spilled around her shoulders as she rose onto all fours and pushed back against him, driving him deeper into her wet heat.
“Loren,” she gasped and flexed around him, and he grunted at the feel of her clenching him tightly, gripping him hard as he drove into her over and over again, a slave to his dark need.
Kissed by a Dark Prince (Volume 1) Page 22
