As his power as a druid and a vampire grew, so did his dominance. Even over her.
Allegra made idle chitchat with a society male. She spoke graciously, laughed at the appropriate times but barely listened to the words. Sometimes men could be extremely dull.
Her mate brooded across the room. He always did that at parties, not appreciating their food source came from among these people.
“Allegra…”
The male’s hand closed over her breast. Startled, she glared at the stupid fop. She’d known he was drunk but this was a step too far.
She batted his hand away. “Please, Edward…” Was that this name? Right now, she didn’t care. He’d irritated her.
“Leave now.”
The rough tone coming from above made her look up. She knew who the voice belonged to. She sighed. Kyrian was always so possessive.
Edward scampered off.
“Do you have to scare the food?” She rolled her eyes at her mate.
He cupped her chin between his fingers. “He touched you and now he must pay.”
“No.” She knew what his words meant. She’d seen him teach males a lesson before. It usually involved a certain level of violence. She didn’t want that here. Not tonight.
Kyrian mumbled some words under his breath and she tensed. He cast a spell. She tried to counter, throw up her barriers, but his magical strength had grown. The paralyzing spell seeped into her pores, froze her to the spot. She could talk but not move.
“You bastard.”
He smirked. “You will stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
As he walked away, fear blossomed. For the first time ever she’d been unable to break one of his spells.
At times she enjoyed his forceful nature. Other times, it frightened the hell out of her. Memories of her life as a Roman slave came flooding back. She couldn’t go back to that.
He whispered her name in her mind. Allegra.
She began to panic. She couldn’t move. Her skin itched. Fear beat at her mind.
Allegra.
She felt the pull of his words. The dark compulsion. Her name on his tongue held a command, drawing her. Her body walked involuntarily toward him.
Drawing on her own power, calling it forth, she resisted the summons, put up a barrier between them. How dare he try to coerce her?
“No, druid. I am not yours to command.”
Turning her back on him, she exited the private dwelling and drew in huge gulps of night air. Revenants did not need to breathe yet the gesture was oddly comforting.
Kyrian’s growing strength, his fire, his passion, his dominance, would consume her eventually. She could feel it deep in her heart, knew it with every extrasensory power she possessed. It was becoming harder and harder to resist.
Somewhere inside the darkest part of her soul, she didn’t want to.
Kyrian caressed her shoulders. She felt his heat through the thick material of her gown. His ability to approach her without her knowledge was another sure sign of his commanding power. No one could sneak up on her, no one except him. Her druid, the vampire she had created and thought to contain. How wrong she had been.
His voice sounded tired. “Why do you run from me, Allegra? Isn’t this what you wanted? Someone to match you? Someone to match your power?”
He banded his arm around her waist, drawing her body flush against his.
His hard cock prodded into the soft cheeks of her ass. “Someone so powerful they possess you.”
She stiffened in his embrace. “Possess me, druid? No man possesses me.”
He rimmed the shell of her ear with his tongue. “But I’m not just a man.”
No, he was druid and vampire. A powerful combination. One more powerful than she could have ever imagined.
His hand snaked down and covered her pubic bone. His fingers pressed against the seam of her pussy, stroked her clit through the material of her gown. Even these innocent caresses had a moan dropping from her lips. She couldn’t resist him, resist the sex and power he had to offer.
“I love you, Allegra. Why can’t you understand that?”
His other hand moved to her neck. His fingertips feathered her pulse point as he continued to stroke her already sopping cunt.
“Please, Kyrian…”
“‘Please, Kyrian,’ what? Make you come? You want me to slip my fingers inside your cunt and fuck you, Allegra? Is that all you want from me?”
His hurt tone pierced her soul but she couldn’t admit how she felt. Wouldn’t.
Instead of bunching up her skirts, he pulled a knife from his thigh and slit the material. Throwing the knife to the ground, he slipped his hand inside and tore the material. The rip was audible in the silence of the evening. She gasped. The brutality of it sent pulses of electricity zinging through her already overly aware body. Some dark part of her made a squeal of delight at his dominance.
All thought ceased when his fingers found her folds. He pushed inside, curled his hand and rubbed at the sweet spot just below her pubic bone. Her limbs gave way and she sagged but he held her up with a hand at her neck.
“Come for me, Allegra. Coat my hand in your juices. Let me give that cunt the orgasm only I can give it.”
“Yessssss…”
She felt the pressure building. Clenching her eyes closed, she blocked out everything except the friction his fingers were creating inside her.
He tugged one of her nipples, plucked, bringing it to a hard peak. She loved him touching her breasts. He knew exactly the right amount of pressure she needed. He had skilled hands in every sense of the word.
“Please…”
His laugh was cold and dark in her ear. Sadistic even. He wasn’t going to let her come yet.
Damn him. Was he punishing her for failing to admit her feelings?
“I want you so hot for me, Allegra. So wet. Not yet. Don’t come yet. I forbid it.”
She almost cried with frustration. Her cunt tingled, her lips puffy and wet, her juices soaking his fingers. She could smell her musk in the air.
He rubbed his forefinger against her sweet spot over and over, he worried her clit furiously. Her breath came in short pants. She was almost there, so close to the edge, but she couldn’t find release. Not until he allowed her.
He curled his fingers, forced them deeper inside her. She pulsed around him.
“Oh, oh, oh…”
“Come for me, Allegra. Come for me.”
She came on his command, on a rush of heat and friction. The orgasm hit her in wave after wave. She soaked his hand, coating his fingers with her cum.
“Kyrian.” She sobbed out his name in pleasure and relief.
“You belong to me, Allegra. Not that human male in there who thinks to ‘pleasure’ you. He doesn’t know how to please you, does he? Doesn’t know what you crave, what you need. Doesn’t understand that to be given pleasure, true pleasure, you need to be owned by someone. Say it, Allegra. We both know the truth. Say the name of the male who owns you.”
Although her mind railed against his words, her body responded by going pliant. Liquid pooled between her already-soaking thighs.
She knew he was right. Even before his name dripped from her lips, she knew she had to leave him. To run away. To leave him behind. His power, his command over her and her body, was too great for her to resist.
“Kyrian…”
“What, Allegra?”
A tear leaked, ran down her cheek. “Don’t make me say it.”
The life she’d lived in Rome came flooding back to her. The endless days and nights of servitude, the beatings, the rapes. She’d been owned in every sense of the word, treated like a possession.
The night before she became a vampire was the last night of her ownership. Her Master had beaten her almost to death.
After a long day of cooking and scrubbing floors, Allegra had wished for a small modicum of peace. Lying back on her itchy straw bed, she closed her eyes and breathed a heavy sigh. Finally, she could be alone, get s
ome rest.
The door opened. Her eyes flew open and her gaze fixed on the figure in the doorway. Her Master entered her quarters with a lascivious sneer on his face. Fear coursed through her veins, made her heart hammer. She knew exactly what the sneer meant.
“Please…no more…” She sat up, drew her already sore and battered body against the wall. Maybe if she begged, he’d give her some respite.
Bounding forward, he grasped a handful of her hair in his fist and yanked. Her body slammed onto the cold mortar floor. She yelped in pain, sure that he’d broken one of the bones in her shoulder.
She wouldn’t give up. “Please…please don’t hurt me. I’m just a servant.”
His physical strength overwhelmed her. He dropped on top of her. His weight robbed her of breath but he didn’t care. Pushing up her skirt, he fumbled with his own tunic and forced his cock inside her.
The stinging pain brought tears to her eyes. He drove into her over and over.
“You are not a servant, wench. You are a slave. A thing to be used.” He punctuated each sentence with a hard thrust. “A possession. I’m your Master. Who owns you, slave?”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She retreated inside her mind, to a place where he couldn’t hurt her.
“Who owns you? Who owns you, slave?”
A sharp slap on her cheek made bells ring in her ear. He hit her again and she knew she wouldn’t survive the night.
“You own me.”
Kyrian kissed away her tears. His voice rasped in her ear. “Say it, Allegra. Say it for me.”
“You. You own me, Kyrian O’Byrne.”
Oh how the mighty had fallen.
Her fall from being the mighty Mistress was complete. She was owned.
Chapter Four
Allegra inhaled the night air. She stood outside the Colosseum, staring up at the huge structure. It lay in ruins, a tombstone to cruelty, yet people still flocked to see it.
A few years into the second millennium and tourism formed a huge chunk of Italy’s economy. For twenty-five euros you could have your picture taken with a Roman solider.
She sighed, remembered when thousands lined the amphitheatre, jeering and clapping for their favorite gladiators. Her culture had been cruel and harsh and now it was celebrated.
She brushed a lock of hair from her face. She was home, back in Rome.
Life bustled around her.
She watched as a couple shared a passionate kiss beneath the Arch of Constantine.
Tears prickled, filled her eyes and threatened to overflow. Her heart lay heavy in her chest.
Running from Kyrian had been easy. She’d gathered her things and left. She’d run from him for centuries, building lives in numerous towns, praying he wouldn’t find her. His love and passion were consuming, even after all these centuries. She’d heard rumors, pieces of gossip, stories of his rage, his power and his sheer determination to find her. He’d torn entire villages apart searching for her.
Now, centuries later, she yearned for him.
She missed his companionship, the sly smirk he gave her when he knew he was right. She missed hunting with him, waking up at sunset and knowing he was there.
A human male walked by. He smiled at her. “Ciao, bella.”
She didn’t acknowledge him but her stomach growled and her incisors lengthened. There was no attraction to the male but she hadn’t fed in months. What was the point? Eternity dragged on and on, bringing with it an intense loneliness.
Kyrian.
Her mind cried out for his. Yet she resisted reaching out to him. The tiny amount of pride, the stubborn streak, refused to give in. How could she admit she’d been wrong?
Had fear of her past clouded her judgment all those years ago? Could she and Kyrian have had something wonderful? Something based on mutual love and respect rather than blind devotion and blood?
Dragging a hand through her hair, she closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Kyrian. Kyrian. Kyrian.
Tears ran down her cheeks in rivulets. Contrary to popular myth, vampires could cry real tears. They could eat garlic and they could cast reflections. Their hearts could break.
Her heart cried out to him.
She’d never felt so alone.
Was she ready to seek him out? Ready to seek forgiveness? The important question was, would he forgive her? She’d heard about his temper, about the growth of his power, about him razing whole hordes of vampires to the ground with magical spells in search of her.
Would he use that violence against her?
Only one way to find out.
Tentatively, she lowered the barriers she had built against his power in her mind.
She whispered his name into the night. “Kyrian.”
Her mind reached out, searched for his, hoping to grasp on to any small link.
Allegra.
There. She hooked into that one word. Kyrian.
Let me come to you.
No. Please, don’t…
His temper spiked. Anger reached out across the miles. I love you. I always have. I’m sorry I pushed you but it’s time to stop this foolish game.
Game? He thought she was playing hard to get? Insolent man. I’m sorry, this was a mistake.
She started to withdraw from his mind, only to be hauled back in. His power kept them connected.
No! I need you, Allegra. Please, just let me come to you.
The desperation in his voice almost made her cave. But she could never ask him to come to her. Her pride wouldn’t allow it. No matter how much she craved him, she would never beg. In some part of her soul, she feared him. His passion could consume her. His forceful will could make her a slave once more.
I’m sorry.
She wrenched her mind from his, blocking their connection. He assaulted her senses, trying to find a weakness, a chink that would allow him to reengage their link, but she refused to give in. Imaging a brick wall, she kept him out.
Eventually his power receded. He was gone. Allegra inhaled, let out a sigh of relief.
If it was such a relief, why did she feel so empty?
Chapter Five
Present Day
Kyrian O’Byrne. His name was branded onto her soul.
She’d left psychic breadcrumbs across the world, drawing him to America. He’d trailed her essence and it had led them to this moment. It had taken two years for him to find her. Two years of waiting.
She’d come to terms with her past and given up running from the man she loved. She was ready to embrace him.
She knew he was controlling the elements as the waves continued to crash onto the shore. The oppressive heat clung to her skin, slicking her body with a sheen of perspiration. Some people experienced soft, gentle love—one of companionship and friendship. Her love for Kyrian burned like fire in her gut. Its dominance overrode her senses, its intensity threatened to consume her.
Yet still she craved him.
Needed him.
For years she’d been hollow. Devoid. Empty. Now her body sparked to life and her soul sang in anticipation.
“Hello, Allegra.”
Her palms flexed on the glass. His voice wrapped sensuously around her, caressing her. Despite her fear, despite the centuries between them, her pussy moistened with need. She wanted his teeth at her vein, his cock breaching her cunt.
“Hello, Kyrian.”
He didn’t move. She couldn’t hear or feel his movements and she refused to look at him. She would not meet his gaze in the reflection. Her defiance of him still surged around her body like molten fire in her blood.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you, Allegra? Is that why you kept running?”
She shrugged, hoping to appear nonchalant while her heart burst. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
A roar of masculine laughter burst through the silence in the room, shattering it like the waves crashing on the shore below. Kyrian stepped closer. He slapped his hands on the window pane on eith
er side of her head, trapping her. He leaned down and nuzzled her neck, scraped his teeth along her exposed collarbone.
She inhaled his scent. Clean. Spicy. Exotic. Feral. He’d always smelled that way to her, even when he was human.
Power emanated from him in waves. Not just the power of the vampire, but druid power. His life force sizzled, his aura exuded so much strength it almost robbed her of breath. He’d been a busy man over the last few centuries.
“That’s right, my love. Thanks to your blood, I’ve lived centuries enough to learn about the power within my body.”
He grazed her skin with his teeth. The sharp sting didn’t draw blood but it was enough to send shivers coursing down her spine.
“I’m more powerful than you could ever have imagined. And now I’ve come to claim what’s mine.”
“Yours?” She snorted at the arrogance of his words. “I was never yours, druid.”
His hands curled over her shoulders. He jerked her body back against him. His hard cock prodded the cheeks of her ass. His arousal spiked hers to another level. It felt good knowing that even centuries later he still craved her body.
“You always belonged to me, Allegra. Mind, body, soul. They are mine. You cannot deny me any longer. I’ve wandered the earth to find you, searched hundreds of years for this moment.”
His hips gently surged forward. Back and forth. Back and forth. His cock lay nestled against her ass cheeks and the slow, sensual rhythm imitated a good, hard fuck.
Unable to stop herself, Allegra moved her hips in time to his. An age-old dance of coupling between two mates. Her fangs lengthened, burst free from her gums as her pussy creamed.
Maybe she hadn’t fed because she’d been waiting for this, waiting for his blood, to feed from his body and mind. To feel the life force of her mate, of the only man who truly understood her and her needs.
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