by R. E. Butler
The elevator doors slid shut, and Brone planted his hands on either side of her head and looked down at her. “You are sad.”
“No, not really,” she promised, hooking her hands around his massive biceps. “I was just riding a train of thought about our future, and I realized that we would never have children.”
His mouth pulled down in a frown. “You wish to bear young?”
“I guess I always thought I would at some point. It’s just…”
He cut her off with a fierce kiss that left her panting for breath. “If I could give you young, I would.”
She licked her lips, the sweet taste of him still lingering. “I wouldn’t want to have kids with anyone but you. Since we can’t, we’ll just have to fill our time with lots of other activities.” She wiggled her brows, and his half-smile returned.
“You are precious to me, beloved,” he said as he ran his thick thumb along her jaw and bent down, kissing her exposed throat.
“You are to me, too, Brone.”
The elevator doors slid open, and he offered her his arm, which she took. They walked down the hallway to his chamber, and he unlocked the door, ushering her inside. “Would you wish to live in my chamber or yours?” he asked, shutting and locking the door.
She watched as he leaned against the door. He appeared to be standing casually, waiting for her answer, but she could sense that he was tightly wound. A cobra waiting to strike. A sexy cobra. She smiled at the image.
Looking around, she took in the scant surroundings. The big bed with the real furs. The weapons cabinet against one wall. The bare minimum of modern touches in the main room, separated by the door that led to the modern bathroom and big closet.
“The only difference between our chambers is that you don’t have a television or the tiny kitchen.”
“It would be simple to install a kitchen in this chamber and hang a television.”
“A couch maybe?”
He nodded. “Whatever you wish, beloved.”
Looking around the chamber once more, she thought she would be happy there because she and Brone were together. She’d never pictured living underground with vampires. Once she and Brone mated, she would never have the option of living above ground. He was tied to the coven, and the coven lived in the club.
“Do you think we could ever have a place away from the club that is just for us? Where we could go for vacations and holidays?”
He looked at her with an amused expression. “You can have whatever you like.”
“Are you just saying that so you can get me naked, or would you really like that?”
He chuckled. “It would be nice to have a place that is ours alone, away from the club and the coven.”
He closed the distance to her and stopped, towering over her. “Before we go further, there is something that we need to discuss.”
“Okay.”
His big hands settled on her shoulders, squeezing lightly, as he appeared to gather his thoughts. She took the opportunity to look at him and appreciate just how sexy her mate was. She’d never been so physically attracted to anyone before, but more than that, she liked him. He was big and frightening to others, but he treated her like a queen.
“When we become beloveds, I told you that your life will forever be tied to mine, but I never explained why. When you are made immortal, you will have to feed from me once a week. You won’t need to drink SyBl daily as I do, just share my blood.”
She mused over that information for a moment. “Will you still feed from other people?”
He shook his head. “Only you. The bond won’t allow me to feed from anyone else, but I will still use SyBl every day, and we can do our mutual feedings after work Sunday mornings so that you’ll have time to heal.”
“What else?”
“You’ll smell like me to other vampires. Aside from our bonding marks from when we mate tomorrow, others will recognize that you are mine.”
“Fangs?”
His mouth quirked up. “No, sweet beloved. You will still be you. Your Wiccan powers will remain the same, and your body will be the same. The only thing that changes is you become immortal and need to feed.”
“How will I feed from you without fangs?”
“I’ll cut my wrist for you.”
She made a humming sound and then smiled up at him. “Thank you for telling me. It doesn’t change how I feel about you or our mating, and I think it’s cool that others will automatically know that I’m yours.”
He gathered her in his arms with a soft growl and lowered his mouth to hers. She loved kissing him, sliding her tongue against his in a careful dance around the permanent fangs. He had never nicked her even accidentally while they kissed, and she knew he took care to not spill a drop of her blood unnecessarily.
He pulled away from the kiss, still growling in his throat, and took a step back. “Dawn is coming, let us rest and then mate at the setting of the sun.”
Brone’s declaration wasn’t the most romantic way to ask her to consummate their relationship, but she was really proud of him for trying. And it was better than the way her first boyfriend had asked her to go to bed, wiggling his brows lecherously and asking her if she wanted to “dance the dance.”
With a smile, she left him in the bedroom and walked to the bathroom so she could prepare for bed.
* * * * *
Arissa woke slowly to a tickling feeling on the inside of her thigh. She reached down, thinking it was one of the furs, and found a well-muscled shoulder instead. Squeezing the thick muscle, she smiled as Brone growled and then nuzzled the inside of her thigh. A single candle flickered on the nightstand, barely illuminating the dark chamber but giving her enough light to make out Brone’s shape between her legs.
“Brone,” she whispered.
His big shoulders had pushed her legs apart and he lay between them, his dark gaze meeting hers. She felt his breath on the apex of her thighs through her panties as he lowered his mouth and kissed her. His lips teased her through the satin, moving ever so slowly. Her body heated as he nuzzled her sex.
His fingers slid up the front of her thighs, and she felt only a slight tug followed by the sound of tearing fabric as her panties were torn and tossed aside. He inhaled deeply and placed his lips against her sex in a soft kiss. Hooking both hands over her hips, he anchored himself to her body and nuzzled her again, probing her slit with his tongue. He wiggled his tongue between her lips and stroked upward, grazing her clit. She let her fingers trail from his shoulder down the bulge of his bicep as he continued to lightly stroke and tease her with his tongue.
He slid a hand from her hip to the top of her pussy, his thick fingers spreading her lips open. She groaned at being exposed to his gaze. His tongue licked a slow circle around her clit as his fingers spread her further open, and then he sucked her clit into his mouth, drawing on it with firm pressure. Her hips lifted and she ran her toes along his ribs, stroking the skin dotted with the scars of his past, as she writhed under him. Releasing her clit, he licked the bud with firm, short strokes, until he found the place at the top that made her breath catch in her throat.
His hands slid underneath her as he tongued the top of her clit, his palms cupping her butt and lifting her closer to him. She gripped the furs on either side of her as he deviled her clit with his tongue, drawing her closer to the edge. Two fingers pushed into her pussy, stroking and filling her, as the center of her body tightened. She moaned loudly, writhing under his talented tongue and fingers, and he growled, making her whole pussy vibrate with the sound and shoving her over the edge into white-hot pleasure. She screamed his name as she came, pressing her hips up and grinding herself against his mouth as her heels pressed into the mattress and her toes curled.
He prowled up her body, kissing her quivering flesh as he moved, until his hands hooked around her shoulders and he pressed his hot, hard cock against her still-throbbing pussy. She lifted her legs around his hips and locked her hands behind his neck, their gazes meet
ing as he pushed in slowly. He stretched her with his thick cock so she felt every inch of him as he buried himself deep in her pussy.
She groaned when he reached the end of her, closing her eyes in rapture at the feeling of him. All the kissing, all the light touching throughout the week, had left her wanting.
Brone traced his fingers along the side of her face, and she opened her eyes. She could see him more clearly in the candlelight since her eyes had adjusted to the dim light. His lips were parted and his double fangs were visible. His neck was corded and his body pressed tight against hers, and she realized how much control he had to exert to remain still until she was ready.
She angled her hips back so his cock slipped out a fraction, and then she pressed upward, taking him to the hilt once more. He groaned, his eyes flashing with desire, and she smiled.
His body flexed over her, his cock retreating and pressing forward at a slow pace, while he held her gaze. Her fingers dug into his neck as she hugged him with her thighs. Each stroke forward was bliss; each time he pulled out of her until only the fat head of his cock remained inside her was exquisite torture.
He began to thrust faster and dropped his hand from her face and gripped one of her knees, pressing her leg up and outward until she felt him rub against her clit just right as he powered into her.
“Oh, fuck, yes,” she gasped the words as he held her spread open, fucking her faster, rubbing her clit with delicious friction. It was too much and not enough at the same time.
As she climaxed, she screamed his name to the ceiling, her body locking down on his as heat pooled in her core and her whole body bowed. Brone never ceased driving into her as he released her leg and it dropped to the mattress. Her hands slipped from his neck and ran along his broad shoulders, down his arms and across his massive chest. He growled when she touched his nipples, and she lifted her head and licked one and then the other, enjoying the way his growl sounded almost like a gruff purr. Her teeth worried lightly on each nipple as she dug her nails into his back and lifted her hips to meet his.
He slipped an arm underneath her and lifted her hips, and she gasped as she arched under him, his cock hitting a place deep inside her that made her feel as though her blood was made of molten lava. He thrust into her hard and fast, his body slamming into hers with speed and force. She could only hold onto him and absorb the wild sensations that were coursing through her. Pleasure. Desire. The first stirrings of love. Even though she’d known they were mates for several days, it was the first time she realized that her feelings were deepening for him.
Without warning her body locked up in a spiral of pleasure so great that her vision blurred and her breath caught in her chest before she shrieked when pure pleasure flowed over her. Brone shoved his wrist between her lips, and she tasted something hot and coppery, realizing quickly that he’d scored his wrist with his fangs so she could drink his blood. A moment later, his tongue slipped over her throat and then his fangs pierced her. She moaned and writhed under him, his cock pulsing as he came with a sharp growl.
She swallowed the hot blood, and her mind opened suddenly and she found herself watching his life in fast forward. His youth, his turning, his time in The Plague, joining with Mishka, and finally seeing her for the first time. She felt the strength of his desire for her from the moment he laid eyes on her and how difficult it had been for him to leave.
Tears slipped down her cheeks, and Brone kissed them away as he pulled from her body and held her close. He murmured words in a language she didn’t know.
“You are mine now forever, my beloved mate.”
She rested her head in the crook of his neck and pulled herself a little closer. “You’re mine, too, Brone.”
The taste of him still laid heavy on her tongue as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, safe in the arms of her beloved.
Chapter 10
Brone watched his mate rub a bar of soap across her stomach. She yawned and he smiled inwardly. They’d been making love for two days straight. Only now, as Tuesday’s dawn drew close, had they stopped to clean up so they could rest before returning to work that night.
He took the soap from her and rubbed it between his hands until a thick lather foamed around his fingers. Dropping the soap, he cupped her breasts and rubbed his lathered thumbs around her hard nipples.
She leaned back against the cool tile with a smile. “I thought we were going to shower and go to bed.”
“We are.”
“Then why are you starting sexy-time now?”
He glanced at her and let his fingers trail down the center of her stomach to the bare lips of her sex. “I thought you could use some help.”
“Does the favor go both ways?”
“If you wish.”
He let his soapy fingers sweep up the plump lips of her sex, rubbing lightly as she planted her hands on the tile and closed her eyes. His mate was very responsive and the scent of her arousal, heightened by the heat of the shower, made him crazy. He leaned toward her and rested one hand above her head and probed her wet sex with his fingers. She moaned softly and opened her eyes, the pretty green color darkening as her desire increased.
She was everything he wasn’t. Beautiful, soft, sweet. She cared about him, wanted to know who he was and what made him tick. Not for any nefarious purposes, but because she wanted to know him. And he wanted to know everything about her, too. He already knew that she loved to watch old science fiction movies, loved the color blue, and once set her bedroom on fire as a teenager when a spell went awry. But there was more to his sweet mate, and he looked forward to an eternity getting to know everything about her.
Sinking a finger into her pussy, he pistoned the digit in and out as he watched her face slowly flush with pleasure, her nipples tightening and her toes curling against the floor. She lifted her face to his and he kissed her, delving his tongue into her mouth in time with his finger in her pussy. She licked his fangs as she pulled away from him with a gusty groan, and he pulled his finger from her body and rubbed her clit.
Her body bucked as she came with a cry of pleasure, and he sank his fingers inside her again and drew her pleasure out until she leaned limply against him.
She rested against him for only a few moments and then went to her knees and grasped his cock that had been in a perpetual state of hardness since the moment he’d met her. She licked him slowly, lifting her gaze to his as she teased the hot head of his cock. Her lips slid over him, sucking lightly, and then she eased him into her mouth, gripping him tightly with her hands.
Her thumb rubbed at the thick vein under his cock as she fucked him with her mouth, taking him deeper and deeper into the hot cavern. He knew he could hurt her with his strength if he got carried away, so he braced his hands on the wall behind her and let her take him as she wanted.
He’d been close to the edge when he started playing with her pussy and now he was even closer, his impending climax tightening his balls.
He growled, watching his mate bob her head on his cock with a look of rapture on her face. She was beautiful and amazing and all his for eternity. The thought of spending every night for the next several thousand years with her filled him with joy and pushed him over the edge into bliss.
He roared as he came, pressing his hands against the wall so hard that the tile cracked under the pressure. She drank him down with a moan as if he tasted like fine wine, and he locked his knees so he didn’t fall on top of her.
Cupping the back of her head, he looked down and met her eyes as she let his cock fall from her lips. She gripped his arm, and he helped her to stand and they kissed.
If his heart were actually beating, it would beat for her alone. He had never been in love before, but he couldn’t imagine any greater feeling than what he felt for his mate.
Tipping her face up, he kissed her lips gently and said, “I love you, beloved mate. My heart, my body, and my soul are forever yours.”
Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “I love you, too, B
rone. All I am or ever will be is yours alone.”
He held her against him as he marveled at the rightness of the declaration of their feelings. Their relationship might be fast by mortal terms, but they had shared their memories with each other and bonded together with blood and sex. Nothing would ever separate them, and he’d spend eternity making sure she was safe and loved.
* * * * *
After Brone walked Arissa to her desk and kissed her soundly, he walked back down the hallway and stopped at Cella’s office. She smiled up at him from where she sat filling out a form.
“Congratulations on your mating, Brone.”
“Thank you.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Arissa would like a couch and television in my chamber, as well as a small kitchen, similar to the one she has in her own chamber.”
“I can pick out something nice for her. The kitchen will take a few days to install, though, but the other stuff I can do right away. Anything else?”
“Her things need to be moved into my chamber.”
“That’s easy,” Cella said as she smiled and lifted the receiver on her desk. “I’ll get right on those items.”
“Thank you, Cella.”
“I’m happy to help, Brone. I like her.”
Brone nodded and left, heading to his own office. As he sat in the large leather chair behind the mahogany desk, he glanced around the room. It was bare of any personal effects. Unlike Cella’s office where the walls were covered with framed photos of scenery, or Mishka’s office with tapestries depicting his many conquests over the years, or Temple’s collection of sci-fi movie posters, his own office was as bare as it had been when it was built.
He dialed the front desk.
“Hi, Brone.” Arissa’s voice was like a balm to his soul.
“Do you have a photo I can put on my desk?”
