CHAPTER 35
Ella began to squirm in earnest, “Don’t you dare…” The rest of her words were cut off by his bruising kiss. She twisted her head in an attempt to dislodge his mouth. Nicholas released his hold on her wrists to cup either side of her face, forcing her to be still for his attentions. His lips were demanding a response but hers were clenched tight. Ella pushed at his shoulders and he gave her a hard press of his hips in kind. Wrapping his hand in her hair to anchor her, his free hand dropped to the neckline of her nightgown and yanked the material, snapping the thin straps. Nicholas yanked another time to pull the material down to her waist.
Taking full advantage, he cupped her breast, rolling the sensitized peak between thumb and forefinger. Lifting, his lips hovered a mere breath above hers, “Open your mouth, Witch.” She shook her head vigorously, wincing at the tug it caused on her hair, and then glared at him.
He smiled wickedly and ground his hips into her. Massaging the tight little bud again he demanded, “Open.” A stubborn gleam had settled in her eyes and she shook her head again. His eyes darkened ominously, “Must be because you want me to kiss you somewhere else…” Before she could respond, his mouth replaced his fingers.
Her gasp was answered by the flick of his tongue, which he repeated again, and then a third time before mumbling against her flesh, “Do you want me to stay here or are you going to give me that mouth?”
Ella managed, barely, with much less conviction, “Go to hell, Vamp.”
He chuckled and swirled his tongue over her flesh a few more times, “You could have just politely asked for more, Princess.” He went with feather light kisses this time, and she forgot to keep fighting. Her fingertips had somehow drifted into the hair at his nape. He gave the hot, open mouthed kiss he’d wanted to share with her against the creamy swell of her flesh instead, deliberately allowing his fangs to scrape her flesh.
Her moan followed and he scratched her skin with his fangs once more before lifting his head and slowly rolling onto his back. He took her with him, tight against his chest. Nicholas gentled his hold, releasing her hair to cup the nape of her neck, drawing her face towards his, “Kiss me Ella. No more fighting…just kiss me. Please.”
She was immune to neither his plea for a truce nor the sincerity in his eyes. Hers were glowing green when she closed the space between them. Ella parted her lips as soon as they touched his. When he rubbed his tongue up to hers, she pressed forward into his mouth, playing for some time before she pulled back and began a teasing little assault on his fangs.
Nicholas kept his mouth to hers while he rearranged her legs until she straddled his hips. Spanning her waist with his hands, he dragged them higher over her ribs until his fingertips brushed the undersides of her breasts. Cupping and kneading with his hands, the pleasure caused her to whimper into his mouth and rub downward against him.
Nicholas rolled up into a sitting position, his hands sliding up to her collarbone and then on to either side of her neck stroking possessively over his mark. He took the kiss deep and wild. Ella’s kiss matched the ardor of his, completely uninhibited. Dropping his hands to her hips, his fingers dug into the curve of her bottom to hold her tight. At the same time he pressed up hard into her soft core, letting her feel his heat against her very center. She groaned against his lips, so he did it again, harder.
Ella pulled back, licking her lips as she pressed downward to meet him. She was trembling when she raised her eyes to his, “Cole...”
He studied her face for a moment and then simply leaned forward, bringing her lips back to his. Nicholas kept this kiss easy, light…barely brushing his tongue against hers before retreating again. He watched her face this time when he dropped his hands to the curve of her bottom and dragged her along the length of his arousal. Bringing his hand up, he stroked her hair while taking hold of her chin. Ella was gorgeous with her lips swollen from his kisses, cheeks flushed, eyes sparkling green. Nicholas kissed her brow and hugged her to him.
She could hear the warmth in his voice, he was no longer irritated with her, nor was he playing some game, “Ella, you too must accept me as I am.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair, sighing, “You have to love me, not who you want me to be. I am not going to make any more mistakes with you and claiming you before you are certain exactly who it is that you love would be a mistake.”
When Ella began to interrupt, he leaned her back and pressed a finger to her lips, “Shhh…Princess, I love you and I need you to love me…Nicholas, not Cole. Now that you know who and what I am, you have to decide if that is what you want.” He looked down at the bandage on her side that was peeking above the satin bunched at her waist. The look he gave her was full of unspoken meaning, “You have to be fully healed before I do all the things to you that I have in mind.”
Nicholas winked at her and set her off his lap with a smile, dismissing their heated play just that easily. Jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate her closet, he thought distracting her was the best course, “There is a present in there for you.” He adored the gleam of excitement that came into her eyes. Just because he was willing to give her time to decide if she could love him did not mean he would not try to tip the scales in his favor. “Go shower and come downstairs for dinner,” he rose and headed towards the bedroom door. With a grin he teased, “FYI, hurry up, you look starved and I have wine and chocolate.”
She studied his retreating back. With his words, he was again reminding her of their earlier days, which was unfair. When Nicholas shut the bedroom door, she fell back on the bed with a frustrated groan. A part of her still wanted to be so angry with him over everything that had transpired. If she were honest though, she was struggling to find much difference between the Nicholas that was here with her now and the Cole that she had loved so deeply before he left.
Ella would have to either forgive him completely or walk away. To be fully healed, as he had implied, she could not love one side of him and distrust the other. She had accepted him before knowing he was a Dark Vampire. Did it really matter so much to her? Of course, her association with the Realm had changed completely, and there was that bit about her being a Queen. That made her something like the ultimate Dark destroyer. Supposedly. It added a whole other wrinkle to their relationship, though no part of her was screaming for his head on a pike despite him being the Warrior of Dark. Odd.
She knew in her heart that he would never have allowed her to suffer the injuries she had this past week. Nicholas would protect her against Light and Dark, at risk to himself if necessary. His assertion was that he had intended only for her to wait, that he had never intended to abandon her. Perhaps she had not given him enough time…not that it excused him for leaving in the first place. Maybe he was so consumed by his hatred of the Light that he was unwilling to acknowledge to himself, much less to her, that he had simply forgotten about her until she showed up to ransack his castle.
The biggest obstacle to her embracing him fully was that he’d ditched her in favor of the Darks and never returned. Finding the ability to trust that Nicholas would not forsake her again and break her heart was the crux of the issue. Ella shoved off the bed, mind in turmoil. She lacked the energy to bring the conflicting perspectives to resolution and headed for her shower, vowing to give it more thought when she was not starved.
An hour later when Ella entered her closet, she was certain that her ‘surprise’ was the bronze metallic dress on the rack in the very center of the room. He had conspicuously placed the most fabulous pair of Jimmy Choo glitter slingbacks on the upholstered bench next to it. The contents of the closet were overwhelming. She remembered quite well thinking when she had toured it before that her entire wardrobe would not fill a fifth of the space. Nicholas had filled one side of it with an amazing array of designer clothes and the back wall already held twenty different pairs of shoes. Ella squealed and did a happy dance. She could have kissed Rhydach himself over that shoe collection.
Hair and makeup already done, she
had also removed the bandage from her side. There remained only a very faint pink line where the injury had once been. Ella poked through the drawers until she found the requisite undergarments and slipped into the dress. The shimmering metallic bands of material clung tightly to every inch of her. It was scoop necked, sleeveless, hitting her just above the knee…and fabulous. Slipping on the high, strappy shoes, she turned at least four times in the floor length mirror.
With one the last spin, she caught sight of a small box on the bench below where the dress had hung. Within it, she discovered, was a dangling pair of earrings made of topaz-colored stones. It was the other piece in the box – jewelry that did not coordinate with her evening attire - that made her breath catch. Her gold bracelet with the dangling teardrop emerald was nestled into the silken lining.
Ella’s eyes filled with tears when she pressed the bracelet to her lips. The significance was that she had left it on the floor of her old apartment on the last night of her lease, when she had returned to the Realm. The grime lord would have cleaned out everything she left behind immediately the next morning. She was trembling with the onslaught of emotion, but needing confirmation, Ella pushed through the clothes arranged so carefully on the racks.
It only took a minute to find it. The dress bag was hanging in the very back of her closet. Nicholas had come back. Her ‘present’ tonight was not the clothes or the shoes, but the knowledge that he had returned for her. The realization sunk deep into the damaged recesses of her heart, mending shattered pieces. Ella wiped her tears away before clasping the bracelet around her wrist and heading from the room.
CHAPTER 36
Meandering down the staircase, Ella eyed the house as she had the first time he had brought her. This could still be her home…with Nicholas. She turned towards the formal dining area, but his voice calling from behind stopped her, “Princess, come in here. We’re having a carpet picnic tonight...the second best kind.”
She turned and found him in the sitting room off the entry with the fire blazing. Hands falling to her hips, Ella sassed, “You are awfully fond of picnics…strange given that your favorite food doesn’t fit readily into a basket.”
Grinning devilishly, Nicholas patted the spot next to him, “No, but I do like it when she is lying on a blanket, squirming beneath me. Doesn’t that qualify?”
She blushed over the image he painted, noting that he was in the same spot where he had given her the ring all those months ago. Ella could not help but wonder if he had orchestrated tonight with that memory in mind. She was pulled from her thoughts when he held a container outstretched in his hand and beckoned her with the crook of his finger, “Guess what is in here.”
Moving into the room, she decided to ignore his offering. She could not always be so easily dissuaded from her purpose by chocolate. A wave of her hand indicated her dress, “You had me dress in finery so we could roll around on the floor?”
He countered with a smile, “Ella, you could have stayed in your pajamas. I did not order you into that dress.” He raised both brows after he surveyed her from top to bottom, “Though next time I might. You are certainly a hot little witch.”
Ella shook her head at him, “There was not that much left of those pajamas. You tore both straps from the top.”
“I know…but I wouldn’t have objected if you had worn them,” Nicholas poured the wine he had waiting, not quite managing to control the heat in his eyes. As gracefully as she could muster in the tight sheath, Ella dropped down to join him. When he reached forward to steady her, his hand swept over her hip, “You could always take that off…”
She taunted with her most innocent look, “Oh no, I could not…I don’t have anything on under it.” Ella winked before snatching the dessert from his side.
He erased the shocked look from his face and snatched it back with his ever so quick hands, “No Ella…you have to eat your vegetables first.”
Ella laughed good naturedly and slipped her shoes off before curling her legs beneath her, “Being a good captive, as I was instructed I should be, I will cooperate.”
Offering her wine glass, he was suddenly serious, “I will not keep you here against your will. I can take you home as soon as I am assured it is safe.”
She could tell by his expression that he found the idea distressing and she took heart. Ella could not leave him in doubt when she was no longer. Taking a deep breath, she fixed her solemn gaze on his, “My will is here Cole. This is my home, so I think the point is moot.”
Nicholas only studied her for a moment and then inclined his head slightly, pushing her plate towards her. Draping one arm over his knee, he sipped his wine and studied the fire, ignoring his own food. He had noted the bracelet on her arm and assumed it was the cause for her mood and her declaration.
His ongoing silence had her shifting the food around on her plate and when she could stand it no longer, she edged closer and put a hand on his arm in silent question. Turning to her, his voice was unexpectedly hard, “I am Nicholas, the Warrior of Dark.”
She kept her hand resting there, but scooted a bit closer, acknowledging, “Yes, I know.”
He set his wine glass down and put his hand over hers, “Do you? Do you really understand what I am? And what do we do Ella? Live our lives here? Pretend that you are not Light and I am not Dark? Ignore the rest, everything that was, everything that is?”
Unnerved over the questions, she knelt up. She had responsibilities in the Realm that would not allow her to walk away. As a Queen she would have very intricate part in the very thing he hated most. She had no answers; she merely wanted to mend this. Slipping her hand up to rest on his shoulder, she leaned her face closer to his, “Do we have to decide this tonight, Cole?”
He gazed at her stoically for a moment, then slipped his arm around her waist and eased her down across his lap. Pinning her with his gaze, he reprimanded softly, “Nicholas. My name is Nicholas. I do not want to be Cole to you, because it will always make me wonder if that part of me is the only part that you can actually love.”
Her smile was not what he expected, nor her hand that cupped his cheek, “And which part of you left the Realm to come back for me? Which part of you is it that loves me?”
He watched her through narrowed eyes, wondering at her game, “I love you completely Ella. Every part of me adores you.”
Ella nodded, thoughtful for a moment. Shifting a bit on his lap, she tugged the chain free from her neck and held it out to him, “Then, Nicholas, I assume you want to put this back on my finger? And we can figure out the answers to your other questions as we go?”
His fingers tightened around her offering and he crushed her to him, dropping his lips to hers for a lingering, heated kiss. When he released her, he broke the chain to free the ring and returned it to its rightful place. Stroking his fingers through her hair, the tension eased from him as he reveled in just holding her once again…as his.
The fire was burning much lower when Nicholas dropped a kiss to her brow. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed the look of adoration in her eyes until she gave it to him just then. He pushed her unceremoniously off his lap. Ella was still sputtering with indignation when he snatched up the container of dessert and explained, “FYI, Witch, Nicholas likes chocolate and he isn’t good at sharing. You’ll have to work hard for this.”
He laughed wickedly and then let her spend the remainder of the night convincing him just how much he needed to learn to share. When Nicholas finally tucked Ella into the blankets upstairs, he was sated, in body and spirit, for the first time in centuries.
CHAPTER 37
Ella awoke midday, thankful that Nicholas was inclined to sleep hard when the sun was high. She managed to collect everything she needed from their room and was even able to snag his cell from the bedside table without incident. If she was going to accomplish her plans before the sun went down, she was going to need some help.
Thirty minutes later - ten of it spent assuring Kat that she was in fact
well and no longer being held captive - she had enlisted her friend’s aid. Ella expected her to arrive momentarily with the items from the list she dictated. Having a Vampire friend that was sunlight friendly was such a bonus.
With Nicholas’s reserved behavior last night, she only hoped that he would be receptive to what she had planned. The soft rapping at the door announced Kat’s arrival and relieved Ella from getting overwhelmed by nervous thoughts. It meant that her friend had managed to bypass whatever security measures were in place around the perimeter of the property. At the second round of knocking, she called out quietly, “Kat, I cannot open the door or windows, Nicholas has them set with magic somehow. I was hoping since you made it here that you would be able to…”
Kat peered in the side window and appeared next to Ella a second later, laughing, “Where there is a will, there is a Me!” Then she frowned, “I thought you said you were not being held against your will? Why the protective barriers?”
Ella patiently explained that her reconciliation with Nicholas had only just happened the night prior and that there had been no opportunity to make the necessary changes to let her come and go at her leisure. Kat looked her over carefully, not bothering to hide her doubt or her concern, “You are certain this is what you want? You know that Nicholas is wicked evil?” At the roll of Ella’s eyes, Kat continued, “Well, wicked as in a yummy good, eat him up…but evil as in legendary scary.” Kaitriana shuddered and made the sign of the cross.
Shushing her friend, Ella could not help but grin, “Would you cut it out? You are not Catholic and he is not a demon.” Serious then, she shook her head, “Nicholas is not of the Light and he has been an agent for the Dark since his transition, but he is far from evil.”
Forsaken (Ancients of Light #1) Page 25
