wouldn't give him that teary, betrayed look women had cast him in the past if he'd accidentally stepped on their toes or collided with them coming around a street corner, that look that brought him so low.

  "Vampire, please," she murmured, "make it worth it. Make it. . . "

  When their lips touched, he groaned; electricity seemed to prick at his skin. He pulled back from her. "My God. " Nothing had ever felt so powerful, so right, as this kiss. Her hungry expression deepened.

  If it took becoming a vampire to have just this one perfect moment, would he suffer it again?

  When he kissed her again, lightly at first, she moaned, "More," against his lips.

  He clutched her tightly in his arms, then somehow remembered himself. No, fool. . . He eased his hold.

  At once, her claws bit into the backs of his arms, making him shudder. "Don't hold back. I need more. "

  She needed more, needed him to give it to her. Because she was. . . his. When this finally sank in, his shyness burned away. In the course of a heartbeat, he now had a woman of his own. He wanted to roar with triumph. The feel of her claws sinking into him - as if she feared he would get away - was ecstasy. She needs me.

  "Kiss me more, vampire. If you stop, I'll kill you. "

  He couldn't help but grin against her lips. A female threatening him if he should stop kissing her?

  So he did, tasting her tongue, teasing it, then claiming her mouth hotly, wetly. He savored the slow undulation of her hips against him, in time with each thrust of his tongue.

  He kissed her with all the passion long denied him, with all the hope that had been wrenched from him returning. Weariness of life had just been replaced by purpose - because of her. He let her know how thankful he was. . . by kissing her until she panted and sagged against him.

  Yet he was losing control. Impulses came for him to do things to her body, wicked things, and he knew that soon he would obey them. "I'll always give you more, until I die. "

  And now, for the first time in three hundred hellish years, Sebastian desperately wanted to live.

  3

  A s if she'd been hurled down from a great height, all the emotions lost to Kaderin, denied to her for the last millennium, crashed into her. Fear, joy, longing, and an undeniable sexual hunger warred within her - until he stoked her lust hot enough to drown out all other feelings.

  She was reeling, confused. All she knew for certain was that she needed release so badly her yearning pained her, made her whimper. And each of his fierce, possessive kisses increased her agony.

  As she threaded her fingers through his thick, tousled hair, she couldn't think, couldn't begin to reason out why this was happening to her. Inexplicable wants wracked her - to lick his skin, to have his body pressing heavily on hers.

  She brought her parted lips to his neck, kissing up from his collar. In turn, he thrust his erection against her, as if he couldn't help himself, then seemed to be willing himself not to do it again. But she was thrilled to find his shaft was huge and rigid, insistent against her. It made her body grow wet, wanting it.

  Unable to stop herself, she flicked her tongue out to taste his skin. Sensation spiked within her, and she moaned. Had any male ever tasted so good? His taste made her body react with animal needs so strong, she twitched as she resisted them. She wanted to rip his jeans from him, take that thick shaft in both hands, and lick its length in a frenzy.

  Imagining that made her roll her hips against him, and after a shuddering hesitation he met her. He hissed in a breath and rumbled foreign words in her ear. The entire castle shook - from her lightning, a Valkyrie's lightning produced by her emotion.

  Lightning, pleasure of any kind, had been denied her for so long.

  She knew this was forbidden, knew she would regret it, but at that moment, she didn't care. For some unknown reason, she'd been granted a window of opportunity with this male, enabling her to know passion once more. Just once more, that was all she wanted, before cold and nothingness crept over her again. . .

  So she took his kisses and returned them. Even as her ardor overwhelmed her, she tried to justify her actions. They wouldn't do more than this. This was forgivable. They were still clothed.

  He clutched her ass, fingers splayed, holding her firmly so he could thrust. Strong male. . . immortal male. . .

  With a body like a god's.

  "Harder," she whispered, then somehow she was backed against the wall, his hand behind her head to take the impact as he pressed her into it. His entire rigid body covered hers. Good, he was getting more aggressive. No! If he takes the reins, I'm lost. . . lost to him.

  It had been so long.

  A tight and aching coil was rapturously unfurling with each of the vampire's determined shoves. "Don't stop," she pleaded between ragged breaths. For the first time in a millennium, she was going to climax.

  Reading her mind, he rasped, "Can I make you. . . come like this?"

  "Yes!" she cried against his mouth. "Keep going! I need you to!"

  "Need?" He groaned as if excited by the word. "The problem is. . . I will, too. " His voice rough with lust, he said, "I've got to take you, Bride. "

  She stiffened at his words, as if she were waking up, then turned her face away. "Wait! I can't. . . I can't do this!"

  "I can give you what you need, I swear it," he grated, even as he cursed his lack of experience. He'd figure it bloody well out. "Just let me have you. "

  She shook her head wildly, thrashing in his arms. "Noooo!"

  As a human, he would have let her go immediately. But instinct told him not to. While understanding so little about what was happening, he somehow knew it was critical to have something shared between them, even a brief morning of pleasure.

  He couldn't allow this to stop - not before he'd given her release and taken his from her body as well. "Then we'll only be as before. " If this was all she'd permit before she came to her senses, then he'd take what he could get.

  "You don't understand - "

  Shocking himself, he cut off her protest, hands cradling her face so he could take her mouth hard. She tensed, seeming merely to endure his kiss. Then, after a moment, she gave an answering moan that made him sweat with relief. Her claws were back into his shoulders. He rocked into her, and his thoughts grew murkier, replaced by urgent want.

  The rougher he became, the more she gave cries into his mouth that drove him wild, urging him on. Yet even as she took his aggression with obvious pleasure, the wall was crumbling behind them.

  Suddenly, she hopped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. "Ah, God, that's it, Katja. " He clenched her generous, round ass in his palms, groaning at the feel. Here, too, she was in no way slight, and he loved it.

  He squeezed her lush curves, kneaded her, and she panted in his ear, "Yes, yes, you're so strong. "

  Strong? He shuddered. That pleased her? "I've never felt anything so damned good as your body - "

  His words died in his throat when she dropped lower, clutching his shoulders and hanging from her straightened arms to grind against him. She kept her silvery eyes on him, one tiny fang digging into her bottom lip as he stared down in disbelief. She was wild, making his cock twitch and pulse, nearing orgasm.

  Hold on, he commanded himself. She needs to come.

  She pulled herself up to kiss and nibble at his ear, putting her silken neck right before his mouth. Bite her. He licked her neck, wanting to take her there so badly. No. He couldn't do that to her.

  Why not? She likely thought him a monster already -

  She slapped her palm hard behind her, pushing off the wall so he went tripping back over books. Pages flew as they tumbled to the ground with her on top.

  She was frantic, shed of inhibitions, grinding against his shaft while tonguing his mouth. Her ass moved so sensuously beneath his palms as she worked her body against his - never in his most fevered fantasies had he imagined this.

  He no longer car
ed if he spilled his seed into his pants. He was going to come harder than he ever had. Shameful, degrading. He didn't care.

  He rolled her onto her back, pinning her arms above her head, giving in to the most primal urge to rock his hips. He ached to thrust against her. He needed to master her, and from the way she reacted, with her eyelids fluttering closed as she moaned, she needed it as well.

  "I didn't believe it was true," he groaned.

  Her head thrashed, the blond silk of her hair filling him with her scent.

  "Katja. " He thrust harder and she writhed wildly beneath him. "You're mine. "

  "Yes, yes. . . you're making me. . . come. " She arched her back, crying out. He wrapped his arms tightly around her torso, trapping her against his body as he bucked furiously against her.

  He groaned toward the ceiling, neck tensed, as his seed began to pump from him. With each shot, he gave a brutal yell. She