At once, Evie closed her mouth tightly over the wound and began to suck. As she swallowed, the misery riding her body began to ebb away. The blood she lost was replaced, the wounds in her wrists stopped aching, and the fuzziness that had been sitting over her lifted and flittered away.
In its place remained a kind of peace. It was like drinking liquid bliss; it erased the agony, the uncertainty, and the torment and replaced it with soul-deep contentment. There was no greater pleasure than the cessation of pain, and this right here, right now, was the cessation of every kind of pain Evie had ever known. There was no more resentment at having lived a normal life in the midst of supernatural she had never known were there. There was no more panic or anxiety. It was all gone – all of it.
She continued to drink from the vampire king, and every time she pulled and swallowed the magical liquid in his veins, Roman fought harder against the grips his men had upon him.
What is wrong with him? Evie’s sudden apprehension felt like a spear of hard, sharp light in a sea of warm, tranquil darkness. Her question was more to herself than anyone else, and went out on a mental link that she hadn’t even known she’d formed.
His blood is healing you, Cade answered, also mentally.
Evie’s eyes widened… She’d just communicated telepathically with someone. She could actually hear the others now! Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to stop drinking. Not just yet.
“When you drink from him, it is an act that fills him with a dangerous desire, Evie,” said the woman beside her. “If we don’t contain him, he will take you all the way to your last drop before you are strong enough to heal yourself when he’s finished.”
Evie could feel something happening inside. It was almost unnerving, but not quite, because there was no uncertainty and no fear attached to this change.
Somewhere outside, lightning split the Oregon sky and thunder rolled through the safe house. The surge of magic being taken from the king’s veins and infused into Evie’s was so powerful, she felt as if she were imbibing a liquid aphrodisiac. The heat that had numbed her tongue and throat spread through her chest and slipped lower, warming her belly and moistening her panties between her legs.
She moaned against Roman’s throat, the sound involuntary and soft. In response, Roman lowered his head to her neck and Evie could feel his hot breath against her skin as his lips parted.
“Hold him!” the dark-haired woman shouted. “She’s not ready! He’ll kill her!”
“Forgive me, My Liege.” David Cade grabbed a fist full of his thick black hair and just as Evie felt Roman’s fangs graze the skin on her neck, the other vampire yanked the king’s head back.
Roman roared in outrage, and the sound echoed off of the walls with more force than the thunder had. The lights overhead flickered. Tiny pieces of plaster and dried paint crumbled to the floor. Waves of his power rippled out in anger, abrading everything in the room, including the men who were holding him. They gritted their teeth in pain, their own fangs showing, their eyes beginning to glow. But they held on.
Evie saw them all, felt them all struggling behind Roman, and she experienced a hiccup of fear that she wouldn’t make the change in time. They wouldn’t be able to hold Roman for much longer.
And then, with a slowly mounting certainty, she felt it. There it was, clicking into place, as if it had heard her silent plea and answered her.
It was like realizing every dream she had ever had. It felt like every story she had ever written was coming true. With a sense of bewilderment that left her fingers and toes tingling, Evie slowly stopped drinking and pulled away. Then she dropped her hands from his chest and straightened.
The vampire king, in all of his broad-shouldered beauty, was shaking in his men’s grasps. Evie could feel his power more tangibly now, as if it were a living, breathing entity. Where it grazed everything else in the room with unspent wrath, it wrapped around Evie possessively as if it didn’t want her to pull away.
But she had power of her own now. She felt it building around her as surely as Roman’s did around him. And that inherent magical strength allowed her to put enough space between her and the king that David was able to let him go.
Roman’s gaze dropped to Evie’s. It lingered there a moment, red and burning. The men holding Roman released him all at once and took a simultaneous step back. The vampire king didn’t move at first; the room had fallen into silence. But his power still whipped out around him, and where it touched her own, it sent shivers of anticipation through Evie.
In a blur of impossible movement, Roman came forward. She felt his arms slide around her, but it was only one sensation among many. Everything happened at once. He spoke a word of magic, but it sounded in his mind, and because she could hear those thoughts now too, it sounded in hers as well. The transportation took hold, the room melted, time warped, and the other vampires that had been around them were gone.
The world pulsed outward, receded quickly, and solidified once more. Evie inhaled and looked around. They were alone in Roman’s secret cavern, kneeling in a patch of thick grass and clover on one of the islands. The waterfall on one side of the cave filled the magical space with a static, peaceful sound. The tributaries of river babbled like brooks, and the trees on the individual islands swayed ever so slightly in some un-felt breeze. Smoke curled from the cottage several islands away, and Evie could smell fresh baked cookies.
Roman looked down at her now through eyes that pulsed between red and black.
“How do you feel?” he asked, his beautiful voice gruff with lust and unspent power.
Evie felt fantastic. Nothing hurt, there was no weariness, no anger. There was only the feeling of life – immortal and strong. It was his blood pumping through her veins.
“I feel good,” she said, meaning it with all of her heart.
“Glad to hear it,” he told her, his lips spreading into a grin so devious, so darkly determined, it was cruel. Beautiful, and absolutely cruel.
And then he was on her, taking them both to the ground. Despite the fact that she carried Roman’s blood, she barely saw him coming. His body blurred before her, his hands grasped her firmly but tenderly, and before she could blink, she was on her back and he was straddling her in the thick grass and clover.
She inhaled a surprised gasp and stared up at him through wide eyes. He loomed over her, his black button-up shirt open a the collar, his fangs bared. His muscles pressed threateningly, promisingly, against the tight material of his clothing, and his ultra black hair curled in damp locks against his forehead and cheeks. He was breathtaking. Something out of a wet supernatural dream.
Did you enjoy the way I taste? he asked, smiling as he whispered the question into her mind. One of his strong hands expertly captured both of her slender wrists and pinned them to the clover above her head. She thought about fighting him just for fun, but abstained. He was the Vampire King. He’d lived three thousand years; he had a good two thousand, nine hundred and seventy on her. No matter how strong she’d just become from his infusion, he would win. And for once, it was fun to just give in.
You’re delicious, she told him, taunting him with a lascivious smile.
He chuckled above her, the sound sending tempting vibrations through her body from their point of contact at her hips.
Then you’ll understand why I have to do this.
The words had barely registered in her mind before he was turning her head to one side with his free hand and she was crying out with surprise as he sank his fangs into her throat.
The sensation was mind-blowing. It was everything that Evie had ever imagined, written about, and dreamed of. And it was more.
The tips of Roman’s fangs were razor-sharp. They slid into her throat with expert purpose, straight and fast, and lodged so deep within her that Evie felt well possessed. She was being owned in that moment, taken by a man who had ruled a supernatural kingdom for three thousand years. He was a man so indomitable, he occupied the fantasies of millions of
women around the globe. And of all of those women, he had chosen her.
There’s no turning back, my love, Roman’s words poured through Evie’s mind, igniting the fire that erupted into an infernal blaze as he pulled for the first time and swallowed against her throat.
Oh God…. There was a deliriousness that was not a thought, not a word, but a sensation of such chaotic magnitude, Evie felt as if she were flying and falling at once. She gasped and moaned as moisture gathered between her legs, further dampening her crotch, and her nipples hardened almost painfully.
Addo Nox Noctis… My queen.
He pulled and swallowed again, his body pressing down upon hers, his hardness the perfect match for her yielding, burning form. The heat within her intensified, swirling and pooling between her legs. Her back arched, and Roman’s grip on her wrists tightened.
Again, the king took of her, drawing and swallowing her blood with languid determination that was becoming like a gradual torture. Each second brought more of Evie’s nerve endings to life, each pull against the giving veins in her body driving her ever closer to some kind of perfect insanity.
No more…. The notion floated through her mind, released in desperation. I can’t take any more, she thought. He was eating her alive, his power licking at her skin, his lips caressing her throat, his vampirism taking the blood from her very soul as if he would never, ever get enough.
Laughter rolled through her mind, imminently cruel. It was Roman’s voice, devoid of mercy, devoid of restraint. The laugh mocked her, tempted her, and teased her as if to say, “You can take so much more than this my love, and take it you will.” He was going to take her to the brink of death and bring her back again. He was going to take her very last drop.
As he took another swallow of her blood and the ache in her body became unbearable, a noise that was half frustrated growl, half need-filled scream bubbled up in her throat, threatening to break free. “Roman!” she cried, not even knowing why she was saying his name or what she was asking him for.
It didn’t matter though, because whatever her need was, his must have been ten-fold. He answered her cry with a growl of his own, pulling his fangs from her throat and rising above her. She hated to have them removed from her; the feeling was like being torn away from pleasure itself.
I can fix that, he told her, not bothering to say it aloud. They were connected now, deep down where it counted.
What he did speak out loud was a magic word. There was a flash of light, a brush of warm wind across Evie’s face, and when it passed, her skin prickled at the feeling of fresh air against her nakedness.
She gasped and looked down, but whatever magic Roman had used had taken his clothes as well – and that was where her gaze stopped.
Holy fuck.
All coherent thought but those two words fled from Evie’s mind. Her lips parted, her breath hitched, and her eyes decided to do what they wanted – trailing across the ridges and slopes of what she was certain was the most perfect body ever formed. The sight of him before her filled her with unbearable yearning.
It also terrified her.
Her eyes widened when they slid downward to find the rock-hard evidence of what she had done to him so far. A tremor of trepidation rushed through her. He was huge. He’s going to kill me.
Roman’s response was another wicked smile, which turned him into a veritable incubus above her, a triumphant demon of seduction who had captured his victim and was surely about to rip her asunder.
Yes, he told her. I am.
Evie lay beneath him, her wrists now free, but her body unable to move as it was trapped between the layer upon layer of hot, aching need he’d laid upon her and the somewhat frozen fear of what she knew he was about to do to her. Fangs in the throat were one thing. This was another.
You’ll take them both, his wicked voice told her.
Promised.
And then he was moving again, and Evie cried out as his hands were suddenly around her waist and she was turning, blurring in the air of the cavern as he switched their positions with vampire speed.
She released a shaky breath and chanced a glance down. He was holding her above him, her opening positioned directly over his broad, turgid cock.
Oh God….
If he released her, she would impale herself. Her eyes flew back up to his to find that they were once more burning, fully aflame. His fangs were bared and his features were hard. There was no escape from this.
His hands nearly spanned the whole of her small waist. They tightened their grips and slowly, so slowly that it was maddening, Roman lowered her over him. Evie closed her eyes and could do nothing to suppress the moan that escaped her when she felt the tip of his member part her moist, ready lips.
He waited there, allowing Evie to feel the intrusion in a way that she never could have imagined. She was violated – blessedly, beautifully violated – but not enough. It wasn’t enough!
Again he moved, lowering her a touch more. Evie’s head rolled back, exposing her throat.
Careful, little one. You’re tempting the beast.
Evie had no words to come back with. The very idea that she was unknowingly teasing him was laughable. She would have given almost anything in that moment to have him drop her, to just take her all the way.
Once more, his deep, wicked chuckle echoed through her mind. Evie bared her teeth. She lowered her head and glared down at him, expecting to find him grinning evilly up at her. But the look on his face was one of slight bewilderment.
You’re stunning, he told her.
Evie’s brow furrowed. What the hell was he talking about? Roman!
And then his expression changed. It became intense and serious, and Evie found herself holding her breath.
All at once, he lowered her the rest of the way and pressed into her hot, wet tightness, sinking all the way to the hilt. Evie’s head flew back, her hair fanned out around her, and she cried out to the recesses of the cavern. It hurt so wonderfully good. So perfectly agonizing.
So full….
But he gave her no time to get used to it before he was once more switching their positions, turning with her in the clover until she was under him again. She felt the soft green beneath her and in the next intake of breath, Roman was shoving his hand through her hair and yanking back her head.
She knew it was coming a millisecond before it came. Roman’s long, sharp fangs impaled her once more, sinking to their limits. Again, Evie cried out. The feeling of being so deeply taken, so fully claimed by such a man was indescribable.
She sensed a dangerous peak drawing nearer, so intensely pleasurable, she knew it would feel like an explosion, all encompassing and all destructive. But it was mounting within her, ever closer, both promising and threatening at once.
Going to kill me….
Yes, Roman said again, and she could feel his mental voice claim her just as surely as his body was doing so. It was laced with power, spoken with magic, and it curled around her, binding tight like strong silk ropes. I am. He made the promise and sealed it with his soul. Every chance I get.
He moved then, releasing her hair to brace his hands against the ground at either side of her head. His muscles rippled and flexed as he lifted his body, never breaking the seal he’d formed over her neck. He pulled and swallowed at her throat as he eased out of her tightness below ever so slightly, and then shoved back in. Evie shuddered with the impact, feeling him deeper than she ever would have thought possible.
Again he pulled away, and again he drove forward, claiming her with a thrust that took her one step closer to the edge. Once more, he extracted his savage fangs from her tender throat and Evie trembled under assailing sensations as he grazed those teeth along the flesh of her neck to her collarbone.
Her hands clutched at his chest, unconsciously marveling at the broad ridges beneath her fingertips, and when Roman’s teeth rose over the crest of her breast to stop at the barrier of her aching nipple, Evie dug her fingernails into his muscle, despe
rate to find relief.
Roman’s mouth closed over the nipple, and Evie’s eyes flew open as the tip of one of his dangerous fangs pricked threateningly at the tender flesh. He sucked, and she rose to meet him as rivulets of lightning arced from her breast to her sex, wringing a cry of pleasure from her throat.
His tongue expertly brushed over the sensitive bud before he again rose with vampire speed and moved up her body to sink his long, sharp fangs into her throat a third and final time.
The dichotomy was too much. Evie bucked beneath him, and as if he’d known she would fight, Roman’s hands once more found her wrists and pressed them into the grass beneath them.
Close… so close.
The madness was rising, the ridge ever closer as Roman pulled out and drove in – over and over, every long, thick inch of him claiming her as his to the point of delirium. He drank deeper, pulling against her with abandon. Evie’s head tossed to the side, she had nowhere to go. The ache grew and grew, and her body quaked beneath the Vampire King, consumed by a passion it could not endure.
And then, like an answered prayer, Roman drove in one final time, pressing deep and setting off the convulsions of insane bliss that had been hovering and teasing, just out of reach until now. She could feel his release like an eruption of lava within her, scorching her to the core and magnifying her own climax as it finally broke free. The waves rolled over Evie, claiming her in a suffocating sea of pleasure as her final drop was claimed by the Vampire King.
She felt herself die in that moment. It was nothing like she would have imagined. It was like “sloughing off her mortal coil” in favor of the new, better one underneath. There was no weakness, no pain, no fear.
She screamed into the air of the cavern as the last of her volcanic orgasm ripped through her, her beautiful new vampire voice going hoarse with the effort.
Above her, the Vampire King rose like a god and claimed her lips with his own, stealing the last of her cries and swallowing them in a kiss that threatened to drive Evie right back toward that ledge of need.