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  Devil, that was the most erotic thing anyone had ever said to him. His cock pulsed at the thought, hard and aching, telling him to make her skip the sucking and licking bit and jump right to the fucking. Not fucking. She could use that word and so could he, but this was beyond such a base sounding act. No matter how they did it, it would be making love to him, joining them as one body, seeking pleasure in their desire and feelings for each other.

  “Come to me then and let me taste your desire.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Lilah wasn’t getting used to hearing Javier speak to her like that. Whenever he husked such dirty things, detailing what he wanted to do to her and telling her what to do, she blushed beetroot red and wasn’t sure how to respond. Saying what she had wanted to do to him empowered her though. His reaction had been delicious, his hard cock leaping for her attention and his pupils swamping the colour in his irises and turning his gaze dark and hungry. He liked to hear it and she thought he liked to hear that he was at her mercy too. The more things she said to him and him to her, the more comfortable and confident she felt.

  She ran her hand over his erection, still amazed that she had made him come by merely biting him, and what she had said to him afterwards. Did she want to be a vampire? If Javier wanted to make her into one, would she consent to it so she could be with him forever? The thought of it was strangely appealing, exciting, and her heart was willing to take the leap and trust that the forever he had spoken of was something he truly wanted with her.

  “Lilah, you torture me,” he whispered, hoarse and rough, Spanish accented voice thick with desire. Her eyes widened when she realised she had taken to stroking his cock, her fingers curled around it, and he was thrusting through the ring of them. “Come to me.”

  She nodded and he groaned and didn’t stop as she moved into position on him, seating herself above his face with her mouth near his hungry cock. She teased him first, holding his shaft and licking the crown, running her tongue over it and tasting the salty tang of his seed. He moaned, his cool breath tickling her pussy, luring her into wanting to lower herself onto his face and giving him the taste of her that he desired.

  “Please, Lilah,” he said and the moment she dropped her hips closer to him, his tongue delved into her plush petals and found her clit.

  Lilah groaned loudly and then stifled herself by wrapping her mouth around his cock and sucking it. The more she sucked and licked him, shifting her hand up and down his hard length, the more pleasure he gave her. He moaned into her, swirling his tongue around her sensitive clit and then licking upwards. She breathed hard against his cock as he thrust it into her mouth and thrust his tongue into her slick core at the same time. His groan was nothing short of profane and erotic, full of deep satisfaction that echoed within her. She sucked him harder, eager for the taste of him again, desperate to make him continue alternating between plunging his stiff tongue into her wet sheath and suckling her clit.

  He lowered his mouth and swirled his tongue around her aroused nub and it was too much for her. She shifted her hips up, out of his reach, and breathed hard against him, struggling to hold back. She didn’t want to climax. Not yet.

  She crawled away from him and he growled again, the threatening sound of it sending a chill chasing over her skin and down her spine. She was coming to like it when he growled at her, marking the difference between them in such a primal way. He was a vampire. A powerful predator.

  And she had him at her mercy.

  Lilah paused and looked over her shoulder at him, seeing the need and desire in his eyes, the fierce hunger for her in the red tinge to his irises, and the hope buried beneath the surface, locked deep in his heart. He felt something for her, and she felt something for him, and that meant that there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. She didn’t care if vampire society said what was happening between them was forbidden. She would fight them all so she could be with him.

  She would fight for the man that she loved.

  The hunger in his eyes softened, curiosity surfacing in them as he searched hers, as though he had seen the feelings she held in her heart.

  Lilah turned to face him, straddling his hips, and stared into his eyes, letting him see that this meant something and that she would fight for it. She wouldn’t let him suffer the consequences of their actions alone. She would stand by his side and tell the world that her master had no control over her and that she loved Javier with all of her heart, and she didn’t care if that was wrong, because it felt right to her.

  She reached behind her, gripped his cock, and held it poised at her entrance.

  “Javier?” she whispered and the words fled her lips and her courage fell away.

  He tugged at his restraints. She gasped when he snapped them, grabbed her upper arms and pulled her down to him. He kissed her and rolled her onto her back, his mouth fusing with hers, tongue plundering with fierce thrusts and sweeps. She groaned, buried her fingers into the longer lengths of his sandy brown hair and wrapped her legs around him as he plunged his cock hard into her.

  His answering moan was low and deep, full of feral hunger that turned it into a snarl.

  “Tell me what you were thinking,” he uttered against her throat, kissing it and nibbling as he withdrew and thrust back into her, burying his body deep within hers, joining them as one. He caught one of her legs, getting his arm under her knee and holding it up. She groaned, unable to find her voice when he was driving her out of her head, his pelvis slamming against her clit with each deep plunge of his cock into her wet core. “Tell me, Lilah. Tell me I am not alone in this. Give me the strength to fight.”

  God. She wanted to. She wanted to cling to the hope that everything would turn out all right in the end just as he had said it would but she couldn’t fool herself. She wrapped her arms around him and moaned as he moved slower and deeper, long thrusts of his cock that threatened to have her climaxing before she managed to put voice to her feelings and give him the reassurance he craved. The thought that so strong a man needed her with such ferocity, that she could give him the strength that he sought with only a few honest words when he was so powerful in her eyes, awed and empowered her. It made her strong too.

  “You’re not alone, Javier,” she whispered and his name came out as a long moan as he pumped her, thrusting his long cock into her, completing her in a way she had never felt before. She felt so connected to him, so strong but so weak at the same time. Her happiness, her pleasure, her future, all of it was in his hands and it scared her. They had given up their fight against their feelings but rather than giving them the joy it should have it had given them pain and fear. He kissed her throat, whispered low Spanish words against it, words that sounded so romantic and so full of love that they brought tears to her eyes. “I’m right here with you.”

  He growled and held her tighter, his fingertips digging into her thigh and her shoulder, his hips pumping harder and faster. Each deep plunge of his cock pushed her closer to the edge. Each brush of his pelvis against her aroused nub sent shivers chasing up her thighs and tore a moan from her throat. She leaned her head back and to one side, sensing his intent, inviting him in and wanting him to go through with it this time. She wasn’t afraid of the consequences.

  “Forgive me... I cannot help... I must.” He snarled, withdrew sharply and then thrust his cock hard into her as he buried his fangs deep into her throat.

  Lilah cried out, fire sweeping through every inch of her, burning her up as she trembled and quaked, her body throbbing hard with her orgasm. Shivers and tingles cascaded over her skin, up and down her thighs in time with each pulse of his cock inside her and each pull he made on her blood. She clutched him to her, unable to do anything else but ride out each tremor of bliss that rocked her, her breath stuttering and heart stammering in her chest. Javier sucked softly on her neck, his hips making shallow thrusts, hands tightly gripping her.

  No pain.

  Only deep pleasure that sent her floating and drifting away, that s
lowly broke through the tremors of her orgasm and opened her mind to the feel of her blood flowing from her and into Javier. With each drop he took from her, the horizon in her mind expanded, unravelling outwards, until it met his and merged. She could feel him. Was this what it was like to be bitten by a vampire and have them take blood from you? She had never experienced it before.

  Javier’s thoughts were warm around her, soft as they encased her, and she felt as though they were holding her as surely as his hands were. She fell into them, unafraid, opening herself to him in the hope that he would know that she was there too and would feel her thoughts as she could feel his. It was too difficult to tell him that she loved him right now when everything was so uncertain but she could let him feel it. The feeling inside her intensified and the warmth she felt increased, suffusing her and making her smile. She didn’t understand what was happening but she didn’t need to in order to know Javier’s feelings for her in the connection forged between their blood.

  He withdrew his fangs and licked the puncture marks on her throat, softly and slowly, with infinite care. She was growing sleepy by the time he finally finished and placed a kiss on her throat.

  “Sleep a while with me,” he whispered into her ear and rolled them over, gathering her close to him. He tugged the bedclothes over her and around them both, and then wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her.

  Lilah didn’t want to sleep but the incredible warmth flowing through her and the feelings she could sense in Javier carried her away.

  CHAPTER 7

  Javier stared down at Lilah where she lay in his arms, her head resting against his forearm and her slow breaths skating warmly over his bare chest. Each beat of her steady heart marked another passing second and brought him closer to the time when he would have to face her master. He refused to fear it while he held her safe in his arms, her nude body curled close to his and her right hand on his left shoulder, close to the place where she had bitten him. It felt so peaceful that he could almost believe that this time with her would never end and they would drift through eternity like this, quiet and sated, alternating between sleeping and making love.

  He drew his left hand away from her and carefully lifted the strands of her dark chestnut hair from her face, tucking them back into the loose mess of her bun.

  She was so beautiful.

  His Lilah.

  He traced a lone fingertip down her warm satin cheek, unable to remember the last time he had felt so content and had watched over a woman as she slept in his arms. Not this past century at least. The theatre had become his life since the night it opened, stealing all his time and energy. Until Lilah had walked into his life and filled it with new colours and sounds, and scents, and rekindled his desire to live.

  Her nose wrinkled as he brushed it and she frowned, buried her head into the crook of his arm, and curled up.

  Javier smiled.

  He loved her so much.

  He bent his head to press a kiss to her brow and she rolled away from him and wriggled backwards until her bottom pressed into his hip. The heat of her against him and the sight of her peachy backside so close to his crotch shattered the peace and stoked the fire of passion back into life within him. His cock twitched and started to harden, and he rolled onto his side and nestled it in the crack of her bottom. She moaned in her sleep and rubbed against him, tearing a low groan from his throat in response.

  Javier dropped kisses on the back of her shoulder, the nape of her neck, and then the top of her shoulder close to where he had bitten her.

  Bitten her.

  He smiled and kissed the marks, glad that he hadn’t hurt her with his bite. It was further proof to him that Lord Ashville’s bond to her was incomplete. It boosted his hope that the law would land on his side when time came to face her so-called master. The sacred law spoke of a vampire violating it and that the pain caused to the human would mark the violation. Lilah was right. It didn’t speak of a human violating the law or that the owned human would feel no pain. He needed to speak to Antoine about it as soon as possible and see what he made of the situation. Antoine would be angry with him for violating it in the first place since he hadn’t known then that his touch and bite wouldn’t pain Lilah, but his old friend had to see that this case was unique and required those who ruled the vampires to decide on the outcome. Antoine couldn’t let Lord Ashville act out the penalty without an investigation into the bond between him and Lilah.

  Javier wrapped his arm around her stomach and pulled her roughly against him, grinding his hard cock against the crack of her backside at the same time. He pressed his mouth to her shoulder, breathing in the trace of her blood scent and closing his eyes. He should go to Antoine now but he couldn’t muster the strength to leave the bed and Lilah’s side yet, not until he had seen pleasure on her face one more time and seen in her eyes that she shared his feelings.

  “Lilah,” he whispered and kissed along her neck, up the delicate slope of it to her ear. “Are you awake?”

  She moaned and rubbed her bottom against him. “One of us certainly is.”

  He smiled. “It is still night. I am supposed to be awake... and so are you.”

  Lilah sighed and rolled to face him, throwing her knee over his hip. Her mound pressed against his erection, heating it and bringing back memories of how tight and hot she was. He groaned.

  “How long was I asleep?” she muttered.

  “Only an hour.” He smiled down at her when her eyes fluttered open and her beautiful golden irises rose to meet his.

  Lilah frowned. “What were you doing in that time?”

  “Watching you sleep.” His honest answer drew a harder frown from her. He pressed the pad of his thumb between her eyes and smoothed it away, still smiling ear to ear at her. “You are beautiful when you are sleeping in my arms.”

  She smiled and snuggled closer to him. “Am I not beautiful any other time?”

  “All the time,” he whispered and kissed her. She opened to him, tipping her head back and willingly accepting his kiss. He closed his eyes in pleasure, lost in the feel of her mouth on his, so warm and soft and sweet, everything he had ever dreamed of experiencing. She honestly didn’t think he was a monster. He had growled, snarled, broken his bonds and bitten her, and she had accepted all of it.

  All of him.

  “Mmm,” she hummed and drew away from him again. Her fingers stroked the left side of his neck, her eyes tracking them from the point below his earlobe to his collarbone. “Where did you get this?”

  “In a fight.” There was no point in masking who he was and the things he had done. She would find out and he preferred that she knew such things about him sooner rather than later. He wanted her to base her decision to be with him on all the facts, with her eyes open to what he was and his past.

  “Are you a good fighter?” Her gaze met his, inquisitive but soft and full of acceptance. Her steady heart told him that she wasn’t afraid of his answer or whatever he might tell her. She already knew what he was.

  He nodded. “Better than the man who gave me this, anyway.”

  “What happened to him?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “I killed him.”

  “Was he human or vampire?”

  She was certainly awake now, her golden irises bright with curiosity. He stroked her cheek, swept strands of her dark hair from her face, revealing it to him so he could drink his fill of it.

  “Vampire hunter,” he said and then added, “I have killed my share of hunters, and vampires... and humans. There were times when I was younger when it was more difficult to control my hunger. It is something all vampires go through during their first two centuries.”

  She smiled. “You say that as though it’s a mere handful of years. It’s twice the age within my grasp.”

  His face fell and so did hers when he touched her cheek again, staring into her eyes. “Would you want to live that long, Lilah?”

  She dropped her gaze to his chest and traced patterns on
his pectorals, sending shivers of need spiralling down through him to his groin. She didn’t even seem to notice that she was torturing him with her touch, teasing him towards the brink of despair and losing control. He wanted her again, hungered to feel her under his fingers and be inside her once more. She was making it difficult for him to remain talking and he knew that it was important to her.

  “Perhaps. Would I have to become a vampire to live for centuries?” That question came out sounding like one she had considered many times but had never had the courage to seek the answer to it.

  “Not necessarily. Regular intake of blood from a vampire you are bonded with could grant you a very long life... but it would only slow your aging. By the time you reached two centuries, you would likely be very old and grey and tired of life.” Javier didn’t want that for her. He wanted her to remain as she was now, beautiful and youthful, and his. He hesitated, toying with a strand of her hair, and watched his fingers, not brave enough to look her in the eye when he found the courage to say what he needed to. “If you wanted to live as long as I have and remain as you are, you would have to become a vampire. Would you ever consent to becoming a vampire, Lilah?”

  Her fingers stilled against his chest and her heart skipped a beat, giving her away. Whatever she said, he knew the answer that she held deep in her soul. She was afraid of becoming a vampire.

  “I thought vampires didn’t like to turn people and taint their bloodline?”

  Javier smiled again. “Some think that way. Mainly the aristocrats. Keeping their families pure has become a sort of mission to them.”

  “You’re an elite, aren’t you?”

  He nodded against the deep blue pillow and she looked up at him, right into his eyes. There was a spark of warmth in hers, something akin to affection, and an urge to ask her what she was thinking gripped him again but he let it fall away instead and answered her question.

  “Yes, I am elite. That means my family has human blood in it. I wasn’t turned, but my father turned my mother, and they had me, my younger brother and my sister. They still live in Spain. My sister recently married the man she turned.”