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  “Is that where you went?”

  Javier nodded again. “I missed you when I was there. Watching my sister marry and seeing my parents again... I kept thinking about you.”

  Her eyes widened and he wasn’t sure what to say. Had he given himself away? He should have been more guarded with what he had said but the words had flowed out of him so naturally that he hadn’t thought to censor them. If she knew that he wanted that for them, he wanted the fairytale of turning her and then marrying her before his family, then he was glad in a way. It would give her time to consider it without the pressure of him asking outright.

  “Did you miss me?” he whispered, trying to give her something to respond to so she didn’t feel as though she had to say anything about him turning her.

  “Not at all.” She looked deadly serious, so much so that his heart dropped into his stomach. She pushed him onto his back and climbed astride him, pressing her warmth against his cock, teasing it back into hardness. She smiled at last, leaned over so her stomach and chest pressed against his, and kissed his chin. “I missed you like crazy... especially when Callum mentioned you would be away for a whole month. That must have been some wedding celebration.”

  Javier shrugged, settled his hands on her bare backside, and shifted her upwards so he could reach her mouth and kiss her. If he married her, the celebrations would last longer than a month. He would be celebrating it forever.

  He kissed her slowly, hoping to stop her questions, but she broke away from him and looked down into his eyes.

  “How old are your brother and sister?”

  He knew where this was heading. “My sister is three hundred and fifty seven... eight even. My brother is five hundred and two. I was away for a month shortly after you first arrived because of his five hundredth birthday. I am six hundred and thirty three.”

  “I’m that transparent?” Her rosy lips curved back into a soft smile and he couldn’t resist kissing her again. She settled her elbows on the pillows above his shoulders and returned the kiss this time, her mouth playing gently against his, tongue barely touching his as they met and parted. She drew back again. “So you’re just the six hundred years older than me?”

  Javier palmed her buttocks. “Does that make me too old for you?”

  She peppered kisses on his lips and cheek and then his jaw. “Not at all. Does that mean you’re strong? I heard that vampires over five hundred were much stronger... but that elite vampires aren’t as strong as aristocrats.”

  Javier abruptly wrapped his arms around her and held her head against his chest. “Do not think about it. I will take care of it... just... everything will be alright.”

  She nodded against him and he clutched her shoulders and raised her off him, so he could see her face. There was worry in her golden eyes, fear that he could smell in her blood. He sighed and cupped her cheek, holding her gaze.

  “Maybe I need to take your mind off it.” Javier raised his hips beneath her, pressing his erection into her warmth.

  Her saucy smile stole his heart.

  Lilah wriggled against him, pressed her hands against his chest and pushed herself up. Javier groaned at the sight of her firm round breasts and covered them with his hands, feeling the heat of her against his palms. Her eyelids drooped when he thumbed her nipples, circling them at first before pinching and rolling them between his index finger and thumb. She tipped her head back and moaned, a goddess above him, beautifully bare and enticing.

  Javier lowered one hand from her breasts, skimming it down over the smooth plane of her stomach to her hip, and then following the curve of her thigh downwards. He turned his hand and slid it beneath her, parting her and seeking her aroused nub. She lifted off him, her gasp cutting the silence, and he watched her face as he touched her, drank in her pleasure as it rippled across her features, causing her eyebrows to knit one moment and then shoot upwards the next. Her eyes opened and she looked down at him, her body shifting against his hand, hips rotating in the most sensual way he had ever seen. He wanted her to move that way on him, to swirl her hips around as he pumped into her and brought her to climax.

  He eased his hand forwards and slowly sank two fingers into her warm heat. She gasped and moaned his name in a way that he had been dying to hear again. It sounded so sexy and hungry when she growled it like that, her voice rough with desire and need. It was a command, an order for him to keep going and give her the pleasure she sought with him.

  Javier obeyed.

  He pumped her slowly with one hand, pressing his fingers into the softness of her core to give her more pleasure, and teased her nipple with his other hand. She moved faster, thrusting down onto his fingers, riding them.

  “More, Javier,” she uttered and he groaned, his cock bobbing at the command in her tone. He would give her more. He would give her so much that she screamed his name when she came this time.

  Javier slid his fingers free of her. She opened her eyes and he killed her protest before it reached her lips by positioning his hard length beneath her and easing her back onto it. Her words came out as a low moan instead as she sank back onto his cock and he joined her, groaning as her tight sheath enveloped him. He was never getting used to the feel of her around him, so hot and wet, gripping his cock in a way that made him want to stay inside her forever.

  Lilah pressed her hands against his hips, raised herself up on his cock and then sank back down again, pushing him deeper this time. He groaned and grasped her hips. She smiled, held his gaze, and placed her hands over his as she started to move on him, her breasts bouncing and swaying with each swirl of her hips.

  “Lilah,” he whispered, lost in her eyes and the feel of her riding his cock, rotating her hips so it circled inside her, buried deep in her hot core. At this rate, he was going to be the one screaming her name as he came.

  She smiled wickedly, tipped her head back and opened her mouth in a sigh. So wanton. He couldn’t get enough of watching her as she sought her pleasure, doing as she wanted, using him to satisfy her desire. She whirled her hips with each thrust of his cock into her, driving him out of his mind until all he could do was surrender to his instincts. He tensed his backside with each of her down thrusts, pumping his cock up into her, short frenzied thrusts that tore groans from her throat and made her clutch his hands, her fingers pressing into his.

  “Javier,” she moaned and the sound of it drove him on, fuelling his need for her. He clasped her hips and moved her on him, roughening the thrusts, bringing her down hard on his cock. She arched her back and he choked out a groan at the tightness of her around him. Her answering moan was louder this time. “Javier.”

  He snarled and gave her what she wanted, his hips pumping hard, plunging his cock into her maddening heat and surrendering to his urge to have her. She moaned a little higher with each deep thrust of his hard length that sent her breasts bobbing and body quivering. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, the sight of them teasing it too much for him to handle. His fangs extended, hunger for her blood flooding his veins and swamping his senses. His eyes switched next, bringing the low lit bedroom into sharp bright focus. His heightened senses made everything feel a thousand times better and a million times too good for him to handle.

  Lilah rode him with frenzied thrusts, her hands claiming her breasts, the sight of her pushing him over the edge. He lifted her off him, ignoring her mewls, and set her down on the bed on her front. She moaned when he moved behind her and lifted her onto her hands and knees, and then cried out his name when he plunged his hard cock back into her wet core. She rocked forwards with each hard thrust of his body into hers and he growled as she tightened around him, her mewls and moans filling the room. Javier grasped her hips, pumping her hard and fast, losing himself in the heat of the moment and desperately trying to hold himself back so he didn’t hurt her. He nudged her knees further apart and roughened his thrusts. The feel of his balls hitting her pussy with each plunge of his cock into her, the sound of her moaning his name each time the head
of his length struck deep inside her, and the scent of her arousal and blood all combined to tip him over the edge.

  “Javier!” Lilah’s shout of bliss and the tremble of her warm body around his aching cock was the final straw.

  With a hoarse snarl, Javier slammed his body hard and deep into hers and held himself there as he came, his cock quivering and pulsing discordantly to her body. He clutched her to him, holding her so she couldn’t pull away from him, needing to catch his breath and make the most of being inside her. She sighed when he bent forwards, resting his forehead against her sweat soaked back. The thundering rush of her heart beat in his mind and the scent of her blood filled his nostrils.

  Javier licked her back, tasting her salty skin, savouring it as much as he was being inside her. He closed his eyes and reluctantly released her. She didn’t move away from him. She stayed with his softening cock inside her, trembling beneath him, her breathing fast and hard.

  “Did I hurt you?” he whispered and kissed her back, wanting to soothe away her pain with his touch if he had.

  “No.” She pushed herself up, so he had to rise with her, and knelt before him, her back against his front. She reached over behind her and ran her hand through his hair. He loved the heat of her body against his. The giggle that escaped her was music to his ears. “I just need a moment for the room to stop spinning.”

  He smiled and pressed kisses to her shoulder, relieved that he hadn’t gone too far. It was hard to keep control when he was inside her.

  Javier withdrew from her, turned her in his arms and lay her back down on the bed. He lay next to her, covered her with the blanket, and held her close to him, waiting for her to fall asleep again. It didn’t take long for her breathing to turn soft and slow and her heartbeat to settle, telling him that she had drifted off. He didn’t want to scare her by leaving her alone while she was awake and he had to see Antoine. The temptation to remain with her was overwhelming but he fought it. He would lock the door to his apartment and would find Antoine as quickly as possible and return before she woke.

  He waited a few minutes longer, struggling to convince himself to leave, telling himself that he had to be sure that she was asleep before he moved.

  With a sigh, he gently lifted her head, pulled his arm out from beneath her, and laid it back down on the dark blue pillow. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, covered her with the blanket, and slipped from the bed.

  Javier had put his black boxers and his tailored trousers on before he remembered that they had used his belt as a restraint. He glanced across at the bed. It wasn’t there. It must have fallen down behind the bed when he had broken free. He crossed the wooden floor to the built in wardrobes that lined one wall of his blue bedroom and opened the sliding doors. He took down a fresh black shirt and put it on, tucking it into his trousers, and then chose a black leather belt and threaded it through the loops and fastened it.

  He went barefoot from his apartment, locking the door behind him and pocketing the keys, and was silent as he passed Snow’s room. The last thing he needed was Snow questioning him. Javier didn’t doubt that the old vampire would have heard Lilah and him. Snow didn’t like the presence of humans in this area of the theatre. It tended to awaken his bloodlust and make him frenzied with hunger to tear into them and drain them to death.

  Javier knocked lightly on the mahogany panelled door of Antoine’s room and listened closely. It was still dark out so Antoine should have been awake. No sound came from the room on the other side of the door though. He moved on, heading down the stairs to the offices. Antoine’s door was open and his voice drifted out, a one sided conversation. He was on the phone.

  Javier knocked on the open door, waited for the aristocrat vampire seated behind the huge oak desk in the darkly decorated office to acknowledge him with a wave of his hand, and then entered. He took the seat opposite Antoine and waited.

  Antoine’s pale blue eyes shifted to him and he ended his call, setting his mobile phone down on the table. The aristocrat vampire swept the lengths of his brown hair back, leaned into his black leather chair and loosed a long sigh.

  “Did you see the show tonight?” Antoine said, his deep voice a mixture of accents that made his nationality hard to place. Javier had never asked what family he and Snow belonged to. When they had started Vampirerotique, Antoine had told him and Callum that their family were all dead and that was that. Antoine and Snow were connected in society though, and it was their names on the theatre licence that drew the aristocrats to the shows.

  Javier nodded. “I saw some of it.”

  “Victor seemed unusually relaxed during the final act.” Antoine’s icy blue eyes penetrated Javier’s. “It wouldn’t have had anything to do with what happened with Lord Ashville’s ward, would it?”

  “Lilah confirmed that she hit Victor, but only because Victor had been trying to tear Nia’s throat open. The man lost control, Antoine. He deserved what he got.”

  Antoine sighed, tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I suppose you are right... it is policy that our performers don’t interact with the staff... it is odd though, Javier... I recall having a similar policy regarding the owners and staff.”

  Javier tensed when Antoine’s gaze slowly drifted down to settle on him.

  “She is an owned human, Javier. I had hoped that Snow was wrong and he did not smell her outside his room, and he did not smell you on her... but you reek of woman and sex.”

  Javier swallowed, fear crushing his chest. Antoine could easily kill him. At over one thousand years old and of pure blood, he was one of the most powerful vampires Javier knew, even more powerful than Lord Ashville.

  “Lilah is the reason I am here to speak with you.” Javier somehow managed to keep his fear from his voice. It was surprisingly steady. “Lord Ashville’s claim on her is either false or incomplete.”

  “What do you mean?” Antoine sat forwards and leaned his elbows on his desk, creasing his silver-grey tailored shirt.

  “She has her own will. She seduced me, could bear my touch and my bite with no ill effect.” It was hard to lie to his old friend but he had to maintain the charade for Lilah’s sake. She believed that it would save him and he was starting to hope that it would.

  “Impossible.”

  “Not impossible at all. Ask her yourself. She will tell you that what we did has not pained her at all and that she was the one to initiate things between us. I just need you to send word to the heads of society about this and let them deal with it. Question us if you must. Please... if Lord Ashville comes... do not let him take Lilah and do not let him carry out punishment on me.” Javier stood with the intent of convincing Antoine to go with him to Lilah and speak to her.

  A sense of panic surged through the theatre bare seconds before Callum rushed into the office.

  “We have a problem,” Callum said, his green eyes wide and fear coming off him in waves.

  Javier stared at him, his heart squeezed tight by icy claws, and sensed the pain in his blood before he heard her scream.

  “Lilah!”

  CHAPTER 8

  Lilah woke alone in the middle of Javier’s huge four-poster bed in his elegant blue room. She stretched, muscles tight and aching from making love with him, and smiled to herself. The windowless room gave her no clue as to the hour. Had the sun risen yet? If it had, she was sure that Javier would be beside her, sound asleep. Sleeping curled in his arms had felt so good. She had never felt so safe. Her life before Lord Ashville had bonded with her had been rough, living day to day with little comfort, scrounging for food and money on the street. After Lord Ashville had given her blood and taken her to his mansion, her life had scarcely improved. She had become a slave.

  But then he had sent her here, to Javier, and she had fallen in love. During her past two years here, there had been times when he had been especially nice to her. Now she knew why.

  Now she knew what love was.

  Love was the way he had held her in his arms as sh
e slept and watched over her, keeping her safe from the darkness in the world.

  Protecting her.

  Her heart hurt at the thought of him fighting Lord Ashville. She knew that he intended to fight for her. It was better than him letting her master enact the punishment for the law he had broken, but she still feared it.

  Lilah pushed the thick feather duvet aside and rose from the bed. She rounded the foot of it, gathering her clothes as she went, and headed for the open door to the bathroom. The rich gold fixtures shone in the light when she flicked the switch, revealing the expansive room. The curved glass door of the double shower was open. A shiver of arousal tripped through her at the thought of what Javier would have looked like had she taken longer to reach his room and caught him in the shower instead. The image of him with wet sandy brown hair, water dripping from the haphazard spikes and rolling down his bare chest, was too delicious to contemplate without arousing herself.

  She took one of the black towels off the white marble counter around the large oval sink and raised it to her nose. It smelt like Javier. Warm and spicy. She touched his shaving things and then his aftershave bottles that lined the back of the counter below the large rectangular mirror. He had quite the collection of the same fragrance but she supposed it made sense. It was annoying enough to a human when their favourite scent was no longer available and they had to find a new one. She couldn’t imagine how many times a vampire had to find a new fragrance.

  Especially one who was over six hundred years old.

  Lilah couldn’t even imagine what the world had been like when he had been born.

  To a vampire father and a turned mother.

  She hadn’t missed the look in Javier’s dark eyes when he had spoken of them and his sister’s recent marriage to a man she had turned into a vampire. He wanted that for them. It frightened her but there was already a part of her that wanted to let him turn her so they could have their forever.