He’d just have to wait.
She’d made the right call because he knew the moment he took her to bed he’d need to take her vein; the two acts just couldn’t be separated, not tonight.
And this joining would be different from all the others because they’d completed the bond.
She took a sip of wine, then more salad.
He stroked her cheek, which she allowed. “How are you feeling?”
She smiled. “Better, but anxious to be back in bed with you. I need this as well.”
He nodded. He could feel her need and it was more than just physical, as though what had happened out at Sweet Gorge required this union to be fully realized.
At last, she’d taken her last bite and said he could towel her dry. He set aside the glasses and plates, then returned to the tub with a thick towel, aware he trembled with need, and his cock pushed at the silk of the robe. She stood up and he leaned down to hit the lever to drain the tub, then wrapped her up in the towel.
Lifting her out and onto the floor, he dried her, caressing her and kissing her at the same time, top to bottom, front to back. She giggled and cooed, and stroked his now dry hair, his face, and teased his lips with her fingers.
When he finally kissed her, he felt the solidity of the bond deep in his abdomen, as though an invisible cord stretched between them, and desire pulsed through him in heavy waves. He felt her response as she suckled his tongue, fondled his muscles, and groaned against his mouth.
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. Having had the keen foresight to roll the comforter back, he laid her out, getting rid of the towel at the same time.
“Robe. Off.” She commanded, but her beautiful light blue eyes glittered with amusement.
He smiled, then laughed. She’d always been able to do that, to make him laugh, and he loved her for it, one of the many things he loved.
He stretched out on top, planting his knees between her thighs. With his forearms next to her, he thumbed her lips, then her line of her jaw. “This is a very fae chin you have.”
“I guess it is, but not so pointed as my mother’s.”
“Do you miss her a lot, Samantha?”
“Every day. She was my best friend.”
He heard the hitch in her voice. “That must have been hard for you, being alone in Shreveport.”
“I’d come to accept it, maybe in the same way I feel a similar acceptance in you. But now it looks like I have a whole new family, two in fact: One with you and one with Vojalie. Oh, I just realized, Bernice is my…wait, I’m not even sure what the relationship is. She would have been my mother’s sister.” She giggled. “Baby Bernice is my aunt.”
He smiled as well. “I’m sure this must all seem strange since from a human perspective Vojalie doesn’t look much older than you.”
“I suppose not, except her eyes. She looks very old, very wise in her eyes.”
He leaned down and kissed her. So this was what it was to make love to a woman, to be in love, and to love. Ethan had never thought to be in this place, not for years to come, because of Bergisson and what was fast-developing as a major war against an ancient fae force and the Invictus she controlled.
Instead, his blood rose had arrived to show him a new path, a completely different journey, by which he would be able to do a better job at keeping his realm safe. Yes, he had increased power because of his bond with Samantha, but greater than that were the lessons he’d learned of allowing increased leadership among those closest to him. He had new plans for Finn and Kyle and he meant to meet with Quinlan and Gerrod within the next week to begin planning long-term strategies to force the dark fae entity, and the Great Mastyr, out into the open. And these were just two of many new ideas kicking around in his head.
But right now, he had his woman in his bed and he focused his thoughts on her, on the sweetness of her crushed raspberry-and-wine scent, the soft vibrations that emanated from the seat of her fae power, from the affection he saw reflected in her lovely light blue eyes, and in the softness of her lips.
He entered her well with reverence this time, and awe, and wonder, that so much sheer joy could be contained within a woman. He held her gaze as he thrust steadily, pushing her on and on toward her climax. He savored that she writhed beneath him when he pinned her hands above her head, and worked her strongly with his hips.
He sent his personal frequency in strong pulses against her body and watched her back arch each time the frequency pushed against her fae power.
He thrust faster, wanting to watch her come, to cry out, to experience her ecstasy. Nothing seemed more important in the entire world than this, than bringing her pleasure.
Soft cries left her lips. Her head rolled from side to side. Her eyelids fluttered.
He mover stronger now, vampire strong, and then vampire fast, using his speed to drive her straight over the edge. She cried out a long almost anguished sound, which in turn brought him, as pleasure streaked through his cock in a series of intense pulses. He groaned, maybe he shouted, and all the while the bond between them tightened and intensified all that he felt.
When her body eased down and his muscles started to relax he all but fell on top of her deeply satisfied.
But she smiled and stroked his cheek. “We’re not done yet.” She turned her head exposing a throbbing vein for him. “Now take your fill and do me again.”
The site of her neck ready for him, firmed him up and as his fangs struck, he began to pump as he sucked down her erotically flavored blood once more. Her hands moved over his body, exploring his muscles, heightening his pleasure, until once more she was crying out and his shouts rang through his bedroom.
*** *** ***
Samantha lay on her back and had been in this position long after Ethan fell asleep. He’d made love to her more than once after feeding from her vein and she’d adored every second of it.
He was half-sprawled over her, his head on her chest, an arm over her stomach, and one knee on her thigh.
She wrapped and unwrapped a strand of his long hair around her finger.
She stared unseeing at the ceiling, marveling at all that had happened to her and all that in just a few short days she’d become. She’d basically endured a crash-course in how-to-be-a-fae and a powerful one at that. But she’d survived, as much because of Ethan as anything else, and she’d passed from have a fairly withdrawn view of what her life should be to now sharing a bed with a mastyr vampire, serving as his blood rose, and eventually taking her place in Bergisson as Vojalie’s granddaughter.
Above all, love had come to her so miraculously that gratitude poured through her over and over, a stream of beautiful warmth that caused the crystals all the way in the conservatory to hum in response.
She’d asked Ethan to leave the doors open that she might be able to hear the crystals sing, a sound that would always remind her of the goodness that had come to her when she’d taken the risk to join Ethan in Bergisson the first night she’d met him.
She hoped the crystals would always sing.
Her eyelids fluttered and as she began to drift off to sleep, she saw the cottage again, the one of her girlish daydreams and wishes, though now she knew it had always been so much more than that, nothing short of a fae vision.
But this time, she saw her mother standing beside the cottage beckoning her forward and pathing, I prepared this for you. The cottage belonged to one of our forebears, then to me. Now it’s yours.
Two toddlers raced by her mother, two little girls, each with long curly blond locks, and in Samantha’s twilight sleep she saw Ethan’s hair reflected in the girls whom she knew to belong to her in the future; her daughters.
Her faeness sang through the vision and she joined her mother as Andrea showed her the cottage by the lake, made of river-stone and landscaped with trees that touched the water.
Here, she embraced the full magic of her life.
Here she would raise her children and sing the song of gratitude forever, in t
he arms of the man she loved.
About The Author
Caris Roane, aka Valerie King, has published, to-date, twelve paranormal romances. As Valerie King, she’s written over fifty Regency romance novels and novellas and has launched a new line of Regency books from sweet to sexy. In 2005, Romantic Times gave her a Career Achievement award in Regency Romance.
As Caris Roane, she also writes contemporary romance and has recently released her first contemporary, A SEDUCTIVE PROPOSITION.
Caris lives in Phoenix, Arizona, loves to write, really doesn’t like scorpions, and has two cats, Sebastien and Gizzy.
For more information about Caris Roane: www.carisroane.com
For more information about Valerie King: www.valerieking-romance.com
Caris Roane, Embrace the Magic (The Blood Rose)
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