“What are we going to do with her during the day?” Jacob asked as we entered our room. “I’m good until training camp starts, but that’s not too far off.”
“Nobody bothers me at the library. I’ll carry her with me until we find someone suitable.” Though I had been considering giving up my career as a librarian. It just wasn’t the same without Kayla. And I liked to change careers every once in awhile, start something new. The recent excitement had me considering opening a private detective agency. But I was sure Jacob wasn’t ready for me to take a step like that, so I had the idea on hold for now.
“You know, you never did explain how you knew the Ascended were with us,” Jacob said, sitting down on the edge of the bed so he could take off his shoes. It still amazed me how he could leave his clothes each night in a little heap on the ground while I was compelled to put everything where it belonged, whether it was the hamper or the closet.
“They froze time, just as Nerissa had when she wanted to speak to us without Kayla overhearing. The moment you stuffed your other self into the locker, they intervened. You should’ve realized it yourself when no one came to investigate. Nerissa should’ve too.”
“Not all of us are blessed to be nerds and have such overwhelming intellect.” Jacob stripped down naked and carefully set his torc on the bed stand as he did every night.
“Well, I did have a little help coming to that conclusion,” I admitted, pulling back the covers to our bed. “Remember how I said I’d stopped to investigate something? I noticed a security guard frozen in the middle of doing his sweep. The intervention had come just in time, really. I would’ve had to have knocked him out if he’d seen me. That would’ve delayed me even more.”
Jacob shut off the light, and we climbed into bed. It still seemed incredible that it was all over with. No more nightmares, no more worries about my past catching up with me. I smiled as Jacob curled into me, his head on my shoulder, his leg over mine. Even in sleep, he was possessive.
I followed the progression of his thoughts as he went over the day again in his mind, sensed his concern again that there wasn’t too much difference between him and Nerissa. I frowned, sinking into his thoughts. “You two are vastly different.”
“Are we? We both want to control you.”
I rolled over, pinning Jacob under me. “No, actually, you don’t. This morning….” I couldn’t actually believe it had just been this morning. “This morning when you wanted me to strip for you and to submit to you, I did it because I knew that if I couldn’t you’d still love me, you’d still want me. You told me yourself that it was one of our ways of coping. You seeking control and me seeking submission, and you were right.”
Jacob’s brow was still furrowed, his eyes still troubled. “Yeah, but….”
I laid my finger over his lips. “No buts, mo chroí, the love of my heart. No buts. Nerissa never wanted an equal. By the time I came to her, she was already an Ancient. We were worlds apart. She cared for me, but she always saw me as a possession, nothing more. Even though she wanted it, she couldn’t let herself bend that much. She was too set in her ways.”
“You were an Ancient when I met you.”
“Yes, but you demanded equality, and I have never been much interested in pets. I’d always wanted to love someone who could do that. I’d rather have a man step toe-to-toe with me than someone who’d let me do whatever I pleased without complaint. I fell in love with you because you were precisely that man.”
Jacob softened, and he smiled up at me. “I love you, too, though I think we’re straying from the subject.”
I shook my head and nuzzled his throat. “No, we’re not. It comes down to this, Jacob. You want what is best for me and us, and you’d be willing to give up your control if that’s what it took to make me happy. Nerissa never would’ve been able to do that and that’s what brought her down in the end. And that is why I surrender to you and no one else.”
I smiled as I realized that my words had gotten through to him. “Well, when you put it that way,” Jacob said, wrapping his arms around me and lifting his head up for a tender kiss. “I guess I’ll just have to defer to you in this.”
“There has to be a first time for everything.”
“Don’t get used to it. I’m sure the moment will pass.” Jacob kissed me again, his mouth slanting as he sought deeper contact, and my heart skipped a beat as desire awoke in me.
“You sure she can’t sense this?” Jacob asked. “Because it’s still early and I’m nowhere damned near ready for sleep. Not with you naked and all up against me.” He rolled the both of us over again so he was on top this time and grinned wickedly down at me.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll be just fine.” Jacob’s eyes gleamed in the dim light, and I sensed the playfulness in him along with the desire. It was going to be a long night. My cock surged.
Jacob growled softly and rubbed his cheek along my jaw. I’d trimmed the shadow of a beard somewhat so that it was neater, but I left the bulk of it there. I sensed Jacob’s pleasure at the raspy texture. All trace of weariness disappeared from his mind as he touched me.
“Where do you get your energy, Jacob?”
“The thought of fucking you senseless is enough to energize any man. But I’ll go gentle tonight and won’t make you beg too long.”
My lover laughed softly as a shiver went through me. “How thoughtful of you.”
“I know. Remember that.” Jacob nudged my thighs apart, and I sighed with pleasure as he settled between them. “But I confess ulterior motives this time. I can’t wear you out completely. After all, we’ve got a wedding to plan.”
There was something in the way he said that that had me eying him warily. “Jacob, you promised me small, remember?”
“Of course. You worry too much, just put yourself in my hands, love.”
Under the circumstances, what else could I do? I slid my knees up to cradle his hips as we traded kisses, the heat building up in slow, exquisite degrees. “Make it soon. I don’t think I told you and I certainly didn’t show it when you asked me. But I cannot wait to be married to you.”
Jacob pressed his forehead against mine, and I sensed his surge of fierce love, embraced it as it washed over me. Emotions so intense that we ached with them, shared them as one.
“Are you going to take my name, Kristair? I know you’ve probably had Mercer forever, but I want us all to have my name.”
I smiled and brushed my lips over his. “Kristair Corvin….”
Jacob’s heart leapt at the sound of our names linked, and I slid my fingers into his hair. “That would be a real surname instead of a name I took from a land I barely remember. Yes, Jacob, I’ll take your name.”
“I have everything I ever wanted. And to think I didn’t even know this was what I wanted until I met you. I thought it was all football and making a name for myself so everybody back home would have to swallow their words.”
“You don’t have everything you want quite yet.” I grinned as Jacob’s curiosity was pricked. “But I think I can fix that.”
Jacob stared down at me, and I felt his mental poke as he tried to read my mind. “Okay, I give. What is it?”
I traced my tongue along the vein at his throat, and a shiver rippled through him, the scent of his blood mingling with his arousal, his anticipation, and the scent that was uniquely his. When I had still been a vampire, the blood would’ve dominated the rest, but now it was a heady mix.
“Jacob?”
“Yeah.” His voice was an unsteady husky whisper, all need and want. I groaned, tracing my tongue over him again. It was like I could already taste him.
“Would you like me to bite you?”
Jacob shuddered this time, arching his neck, baring his throat to me. “How? You’re not a vampire anymore. The Ascended said you can’t do anything big time anymore, so you can’t shape change.” His breath quickened. “Oh fuck it, I don’t care. Yeah, I’d love it if you bit me.”
&nb
sp; “We’ve used our minds to do all kinds of crazy, kinky things. Why not this too?” I closed my eyes, pressed my mouth to his throat, tasted the sweet salt of his skin. I felt the jolt run through him as I mentally sank fangs into him, felt the addictive rush of pleasure and pain. It made me as hungry as it ever had. The fierce rush and exchange of emotion, the bonding.
“Hot damn, Kristair. Do that again.”
“Would you beg for me?” I teased. Then my breath caught as he growled and kissed me hard, pinning me under him.
“I’ll show ya begging.”
I laughed and arched against him sinuously. “You’re going to have to work hard for it.”
“It’s more than worth it,” Jacob promised. I smiled as his mouth met mine and sank into the moment so that it was just him and me in our own little world.
MARGUERITE LABBE has been accused of being eccentric and a shade neurotic, both of which she freely admits to, but her muse has OCD tendencies, so who can blame her? Her husband and son do an excellent job keeping her toeing the line, though. Marguerite loves to spin tales of stubborn men with smart mouths, working toward a deep and lasting love, no matter what else she throws at them.
She has won the Rainbow Award for Historical Romance with Fae Sutherland, as well as the Rainbow Award for Paranormal and the Rainbow Romance Award for Excellence, also in Paranormal.
When she’s not working hard on writing new material and editing completed work, she spends her time reading novels of all genres, enjoying role-playing games with her equally nutty friends, and trying to plot practical jokes against her son and husband. Unfortunately for her, her son is learning her tricks very fast.
Website: www.margueritelabbe.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Triquetra
© 2016 Marguerite Labbe.
My Heart Is Within You previously published by Dreamspinner Press, June 2009
Haunted by Your Soul previously published by Dreamspinner Press, September 2009
Our Sacred Balance previously published by Dreamspinner Press, January 2010
Cover Design
© 2016 Alexandria Corza.
http://www.seeingstatic.com
My Heart Is Within You Cover Art
© 2009 DWS Photography
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Haunted by Your Soul
© 2009 DWS Photography
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Our Sacred Balance
© 2010 DWS Photography
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Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-624-0
Published September 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
Triquetra Page 89