Nikolai left his office and stepped back into the main living space of his penthouse. Frowning, he glanced around. Where was she? A breeze lifted the curtains on the sliding glass door that led out onto the balcony, and his heart lurched. A rush of ice cold fear flooded his veins. Had the other vampire been here and taken her while he’d been on the phone in his office? Could taking his eyes off her for a moment be all it had taken to lose her?
But then he forced himself to calm. The sliding door to the balcony was open, and beyond the door he caught a glimpse of a red dress and long, dark hair. He exhaled a sigh of relief.
Nikolai stepped outside to join her. She didn’t turn to acknowledge him, just continued to stare out over the incredible view. The lights of the city winked and flickered in a vast sprawl out to the horizon. The snake of the river wound away from them, more lights from boats settling on the black water.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, still not turning to him, though now he knew she must have heard him join her. “I’ve never seen London like this before. I’ve only ever really seen it from ground level.”
Nikolai didn’t see the view. It vanished to him. All he could see was the smooth curve of her shoulder, the narrowness of her waist, the way her dark hair moved in the breeze.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, stepping closer. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
The front of her body was pressed against the safety railing which was made of glass so there was nothing to spoil the vast views of the city.
He moved up behind her, a breeze ruffling her dark hair, and slipped his arm around her waist. He buried his face against her throat, inhaling that glorious scent of her. Instinctively, he knew he would never grow tired of that scent.
They stood exposed to the entire city, only reinforced, waist-high glass separating them from the drop below. He kissed her neck, and she moaned in response, tilting her head to the side.
His fingers caught the front of her dress and dragged it down, pulling the strapless bra beneath down with it. She made no move to stop him. He kept going, yanking the front of her dress down over the tops of her tits, exposing her to the fresh air and the whole of London beyond. Her tits were perfect, small and perky, with nipples that turned to bullets at the slightest touch.
“Nikolai,” she gasped as he nibbled at her neck. God, how he wanted to bite her, but it was too soon. They hadn’t even talked about that yet, though her blood sang to him like sirens luring shipmen into their death.
“I want to take you here,” he growled at her. “Right in front of the entire city. I want every single inhabitant of this place to see that you’re mine.”
He pulled the dress down further. It caught on her slender hips, but only for the briefest of moments, before the material fell to the floor, creating a pool around her high heels. Fuck, she was exquisite, standing there in only a tiny slip of black lace panties and high heels. He wanted to step back and just stare at her, drink her in with his eyes, but at the same time, he didn’t want to stop touching her for a single second.
“Oh, God, Nicolai,” she gasped. “This is crazy.”
“No, it’s right. It’s how it’s meant to be.”
His cock lengthened, turning to steel beneath his suit trousers. He pressed into the small of her back, right above the luscious curve of her bottom. He was taller than she was, but the heels she wore had given her extra height.
As he kissed her neck and shoulder, he cupped her breast with one hand, squeezing and rolling the nipple, while the other hand moved lower. He skirted the flat plane of her stomach and then moved lower. His fingertips slipped beneath the front of her panties, slipping down, through the little patch of curls that nestled above her bud. She squirmed against him, pushing back so her bottom pressed firmly against his crotch, and then circling her hips forward, encouraging the movement of his fingers. She didn’t seem to care that she was standing naked in front of the entire city, her tits exposed and his hand down the front of her panties.
“Oh, Nikolai. Keep going.”
“I want to hold you up as you come in front of the city, got it? I want the world to see what I do to you. How your body is mine now. They might look, but no one else will ever touch you.”
She sighed at his words, a whisper of breath on the air, and his fingers slipped lower. He circled the little bundle of nerves slowly, one, two, three times, feeling her body tense, and then moved between her thighs, parting her folds. He pinched her nipple with his other hand, just hard enough to hurt, hearing her suck in air over her teeth in response, but making no attempt to tell him to stop. Her wetness coated his finger. She was so ready for him, so ripe, and he pushed inside her. Lauren gave a small whimper, and he fingered her a couple of times before adding a second digit and then a third. He wanted her to be impaled on his hand, to have her writhing and screaming out her pleasure for the whole city to hear.
He was terrified she would push him away, but he could tell she was already too far gone. Sliding his fingers in and out of her, loving the way she gripped him so tightly, he ground himself against the base of her spine. His other hand pulled and twisted her nipple, lengthening it until it was as hard as stone.
Nikolai wanted to fill every hole, to sink himself inside her, his tongue in her mouth, his cock in her pussy, his finger up her ass. He wanted to feel her convulse around him as she came, to hear her scream his name as he emptied himself inside her. She was his now, and he was hers.
His cock was so hard, he thought he might explode, but he didn’t want to push her any further. There would be plenty of time for that. He would be able to take her every night from this night onward.
He curled his fingers inside her, finding that little pad on the inside of her wall that would take her to the next level.
Lauren shattered around his hand. Holding onto the metal bar that topped the glass barrier, she came hard for all of London to hear. Her pussy pulsed around his fingers and she cried out, her body first tensing to the point of snapping, and then suddenly relaxing against him.
But it wasn’t the strength of her orgasm that focused his attention, or even a desire to find a release of his own.
A golden light had appeared across her skin, illuminating her arms and hands.
“Lauren?” he said in wonder, slipping his fingers from her body.
She came out of her daze and blinked as she looked down at herself, and then lifted her hands in front of her face. “Oh, my God. What is that?”
He stared at her. “I have no idea.”
Chapter 10
Lauren had never experienced an orgasm like that in her life, and it hadn’t just been because it had been an amazing, sexy, intense, orgasm. No, something about her had changed when it hit her, and she still felt it now. Her skin had glowed, and she still felt the energy, as though she’d stepped into a place filled with static electricity, only the electricity hadn’t come from another force. Instead it had felt as though it had come from inside her.
Her mind spun, and the edges of the world pulled away. She was standing on a vampire’s balcony, hundreds of feet above London, in only heels and underwear, and had just come all over a vampire’s hand, and something was wrong with her.
“Whoa.” She heard his voice, and strong hands caught her as she slumped.
She’d never passed out before. She wasn’t the swooning, fainting kind.
But she felt him lift her in his arms, holding her against his chest, and carrying her back inside. She was aware of him doing it, of the way he placed her gently on the couch and then covered her mostly naked body with a soft blanket.
“I’m sorry, that was too much,” he said. “You should be resting.”
“No, no. It wasn’t you. I’m not sure what happened.” She lifted her hands again, but the glow she’d seen before had vanished. Had she really seen it, or had she been imagining things? She had to admit, an orgasm had never made her hallucinate before.
Nikolai reached out to tuck the bl
anket more tightly around her.
“I’m okay.” She batted him away gently. “I’m not a child.”
“No, you’re not, but you still just passed out, and I’m allowed to take care of you now.”
“It’s fine. I’m probably just suffering from low blood sugar or something.”
He raised his eyebrows at her, and she knew it had been more than that. Far more. The light had died from her skin, but she still felt strange frissons of energy sparking through her that were more than just the aftershocks of her orgasm.
The buzzer sounded, and Nikolai jumped to his feet. “Just in time.”
He vanished out the front door, and immediately she felt bereft without his presence. It was crazy that this man had only just come into her life, and yet now she struggled to think back to what her life was like without him. The idea of being reliant on him terrified her, however. She’d always been strong and independent, and she didn’t want to lose that just because some play of fate had made her a vampire’s Bloodmate. It was important that she still got to be herself, even though Nikolai was now in her life.
The front door opened again, and Nikolai reappeared. At least, she assumed it was Nikolai. She couldn’t actually see his face as he had so many boxes and paper bags stacked on top of one another that she could only see his legs and arms. The waft of numerous different foods drifted over to her, and immediately her body reacted, saliva filling her mouth and her stomach twisting in anticipation. What had he brought her? Chinese, Indian, pizza, fried chicken—all the takeaway foods possible.
Nikolai carried them over and set down all the boxes and bags in front of her. She didn’t even know where to begin.
“I’d say I hoped all of this wasn’t just for me, but I guess you don’t eat much takeaway?”
He shrugged apologetically. “My only takeaway meal comes from the blood bank. Sorry. I wouldn’t have ordered so much, but I didn’t know what you liked.”
“You could have asked me,” she pointed out.
“I didn’t want you to be polite and say you weren’t that hungry.”
Lauren snorted back laughter. “You and I definitely need to get to know each other better, and then you would have known I’d never be polite about food.”
Lauren knew what it was like to be hungry. Too many times, she’d come home as a child to find nothing in the house to eat, and her mother passed out on the couch. They never had any money, and what little they did have her mum would rather spend on a bottle of cheap vodka than cereal and bread for her daughter. If it hadn’t been for the free school meals Lauren had been able to get, there would have been days on end when she’d have eaten nothing. Then, after she’d finally left home, there had been times when she’d been in a similar situation, finding herself having to choose between eating or having a bed for the night. Life had been tough, and she was never going to be someone who’d turn down the offer of a good meal just for politeness sake.
She sat up, clutching the blanket around her.
Nikolai frowned at her. “Wait there,” he said, and then turned to vanish in the direction of one of the rooms, which she assumed to be his bedroom. He returned holding one of his shirts, and she allowed him to hold it out for her while she slipped her arms inside the baggy sleeves, and he did the buttons up over her breasts. He was so much taller than she was, the shirt hit her legs mid-thigh, and was plenty big enough to cover her modesty, even though he’d pretty much seen all there was to see.
She was still wearing those damned heels, and he knelt at her feet, looking up at her as he slipped them from her toes.
“I feel like some kind of reverse Cinderella,” she said.
His lips twisted. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been anyone’s prince.”
He moved to sit beside her as she flipped open the box containing the pizza and selected a slice of pepperoni. She took a couple of bites, her hunger winning over all else, before she said, her hand half over her mouth, “Tell me what the people you phoned said.”
“They’re sending someone to take care of the people who took you.”
“Not people,” she reminded him. “Werewolves.”
“That’s right. They can’t go around kidnapping people. They make the rest of the supes look bad.”
“And what about this vampire who bought me? We still don’t know who he is.”
“No, but I hope the person they send from The Directive will be able to find out.” He wrung his hands. “I wish I could go with them. I’d wring that goddamned wolf’s neck for what he did to you.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Maybe that’s the exact reason you shouldn’t go.”
“I know, but it doesn’t stop me from being furious. I need to stay here, though, with you. I don’t want to leave you unprotected.”
Lauren stopped chewing. “I don’t want to be a prisoner here, Nikolai. I’ve been independent my whole life. I already spent one night locked up thanks to those werewolves, I don’t want to make it a habit.”
“I understand that, but there’s nothing we can do until the vampire who bought you is apprehended. At this moment, we have no idea who he is, or where he is. The wolves know where I live. They could easily just send him here.”
Alarm shot through her. “So he could just walk through that door?”
“No, he’s not coming up here without a key. You’re safe.”
She relaxed a fraction. With a sigh, she picked up another slice of pizza and started eating again. The dough was soft, the cheese gooey, the pepperoni spicy. It was damned good pizza, which tasted even better because she’d been half starved. As she ate, she mused on recent events. What the hell had happened to her life? Only two days ago, she was normal, and now she was living with a vampire, with another one after her, after having been kidnapped by werewolves, and being told she had fairy blood. This whole thing was utter madness.
With the pizza half gone, Lauren started on the chicken. Hot and greasy, with just enough spice to the crust. It was insanely good.
“Better than sex,” she managed between mouthfuls.
His eyebrows lifted. “We’ll have to see about that.”
“I’m not usually in the habit of having sex with men I’ve only just met.”
“We might have only just met, but we’ve always been Bloodmates. Our paths just never crossed before now, and maybe it’s The Thirst as well. Maybe the reason we’re more attuned to our Bloodmates when we’re struck by it is that our bodies know we won’t survive without you.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on someone you barely know.”
He stared at her intently. “Our souls already know each other. Our blood already knows each other. Our hearts do, too. It’s just our minds that need to catch up.”
She held back a smile and glanced away, her cheeks heating. He was too much. She’d never had a man talk to her this way. Ever. Most men leered at her in the streets, or shouted things from cars, or on the very odd occasion offered to buy her a drink which they then assumed she’d put out for.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and she heard the reproach in his voice. “I’ve embarrassed you.”
She shook her head and looked back to him. “No, it’s not that. I’m just not used to all this stuff—souls, and hearts, and Bloodmates.”
“But do you believe what I’m telling you?”
She thought for a moment, and then nodded. “After everything I’ve experienced in the last couple of days, I don’t think I’ve got any choice but to believe you.”
He took her hand, and she twisted to face him fully. He locked her with those intense pale blue eyes of his, and she briefly wondered if his eyes had been the same colour when he’d been human.
“Lauren, forget everything you’ve seen recently. I want you to look into yourself. Look into your heart, your soul. Do you believe we are destined to be together?”
Her breath caught at the power of his words. It was so strange to look at someone who you knew to be practically a stranger, and yet who you f
elt as though you could literally trust with your life. She wondered if it felt similar when twins or other close family members were separated as children, only to be reunited as adults. This feeling that they were a stranger to you, and yet you knew them as well as you knew yourself.
“It’s crazy, and I can barely believe I’m saying this, but yes, I do.”
A smile spread across his face, lighting his eyes, and, for the first time, Lauren thought she could see the man he’d once been, rather than the vampire he was now.
He leaned in and swept a strand of her dark hair away from her neck. “That’s all I need to know.” Then he leaned in and kissed her, his mouth gently touching hers, softly at first, but then the kiss growing in urgency.
Lauren shifted on the couch, her arms wrapping around his neck, using the leverage to pull herself closer. She was no angel, and wasn’t some blushing virgin, but this man seemed to be able to do things to her body no man had ever done before. Of course, he wasn’t fully a man either, so maybe that was why things felt so different with him. But then again, maybe it was simply because they were destined to be together.
Shifting their positions, Lauren crawled up into Nikolai’s lap. They never stopped kissing, and he pulled her against him, so she straddled him, her knees on the couch either side of his thighs. The position meant the ridge of his erection pressed thick and hard against her pussy. The sensation sent pulses of arousal through her. She was only wearing the skimpy black panties, and the shirt he’d given her, but even those few items of clothing felt like too much. They were making out like a couple of teenagers on a parent’s couch, and Lauren was loving every second of it.
Nikolai was the first to break the kiss.
“Bedroom,” he growled in her ear, and then he lifted her in one fluid motion, holding her so her thighs were still wrapped around his hips, and her arms around his neck. His hands cupped her bottom as he strode towards the bedroom and kicked open the door.
The room was spacious, with a four poster bed, a dresser, an occasional chair, and a walk through wardrobe, which she assumed also led to the master suite bathroom. It was the sort of luxury she’d never experienced before, but Nikolai didn’t give her time to admire the decor. He threw her down on a bed dressed in thousand thread sheets, and dark grey linen. Masculine but luxurious. If it hadn’t been for the vampire standing over her, with a very obvious erection tenting his trousers, she’d have flipped herself over and snuggled down into the opulence.
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