by Anna Santos
Jessica nodded, staring at the tall, blond boy who couldn’t conceal his concern about her health.
Kevin strolled to the door, but before leaving, he hesitated. “I won’t say anything to Grandpa, but you need to come clean with him. No one will love you less if you lose your memories.”
“I know. But...I won’t be the same person.”
“You may be somewhat different, but you are still you. You may act a little more grown-up and less flashy these days, but you will still be the Jessica I know. With Isobel’s memories or without, you are still yourself, no matter what. And your mate will love you even if you don’t remember anything from your past life. Maybe you weren’t meant to remember, anyway. Even if you didn't know that you were my grandmother reincarnated, the king would still know that you were his soul-mate. And your past memories will kill you if you keep insisting on holding on to them. You need to let go and make new memories.”
Jessica' studied Kevin's worried face. “It's not that easy. There are many things about my past life that make me act differently and that make Marcus treat me differently. We share a lot of...memories that make us feel closer. And I have feelings for you, Anna, and Eric that I didn't have when I didn't remember about being Isobel.”
“You don't need to be afraid. Now that he knows who you were and what you will be to him, he won't reject you.”
“It's not just that, my memories make me...feel different, and I don't want to lose that.”
Kevin frowned. “I don't remember anything about my past life, if I had one. I don't know why this tattoo appeared on my arm or who I'm supposed to be mated with. But I'm still young, and destiny will eventually pair me with her. So I'm not worried. I know you are all eager to know what my tattoo means, but I'm not afraid of it. I know that I'll eventually find my soul-mate. My sister found hers when I was in a coma.”
“I don't know what you want to...”
Kevin held his hand up for her to let him finish. “Destiny brought you here after so many years of looking for your soul-mate. You have the chance to be happy again. We are all family now. So don't lose that. We will tell you who you are. So please don't risk your health and your life just because you don't want to lose some old memories.”
“It would be a lot easier to do if I wasn't afraid of losing my memories of these past two days. I don't mind not remembering about being Isobel. But Marcus was lonely for so long! I know that I'm lucky to have found him. He survived a long time alone, more than any vampire with a broken heart should have survived. He lived off his memories, his dreams. I don’t want to lose the last few days of happiness with him. It's time for him to join us in the real world and for us to be happy again, but I don't know if we will be happy if I lose all my memories.”
“All I know is that if I were him, I wouldn't want you keeping that from me. However, losing your memories won't make you love him less. You always knew that you needed to find him because you loved him. You felt a pull to him the first day you met. Now that you are reunited, you need to live in the present. But if you want to keep your memories, you know what you need to do.”
“Yes, I'll need to give up my powers, my witch blood, and become a vampire. However, that will make me sterile, and I don't want that.”
Kevin pursed his lips and sighed. “My blood will help your brain heal for a bit longer. I’d rather you become a vampire than to have you die from this condition.”
“I don't want to worry Marcus. He's already preoccupied with Francesco.”
“Fine. Do what you feel is best for you. Just call me if you need me again. See you at the dinner. I need to meet Sebastien, and you need to rest.”
Jessica nodded, laying her head down on the pillow and closing her eyes. She felt tired after Kevin's unexpected lecture. It did show he cared for her and she appreciated that, but she needed to rest so she could heal.
* * *
Jessie had no idea what time it was when she opened her eyes and found Marcus seated on the bed with his back to her. He had on new clothes and smelled fresh and woodsy, wearing the new cologne she had selected for him at the store.
She tried to sit on the bed and talk, but her head hurt and felt heavy. Blinking several times, she tried to focus. Everything was hazy as if she was waking up with a hangover. Then she realized she still had the bloody tissue in her hand and tried to conceal it from him.
“Do you forget I’m a vampire, Ellie?” Marcus said, disturbing the silence after arranging the sleeves of his shirt. Jessie looked at him, wide-eyed. “When were you planning to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” She breathed deeply and sat up against the pillows holding the towel she had been wrapped in. As she raised her hand, it trembled. Pursing her lips, she fought the pain and shut her eyes again to focus.
Meanwhile, she sensed the weight in the bed shifting as Marcus turned around to face her.
“Tell me that you are having headaches,” he said softly, making her open her eyes and see the glint of concern in his gloomy gaze. “That you are feeling sick. You bled, I can smell it. I can also smell someone else’s blood. Kevin's?”
Jessica nodded, feeling silly all of a sudden but, at the same time, relieved she no longer had to hide it from him. It had been stupid to try.
Pain clasped around her heart because of the anxiety. All she wanted was that he held her and told her that everything would be fine. That he would protect her from the fear of forgetting everything that had happened between them the past few days.
“Your brain is piling up more memories than you can take. You should have called me.” He stopped talking as tears rushed to Jessica’s eyes. He took her into his arms, snuggling her head against his neck, and caressed her hair. “It's okay, honey. Don’t cry. I’m not angry with you.”
“I don’t want to forget you,” she sobbed, inconsolable. “I don’t want to forget us. I don’t want to die again.”
“You aren’t going to die again. I won’t let that happen. Everything will be okay. I’m here now. I’ll take care of you. You don’t need to carry this burden alone anymore.”
“I can wake up any moment now with no idea of who you are and where I am. I can lose myself again. I can...forget all about us. I don’t want that. I don’t want...” She breathed deeply to be able to speak coherently. “I want to keep my memories. I want you to keep on wanting me.”
“But I do want you,” he said with a frown. “You are my queen and mate.”
“You were going to reject me before I remembered about us.”
“Ellie...” He held her face between his hands and made her look at him. “I won’t reject you. Even if you lose your memory. I’d rather you didn’t, but I will love you all the same. You are mine.” He rubbed her right cheek with his thumb. “We’ll make new memories. I just don’t want to lose you again.”
“Even if I’m persistent and headstrong?” she asked, swallowing her tears.
“Even like that, honey.” He grinned and kissed her salty lips. “And you forgot to add bossy and rude to the list of attributes that describes you. And in what way is that different from what you used to be? Tell me,” he teased her. Jessica became all fired up with his words. She slipped free of his arms and threw a pillow at him. “That is not a nice thing to do, Ellie! I’m your mate. You shouldn’t attack me!” he protested, trying to grab the pillow and make her stop.
“Yeah, right, because a pillow can actually hurt you a lot,” she grumbled, unable to move the pillow away from his strong hands.
“Come on, let go. You have to get ready for dinner. We are having guests.”
“Yes, I know,” she said, giving up.
“Truce?” he asked, staring over the pillow that he held against his chest as a protection.
“How long until dinner?” She pouted as she rewrapped the towel and caught him staring at her breasts.
“An hour.”
“Do you like what you see?” she teased, a wave of lust running through her because his eyes flashed purp
le.
Memories of them together came to her mind, making her lips curl into a smile. He looked older than he had been when she died. But age had given him, even more, swag. True, he had looked hot when dressed as a man from another era, but his new clothes also flattered him. She was still unsure how much he was willing to change for her, but, at least, he wasn’t sulking inside his library sighing at her painting. Her heart hurt again when she recalled all those centuries they had been apart.
“I love everything about you,” he whispered huskily, snapping her out of her reverie.
“Do you want me to show you more?” she said, with a sultry whisper as her breathing accelerated with lust.
“Yes, very much,” he replied.
She was expecting him to act all noble and change the subject, so his answer surprised her. She felt even more aroused. A shiver ran across her skin as his eyes roamed her neck and cleavage.
Jessica giggled, pulling the towel up to reveal more of her legs. “Like this?”
Marcus shook his head, pointing at her upper body. “Show me your breasts.”
Jessica nibbled her lower lip. “I have on no underwear…”
“I know.” His voice came out as if it was painful for him to speak. “Let me see them,” he requested, moving closer to her face. “Just one.”
Jessie gulped, trying to endure his gaze while tormenting him a little longer. “What do you want to do with it?”
“I miss tasting them. You didn’t protest last night.”
“Maybe that was a mistake because, apparently, you have a lot more self-control than I do.”
Marcus smirked before crashing his lips against hers and stealing all her breath and rationality. “I have less than you think.”
After their kiss, he pulled away.
She kneeled on the bed in front of him and pouted. “Marcus,” she said in frustration, “the vows we made were for eternity, beyond death and reincarnation, so technically we are still married.”
Her mate frowned at her compelling argument.
She placed her hand over his chest and felt his heart pounding fast against her palm. “I love you. I miss you. Why wait? I’m not a kid anymore like when we meet for the first time in my other life. Besides, I really need you. I’m tired of being with you only in my dreams. I’m tired of just remembering. I want…”
Placing a finger over her lips, he said, “You don’t need to try to convince me, Ellie. You had me when you reminded me that our wedding vows were meant for forever. Yet, we have guests tonight.”
“I adore Sebastien. I can’t wait to meet his twin sister. But what I really need right now is for you to end this intense heat that’s blazing inside of me. It’s impossible for me to think about anything other than kissing and undressing you,” she appealed, caressing his shirt and leaning closer.
“Okay,” he mumbled, encircling her waist and closing the distance between their mouths. She clasped his shirt with her fingers and closed her eyes to their kiss as need took over her body.
Chapter Nineteen—Lust
THE KING
The king’s body tensed in anticipation with the way she replied to their kiss. His tongue fought against hers as her hands explored his torso and her knee rubbed against his aching groin. Grabbing the collar of his shirt, she pulled him closer and smiled against his mouth. His pants were getting tighter with her actions, and she knew and was rejoicing about it.
“Tell me that you want of me,” she whispered sexily in his ear, nibbling his earlobe and pressing her upper body against his.
“I want every sexy part of you.”
She grinned as her teeth sucked his lower lip. “I feel…”
“How do you feel?” he asked, cupping her face and opening his eyes to stare at her.
“Complete again.” Her voice came out feeble when she further elaborated, “It has been so long since we have been together.”
The king kissed her forehead, noticing the tears welling up in her eyes. “There are moments when I look at you and I can’t believe that this is really happening. I’m afraid that you might disappear and I wake up to reality, where I’m alone again and you are just a product of my imagination.”
She pursed her lips before speaking again. “I know. I feel like that too.”
“Do you still want to do this?” He asked as his voice trembled with the emotion.
Jessica nodded. “I don’t want to miss you anymore, Marcus. We need this.” Her arms snaked around his neck. “So make me happy. Appease this hunger I have for contact. Make me whole again.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but then he felt anxious. “We should talk about this first. You are human now.”
She breathed against his lips. “I trust you. I know you’ll be kind. Just let it happen.” Her mouth locked with his in a savage claiming.
The hunger in her kiss made him tense and held her tighter. For several minutes, there was just their arms clasped tightly around one another and their mouths fighting and nibbling.
Holding her under her arms, he lay her down on the bed and unwrapped her from the towel. His hand clasped the roundness of her perky breast as he rolled her aroused nipple between his fingers, stealing her new moans of pleasure. He took his time at kissing and nibbling her neck and collarbone. Then he trailed kisses along her chest, circling his tongue around her nipples and suckling them as she swayed under his body and against his rock hard manhood. He was so aroused that it physically hurt him. Yet, the taste of her skin, the shivering of her body, and the melody of her gasps made him work harder to give her more pleasure.
“You are so beautiful,” he breathed against her skin as he placed kisses along her navel.
Jessica moved her hips as her hands clasped to the sheets. He looked up, watching her nibbling her lower lip with closed eyes and heavy breathing.
“Don’t torment me anymore,” she gasped, raising her hands to explore his hair. She pulled his head up and opened her eyes to watch his face hovering over hers. Her voice came out husky and sexy. “Take me, now.”
Marcus gulped. “Honey…”
Before he could protest more, her hands traveled down his body and unbuckled his belt and tried to free him from his pants.
He stopped her, holding her hand. “Wait.” He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes as the intense pain and need to release clenched in his lower stomach and made his shaft throb.
Jessica pushed him and forced him to roll on the bed so she could be on top of him. Splaying her legs on top of his stomach, he felt how hot and wet she was. It made him even more impatient as her hands struggled with his buttons and her lips stroked and nibbled his.
With trembling hands, Jessica got rid of his buttons and kissed his naked chest. Her soft lips trailed a path down his stomach and into his aching manhood. Before he realized what was going on, she had freed his cock from his pants and her lips opened around it. Lowering her mouth, she swallowed it and his cock throbbed and shuddered as the warmness and wetness in her mouth surrounded it.
He had to grab the sheets with his hands and arch his back as a groan of pain, lust, and need escaped his throat and echoed in the room. “Ellie! Honey, it’s been ages since I have had sex. I’m going to come if you…” the rest of the words banished when her lustful and soft lips sucked him harder and the pressure built deep within. A tingling sensation spread from his balls to his back and made sparks of electricity shoot throughout much of his body as the spasms began preparing him to climax.
Her tongue kept swirling around, making him gasp for air. He had lost control over his body and eventually crumbled as the spasms increased and the potential ejaculation made his cock jerk and push forward inside her mouth. Right before it could spill, he pulled her head up and clenched his jaw.
“Marcus…”
“No.” His voice came out hoarse. He gritted his teeth and mumbled, “Not like this.”
“How...then?” She asked with red cheeks and a breathless voice.
; He pulled her up to kiss her and she fell over his aching manhood, pressing it against her thighs.
“I want to come inside you,” he breathed out, doing his best to hold her and roll her on the bed so he could place himself between her thighs. But, instead of relieving his pain, it only made him ache for her more. “You make me lose my mind.”
“Take me now,” she whispered against his lips as they both opened their eyes. Her voice was sultry and filled with her own arousal. “I want you inside me. I’m burning up, please make it stop.”
Marcus crawled between her parted legs and felt her body surrender when his fangs came out and his eyes turned purple. Her body shook with anticipation as he stroked her entrance. She arched her back when his lips caressed the breasts that were fully exposed to his eyes. Her moans of pleasure invited him to continue to lap his tongue around her buds and gently rub her folds. He taunted and sucked, rejoicing with her pleasure. Her breath hitched, her eyes narrowed, and her mouth opened slightly, showing him she was more than ready to have him.
Shaking in need, he grabbed his shaft and drove it into her molten core, burying it deep and effortlessly.
Jessica moved her hips, letting her wet, hot tightness invite him to thrust deeper inside her. Her hands grabbed his back and pulled him closer. It took him all his strength to resist the urge to just plunge in and out of her with all his hunger for satisfaction. He endured and moved steady, each stroke made them both writhe in pleasure and ecstasy.
Moments later, she pushed herself hard against him, controlling the rhythm and showing that she wanted him to move faster. Her moans let him understand perfectly how much she liked it. She didn’t hold back with what he was making her feel. He liked to hear her telling him that it felt good, that he was great, and that she was almost coming. She was bossy, telling him to make it faster or go deeper. He couldn't help but smile and obey her, taking all of his power to hold himself back and make her climax first.