by Sarra Cannon
I couldn’t live without him. And even if I could, I didn’t want to.
He had turned my life upside down in the most incredible way, and I just couldn’t go back to a life without him in it.
He ran his hand through my hair, and I closed my eyes, just loving the feel of his body against mine. As someone who had never felt at home anywhere, I had finally found my home, right here in his arms.
“I have a few more surprises for you tonight,” he said softly. “There’s something waiting for you on the bed in the next room. Why don’t you check in there while I get things ready out here? I’ll see you when you’re ready.”
“Are we going out again?” I asked.
“No,” he said, the expression in his eyes filling my stomach with butterflies. “The rest of this night belongs to just you and me.”
My body immediately reacted to his words. We had only been together that one night in the abandoned crow village all those months ago, and I wanted him more than words could express.
But after he’d drained the blood of my false mother the night the Devil died, he’d been too afraid he would lose control and hurt me. It had been torture for both of us to stop before things went too far each time we were together, but from the look in his eyes, I knew that there would be no stopping tonight.
I lifted onto my toes and kissed him, wanting him to simply lift me up and take me to bed now, but I didn’t want to spoil his plans. And I didn’t want to rush this. I wanted this to be a night we would both remember for the rest of our lives.
“I’ll be back in a little bit,” I said, anxious to see what surprise awaited me in the next room.
I practically floated into the next room, high on the romance of this magical city and the love I had for this incredible man.
Once In A Lifetime
Franki
In the bedroom of our gorgeous suite, I found a soft bathrobe and a basket of expensive shampoos and body washes. I took the basket into the bathroom and got undressed, thankful for the chance to wash the smell of the club and the streets of Paris off my body.
When I got out of the shower, there was no sign of Rend in the bedroom, but he’d left a large white box on the bed, a giant black bow wrapped around it. I smiled as I tied the soft cotton robe around my body and sat down on the bed.
Carefully, I untied the bow and slid the satin around the edge of the box. I lifted the lid slowly and pushed aside the white tissue paper.
My lips parted as I touched the chiffon material nestled inside. Rend had bought me a dress.
I giggled like a schoolgirl and stood, lifting the dress and holding it up against my body. It was gorgeous, and I loved the way the layers of black chiffon flowed all the way to the floor.
I lay the dress across the bed and hurried into the bathroom to dry my hair and put on makeup.
Other than a handful of double dates with Harper and Jackson just after Rend and I met, we hadn’t actually been on many official dates before. Certainly not the kind where I’d needed to wear an expensive dress. We spent almost all of our nights at Venom, and on the rare evening we both took the night off together, we spent our time at his house, talking late into the night.
He’d been showing me a little bit about how to grind herbs and combine them to make easy potions, but alchemy was not as simple as that, and I’d been struggling with the magic side of things.
Still, it was fun to work at his side and to see how he transformed normal ingredients into something that could make a person invisible or happy or, well, dead.
I didn’t even care that we weren’t going out tonight. This dress was just for him. Butterflies danced in my stomach as I stood in front of the mirror half an hour later and slid the dress over my head.
It was a perfect fit and hugged my curves in just the right places.
I slipped into a gorgeous pair of brand new Jimmy Choo nude heels and twirled once in front of the mirror. I hardly recognized myself. I was more of a jeans and tank top kind of girl, but this was something special.
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes.
Please, don’t let this be our last night.
He’d told me not to think like that, but how could he expect me not to even think of the possibility? He had obviously been thinking of it himself, or he wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to make today such a once-in-a-lifetime event.
I closed my eyes against the tears and refused to let them fall.
The Brotherhood of Darkness would have their say when the time came, but I was not going to let them ruin whatever time we had left.
I made sure there was no sign of tears in my eyes and went out into the main room of the suite to look for Rend.
I found him on the balcony, standing in front of an elaborately decorated table and wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. Music played softly all around us, and our eyes met against a backdrop of lights.
“You look incredible,” he said, his voice low and his eyes flashing silver.
“Thank you for the dress.”
“I had it made for you,” he said. Every step he took toward me filled my body with desire. “I wanted tonight to be perfect.”
“Every moment with you is perfect,” I said, my voice a whisper in the warm evening air.
When he reached me, my knees were weak, and all I wanted in this world was to wrap my arms around him and never let him go. He took my hand and pulled me toward him, no more words on his lips, but a lifetime of intention in his eyes.
He ran his fingertips down my cheek and across my lips, down my neck and around to the back of my head. Our eyes locked and my lips parted as my breath became shallow and my heart raced.
We held onto each other like that for a long moment, as if there was no one else in the world. Just the two of us here, in this beautiful city, both wishing that time would stand still so that we would never have to leave. Never have to face what might be coming next.
I didn’t want to think about that. I only wanted to hold him. To feel that we would be together forever and that nothing—not even the strength and laws of the Brotherhood of Darkness—could ever tear us apart.
When his lips finally descended on mine, I poured my heart into our kiss. I threw my arms around him and pressed my body against his, knowing that even though I could never find the right words to tell him just how much he meant to me, my body could tell him in a thousand, wordless ways.
His hand gripped my hair and pulled my head back and to one side, exposing the skin of my neck to him as he ran his lips across it, inhaling my scent. My heart raced faster.
I trusted him completely, and I made no move to back away, even when his teeth grazed the skin just at the base of my neck.
He paused, his heart pounding against mine, as if he were testing himself. Testing his own limits to see just how far he could go until he lost control.
My hands tightened their grip on his arms, but I would not move, despite the heady mix of fear and desire. I would not let him think I was so afraid of him I couldn’t handle this level of intimacy.
The honest truth was that I would let his teeth pierce my skin and drink from me before I would ever let him go. But at the same time, I knew he would never hurt me, no matter how badly the vampire in him wanted to.
I just needed him to know it, too.
Because once he knew that he would never cross that line with me, he wouldn’t have to hold back. And tonight, I wanted all of him.
After a long struggle, Rend finally reached the point I’d been dying for him to reach. He lifted his eyes to mine, silver flashing like lightning against the darkness. They seemed to be asking permission, and I nodded, letting him know that I was his tonight.
A low growling sound escaped his lips, and he turned me around. At first, I thought he might lead me back inside the suite, but instead, he pushed my long, black hair over my shoulder and ran his hands along the bare skin of my back.
He slid the zipper of my dress all the way down, and my skin
erupted in goosebumps as the dress fell to the floor at my feet. He tossed the black jacket of his suit onto the chair next to us, and I turned around, stepping out of the fallen dress, wearing nothing now but a pair of black silk underwear and my heels.
I moved toward him, his eyes devouring me as I reached for the buttons of his white shirt. I took my time, slowly releasing each button before pulling the shirt from his body and tossing it to the side.
Rend quickly pulled the white t-shirt underneath over his head, and my hands found him immediately. I ran soft fingertips over every inch of his muscled chest, the way I had done a hundred nights before. But tonight, I wouldn’t stop there.
He closed his eyes when I reached for his belt and stripped it from his body.
Neither of us seemed to care if anyone else could see us out here on the balcony. We were so high up, and for us, there was no one else alive that mattered anymore. There was only the beating of our hearts and the touch of our fingers.
I didn’t want to rush through this, but I also wasn’t sure I could wait. I wanted it now, but I also wanted it to last forever.
Tension built inside of me as he pulled me into another kiss, his skin hot and hard against mine.
I ran my hands along his back and through his hair, exploring every inch of him as our lips parted and tasted each other. I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. I wanted more.
Rend lifted me into his arms, and the heels I was wearing slipped off my feet as he carried me inside and toward the bedroom. He lay me down and pulled the rest of my clothes off, reaching for the button on his pants at the same time.
I watched with hungry eyes as he bared himself to me completely.
Everything had happened so fast the first time we made love. We were in danger, and we had no idea how much time we might have together back then.
But tonight, we had all the time in the world, and my eyes drank him in, simultaneously wanting to take him in my hands, my mouth, my body.
When he finally joined me on the bed, his eyes were fully silver with desire. Not the red of the vampire, but the silver eyes of the demon. Inside his eyes, I saw passion and love, not hunger.
“Don’t hold back,” I whispered. “Not tonight.”
He made a low sound in his throat as he moved to kiss me again, and I pulled him closer, wrapping my legs around his body. We spent an hour exploring each other, bringing each other to the edge before slowing down to start our explorations all over again.
And finally, when neither of us could take another minute as two separate beings, he thrust into me, our bodies joining as if we had been made for each other and no one else.
And deep down, I knew that somehow, it was true.
Light And Dark
Rend
I wanted to make love to her forever. I’d always been terrified to lose control with a woman, so I had held back, afraid of my own desires.
But tonight had been different. My desire for Franki was far greater than anything else, and making love to her had felt like freedom.
I wanted more.
I wanted to make this night last an eternity, but I knew that it couldn’t. Any day now, the summons would arrive, and I would have to leave her side to appear in front of the Council.
What if I never came back?
There was so much I wanted to say to her, but I could hardly find my voice. There wasn’t enough time. Never enough.
She sighed and drew lazy circles across my chest as I ran a hand through her hair, our limbs entangled as we stared out at the lights of Paris through the windows of our suite.
I hated to disrupt the peaceful, happy silence, but there was so much I wanted her to know.
“When I was a shadowling, my sister was my best playmate and my best friend,” I began softly. “Ariella was bright sunshine to my brooding moon. We were light and dark, and she was the only one who truly understood me.”
My heart pounded against Franki’s hand as she placed it on my chest. I put my own hand over hers, and she laced her fingers with mine, giving me the courage to go on.
It wasn’t easy to talk about my sister.
“We worked together in our family’s gemstone shop,” I said. “Did I ever tell you that?”
She smiled and maneuvered a bit on the bed so that she could look into my eyes. “Your family owned a gem shop?”
“My father was a jewelsmith. He actually made the crown Lea was meant to wear when she eventually took the throne. He made it as a gift from the King of the North to Lea’s mother when the princess was born.”
It felt like an eternity ago now.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“I had always been more interested in alchemy than gemstones, but my father was supportive of my interests. He made a small laboratory for me in the back of his shop, just so I could practice. And he didn’t even yell at me when I nearly set the whole place on fire,” I said with a laugh. “Which, I’m ashamed to admit, happened more than a few times.”
Franki kissed my arm and nuzzled closer, smiling. “Tell me more.”
“My sister, Ariella, was the one who was interested in the gemstones,” I said. “She used to go hunting for gem deposit sites, convinced she would eventually discover a deposit of diamonds.”
“Diamonds?” She sat up slightly.
“I think that’s how she attracted the attention of the Order’s hunters in the first place,” I said, sorrow and regret heavy in my heart. It was almost painful to think of those days, but I wanted Franki to know what happened. “I usually went with her on her expeditions. Sometimes she’d be gone for over a week, searching forests and mountainsides. Caves along the black cliffs. She mapped out even the most remote places of the Northern Kingdom, marking any gemstone deposits she found along the way and even taking care to mark any special energy or strength of each gemstone deposit.”
I didn’t mention that I still had those maps down in my laboratory. Not that they would do anyone any good now. They were just a piece of my sister that I had never been able to let go of.
“Just before she disappeared, she came to me in the lab, talking about how she was sure she knew where there would be a large deposit of diamonds. She wanted me to come with her, but I was so close to discovering a new use for one of my potions,” I said. “She begged me to come out with her. She said I hadn’t seen the suns in weeks, and that it was good for me to get out from the lab for a few days.”
I shook my head, refusing to let any tears fall. My entire body tensed, remembering those days.
“I told her I couldn’t go, so she left on her own. When she didn’t come home after a week, my father and I went searching for her, using the maps she’d left behind,” I said. “We’d heard the rumors of demons disappearing, but no one had touched our large village, so we didn’t entirely believe them. The king himself had been denying the rumors, and we trusted him. If I’d known those rumors were true, I never would have let her go off alone.”
I drew in a shuddering breath, wanting to hide my face from her. My shame.
“When we couldn’t find her or any trace of her magic, I kept hope alive, believing we would find her in some cave or in the dark forest, examining some rare deposit of gemstones,” I said. “But I’ll never forget the moment I saw her bags and her campsite. The fire she’d made had long since gone cold, but her belongings were arranged in such a way that it seemed like she’d just been there. As if she had just stepped away and would be back any minute. Only, she never came back. I let her go out there alone, because I was too selfish to leave my own work, and she was kidnapped. I failed my own sister, Franki.”
“You didn’t know,” she said. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should never have let her go out there alone,” I said, anger bubbling to the surface. “After that day, I made it my personal mission to track down every rumor I’d ever heard of the kidnapped or missing demons. I foolishly believed that those demons were still there in the Shadow World, being held by someone w
ho would want some kind of ransom or trade. I thought that if I could just find their hiding place, I could raise an army and rescue them all.”
Franki grabbed my hand, as if knowing I needed to hold onto something just to get through this.
“When I learned the truth, it was several years later,” I said. “News of the Order of Shadows was spreading through the kingdom, and the horror of what those witches had done to the demons they’d stolen from their lives here in the Shadow World shook me to my core. I lost my mind, Franki. I couldn’t handle the thought of my sister trapped inside the body of a human witch and being used in that way.”
“So you left your family behind and came here to find her,” she said.
“It took time, but I found a way through, expecting to find Ariella and bring her home somehow.” I shook my head at my own foolishness. “But my magic didn’t work the same way over here in the human world. Every time I cast or used my power, I pulled energy and life from the world around me. It was like placing a target on my own back,” I said. “I spent a decade trying to find her. By the time I did, the witch who carried her was in her early thirties. She’d given birth to two small daughters of her own, and watching them together broke my heart. They seemed so happy and innocent, as if they didn’t even care that an innocent girl was trapped inside that woman’s body.”
I closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to come. I could still see it all so clearly in my mind.
“I wanted to do something about it, but I couldn’t find a way to free her from that witch,” I said. “And to make things worse, the Order of Shadows began hunting me. I killed so many of them, Franki.”
I looked at her, studying her expression to see if it would make her hate me. Judge me. But in her eyes, there was only love and sorrow.
“That’s when the Brotherhood found me,” I said. “I was at my lowest point. Desperate to save a sister who was beyond saving. I refused to believe she was lost to me forever, but back then, no one had any idea how to remove a demon soul from the body of a witch once they’d been bound to her. I tried everything I could think of.”