A shudder of anticipation wracked her body even as she narrowed her eyes.
“I am infuriating?”
“Admit it, little one. You do love to challenge me.”
“Only because you are so insufferably arrogant, my lord—”
“Victor,” he interrupted, his fingers running through her curls and spreading them across the pillows. “I want to hear my name upon your lips.”
A delicious heat curled through the pit of her stomach, sending tiny tremors through her body. For once, however, Juliet made no effort to deny her scorching reaction to Victor’s touch.
She was done fighting a battle she could not win.
“Victor. It suits you.”
His hand moved to cup her cheek, his touch flowing through her until her toes curled in response.
“Just as Juliet suits you,” he husked, his fingers drifting down the length of her throat. “You intrigued me from the moment I first caught sight of you. The candlelight shimmering like fire off your magnificent hair. Your features as pure as those of an angel. The elegance of your every movement. It stirred a hunger in me that haunts me no matter where I go.”
Some deep part of her whispered that she should be frightened as his fingers briefly lingered upon the pulse at the base of her throat before gliding along the opening of her smock.
Not that he would physically harm her. That had never been her fear. And, of course, now he was bonded to her. A vampire would destroy the world to protect his mate.
No, he would not injure her, but she was not so foolish as to believe that she could give herself to Victor without consequences.
Fright, however, was the last thing Juliet was feeling as his fingers brushed over the curve of her bare breast. She arched upward as a jolt of pleasure burst through her.
“Victor.”
“Look at me, little one,” he whispered.
Allowing herself to become lost in the silver gaze, she made no demur as he tugged the smock over her head and tossed it aside. The remainder of her clothing swiftly followed until she was lying naked on the satin sheets.
The world had somehow slipped away. There was nothing but the dark eyes and the slender fingers that tenderly explored her body as if he were memorizing every angle and curve of her.
“This is madness,” Juliet whispered.
The faintest smile curled the corner of his mouth. “This is fate.”
“Fate?”
“Destiny.” His head lowered, his lips brushing her mouth as he spoke. “I have waited an eternity to find you. I will never harm you.”
Of their own will her hands lifted to grasp his shoulders. The brocade was smooth and delicious to the touch and she found her fingers stroking down the wide width of his back.
A low sigh hissed through his lips. His kiss became more demanding, his tongue dipping into her mouth with a sweep of wetness. At the same moment his hand cupped her breast and his thumb rubbed over the tight peak.
Juliet bucked against him as the shock of sensations jolted through her.
“Oh.”
He pulled back enough that she could see herself reflected in his shimmering silver eyes. Or at least someone who looked vaguely like her.
Her curls were tumbled like a river of fire onto the pillows, her face flushed with pleasure, and her parted lips still damp from his kiss.
She looked like a decadent sacrifice offered up for some sensual beast.
“What has brought that frown to your beautiful brow?” he whispered.
Her attention returned to the man poised above her. Good heavens, he was so beautiful. Astonishingly beautiful. Unable to resist temptation, her fingers lifted to plunge into the heavy thickness of his hair.
Ah . . . yes. It was just as soft and silky as she had imagined.
“I have wanted you from the moment I saw you in the ballroom,” she confessed in soft tones. “But that does not mean I intend to complete the mating bond.”
His chuckle slithered down her spine. “You are my mate. You hold my heart and soul. We are one, whether you are too stubborn to admit the truth or not.”
Holding her gaze, he pulled the brocade robe from his body. Her eyes widened at the sight of the hard, chiseled muscles that rippled beneath the ivory skin that was tattooed with a beautiful dragon. His shoulders were broad, his chest so pale and smooth the nipples appeared startlingly dark in contrast. Her gaze refused to lower beyond the contoured ripple of his stomach. Her body already felt as if it were burning from within.
Holding her gaze, he slid slowly downward. The rub of his skin against hers made her breath catch painfully in her throat.
His lips touched her collarbone, tracing the delicate line with the tip of his tongue before slowly traveling down the curve of her breast. Juliet shifted restlessly beneath the teasing mouth. Good Lord, nothing had ever felt so wondrous.
“You are so warm,” he whispered against her skin, turning his head just enough to capture the tip of her nipple between his lips.
“Blessed Mother.”
She arched off the bed and her hands slid to frame his face in silent encouragement. Whatever she had thought she knew of passion had never included the tender caresses that were sending a storm of sensations lashing through her body.
With obvious expertise he used his tongue and even his teeth to torment her nipple to a hard peak. Her eyes squeezed shut as she groaned low in her throat. He turned his attention to her other breast, his hands sliding down the curve of her waist.
Juliet was lost in the tide of building sensations when his arms encircled her and without warning he had rolled onto his back. In one powerful motion she discovered herself perched on top of his hard frame. Her eyes widened as she regarded the fiercely handsome countenance.
“Victor?”
“Do not fear,” he murmured as his hands smoothed down the curve of her back.
“What are you doing?”
His lips twitched in soft amusement. “If you have not noticed, I am a rather large vampire, while you, my beloved, are delectably tiny.”
She smiled wryly. “Even if I had not noticed our size differences, your habit of calling me ‘little one’ would have given me a hint.”
His expression settled in oddly somber lines even as his hands continued to send shocks of pleasure through her body.
“I have never made a secret of how desperately I want you, Juliet,” he said, his voice husky with need. “But what happens, or does not happen, in this bed will be decided by you.”
An unexpected thrill of power raced through her as she gazed down at the compelling man beneath her. She better than anyone understood the effort it took Victor to relinquish control. He was an ancient demon who had gained his position by brutal force.
Such a gesture revealed not only that he truly understood her freshly discovered need to take command of her life, but also a trust that was nothing less than astonishing.
Quite willing to prove her gratitude, Juliet leaned downward, outlining his sensuous lips with the tip of her tongue.
“Does this please you?” She nibbled a path down his clenched jaw and then the strong column of his neck, savoring his intoxicating taste.
He growled, his mouth parting to reveal his fully extended fangs, and a cool surge of power washed over her.
“You please me.”
She slowly retraced her path, a heat pooling in the pit of her stomach.
“Are you certain?” she husked. “I fear I am not overly experienced in such matters.”
“Allow me to show you.”
Grasping her face in his hands, he lifted himself upward, capturing her mouth in a kiss of stark hunger. Juliet shivered with pleasure, her mouth parting to allow his tongue to tangle with hers.
Sinking into the bliss of his devouring kiss, she stroked restless hands over the satin smoothness of his chest. A delicious excitement swirled through her body as she felt the hard thrust of his arousal pressing against her lower stomach.
As
if sensing the growing urgency of her desire, Victor pulled back, his body mesmerizing in the soft glow of the fire.
“Juliet, I need you,” he said. “I need to be inside you.”
His voice flowed over her skin like honey, flooding her body with liquid heat and making her fingers dig into the hard muscles of his chest with a flare of aching desire.
“Yes,” she breathed, shuddering as his hands drifted over the curve of her hips.
With infinite care he explored the length of her thighs and then, with a small tug, he parted her legs until they fell on either side of his body. Juliet muttered her approval against his lips, but even prepared she gave a strangled cry when his clever fingers stroked through her damp heat.
“Sssh,” he soothed softly. “Soon we shall be one. One soul. One flesh.”
His low words seemed to echo deep inside her, but she ignored the dangerous warmth that settled in the center of her heart. Instead she concentrated on his finger that teased the tiny pulse of her pleasure.
“Not soon . . . now,” she muttered.
His low growl filled the air, his erection pressing eagerly against her damp heat.
“You are certain?”
Certain? Her nails dug into his chest until she drew blood. She had never been more certain of anything in her entire life.
“Please, Victor.”
“Yes.”
Victor’s hands were pressing at her lower back as his hips lifted and he was entering her in one sure stroke.
Her breath caught, but not from pain.
Searing pleasure rushed through her and she pressed her face onto his chest. She could feel him stroke into her before pulling out and returning with a slow, relentless pressure.
“Dear Lord.”
“Mate,” he whispered as his hips lifted over and over. “My mate.”
“I did not know anything could feel so . . .”
“How does it feel, sweet Juliet?”
“Wondrous,” she breathed, her body moving in perfect rhythm with his.
His soft chuckle filled the air with a thick satisfaction.
“You are mine,” he vowed. “Mine for eternity.”
She moaned as her body began to tighten with a shimmering anticipation. His steady, relentless pace was building a fire deep within her that threatened to burst out of control.
“My mate,” he breathed, lifting his head to nuzzle at her neck.
His slight shift was enough to press him even deeper within her and with a force that caught her off guard the tension that coiled between her legs abruptly burst into a thousand pieces.
She cried out and squeezed shut her eyes, struggling not to swoon beneath the tide of sensations. It was overwhelming. A joy that edged perilously close to pain.
“Victor?”
With a moan, he laid his head on the pillows. For a moment she simply gazed into the handsome countenance, telling herself that what had just occurred was no more than incredible sex. Victor had, after all, near a thousand years and countless women to perfect his expertise, but something deep in her heart refused to accept the lie.
Staring into the silver eyes she knew she was bound closer to him than any other person in the entire world.
They were one.
One soul.
One flesh.
Mates.
Chapter Six
Seated across the table from his mate, Victor ruefully accepted that any hope that Juliet would be more compliant now that she was his lover was doomed to abysmal failure. Polishing off the last of the roasted duck, potatoes stewed in a delicate mushroom sauce, and freshly baked bread, Juliet sat back in her chair and offered him a stubborn glare.
“You can roar and bellow all you wish. I am not going to change my mind.”
With an effort, Victor attempted to ignore the captivating sight of Juliet wearing nothing more than his brocade robe, her mane of fiery curls spilling down her back and her ivory features tinted with a delicate flush.
Not that he was particularly successful.
There would never be a moment that he would not desire his mate.
Even when she infuriated him.
“I do not comprehend why you must be so unreasonable.”
“Me?” She arched a brow. “It was your decision to go on the hunt for the Jinn.”
“Because he cannot be permitted to linger in London. Not only do his powers attract the attention of the humans, but his mere presence is a threat to my position among the demons.”
She appeared remarkably unimpressed with his logic.
“So you are allowed to risk your life to remain clan chief, but I am forbidden from rescuing a friend from potential death?”
He paused, his vast experience with women warning him this was a trap with no escape.
“I would not use the word ‘forbidden.’ ”
“Then what word would you use?”
“Strongly discouraged,” he suggested.
She snorted. “I do not consider a threat to tie me to the bed as strong discouragement.”
He growled, his fangs fully extended and aching with a hunger that would never be sated.
“Me either,” he husked, leaving his chair and rounding the table with a slow smile of anticipation. “I consider that an invitation to paradise.”
Juliet hastily rose to her feet, her expression stern although she could not disguise the heat simmering in her beautiful eyes as her gaze skimmed down his body, covered in nothing more than a loose pair of satin pants he had brought from his recent journey to China.
“Victor, you are not going to distract me.”
Easily scooping her off her feet, Victor headed directly for the nearby bed, tumbling them both onto the silken sheets. With a swift roll he managed to end up on top.
“I will admit that was my original intent,” he murmured, burying his face in the curve of her neck. “But I believe I have been hoisted on my own petard. You are delectable.”
Her arms circled his neck, her body instinctively arching beneath him.
“Victor.”
The intoxicating scent of peaches filled his senses. “Hmmm?”
“This changes nothing,” she muttered. “I am going with you to the docks.”
Victor pulled back at her stubborn insistence, an unfamiliar pang twisting his gut.
“Why does this Levet mean so much to you?”
She blinked. “Are you . . . jealous?”
“Of a stunted, outcast gargoyle? Do not be absurd.”
The emerald eyes narrowed. “Victor?”
“You belong here with me,” he said before he could halt the revealing words. “Not with Hawthorne and that creature.”
She studied him with an all too knowing gaze. “You believe if I rescue Levet I will return to Justin?”
Victor shied from the mere notion he was jealous of the mage, or the deformed gargoyle. He was a powerful vampire. A clan chief. The most honored creature in all the demon world.
“No, I believe it is a fool’s errand and I will not let you deliberately put yourself in danger.”
She smiled, not fooled for a moment.
“Justin has no claim on my affections,” she assured him softly, her fingers threading through his hair. “He offered me protection and that is all I ever desired from him.”
He studied her pale face, searching for . . . what?
Reassurance?
“You care for him?” he gritted.
“No.”
“Then why do you remain with him?”
Her fingers continued to stroke through his hair, no doubt sensing his unnerving vulnerability. Perhaps in a century or two he would be accustomed to his overwhelming need for this woman, but for tonight he was still raw from the aching desire to complete the bonding.
“Our arrangement was mutually beneficial. My talents offered Justin the means to acquire his magical collection and I was given a roof over my head and security from all but the most persistent demons.”
“I c
an offer you greater protection,” he said, infuriated at the mere thought of Juliet depending on another man. “Nothing would be allowed to harm you while you are in my care.”
She smiled wryly. “That I have never doubted.”
“Then why do you hesitate?”
She shrugged, the movement causing the robe to gape, offering a tantalizing glimpse of her naked breasts. Victor swallowed a groan, his body fully aroused.
“At first I feared becoming another willing victim that you used and then tossed aside.”
“And now?”
She met his gaze squarely. “Now I fear becoming your puppet.”
Victor clenched his jaw, offended by her words despite the numerous women who had drifted in and out of his life. They had been mere dalliances.
Or dinner.
Juliet was the other half of his soul.
“Even if I wished such a ridiculous thing, I am not capable of enthralling you,” he informed her, his voice edged with a distinct chill.
She gave a sharp tug on his hair, a rueful amusement shimmering in her emerald eyes.
“No, but you are capable of insisting upon others obeying your every command.”
A portion of his pique was eased at her obvious teasing. “That is only because I know what is best for my people.”
“And your mate?”
“Of course.”
She rolled her eyes. “There, you have proven my point.”
Victor shifted so he could cup her face in his hand, knowing that while his instinct would be to protect his mate, he would have to learn not to ride roughshod over her.
“Juliet, if you wish me to admit that I am an overbearing brute who is accustomed to being obeyed, I will do so,” he said, giving a wry shake of his head. “I have been a clan chief for a number of centuries, while being a mate is all rather new.”
She stilled, studying his face with wide eyes. “What are you saying?”
“That your happiness is more important than my need to control you.”
“Then you will allow me to make my own decisions? Even if you do not agree with them?” She narrowed her eyes as he hesitated. “Victor?”
With a grim determination, Victor thrust aside centuries of absolute authority. To be mated meant compromise. Even if that compromise threatened to drive him to utter madness.
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