by Tina Folsom
“And Faye? Does she know?”
“She knows. She watched you when you delivered the death blow.”
Cain jolted back, shocked at the revelation. “Why would I let her watch?”
“You wanted her not to be afraid any longer. You wanted her to know that you’d slay any dragon for her.”
Cain dropped down onto the bed. Faye knew all his secrets, had seen him at his most savage, yet she still loved him. She was stronger than he could have ever guessed. If she had stood by him when he’d killed the evil king, would she stand by him now when he laid himself bare before her?
36
Faye heard the knock at the door to her suite and stopped pacing for the first time in the last two hours, ever since Wesley had come to see her and told her to remain in the safety of her own rooms until he told her otherwise. She hadn’t protested. Past experience had taught her to heed warnings when their bearer issued them with a glint of fear in his eyes. And the witch had looked alarmed enough to make Faye follow his command without question.
Her heart pounded into her throat when she answered, “Come in.”
Her eyes on the door, she watched it open. None other than Cain stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He remained standing there, his eyes searching hers then running them over her body as if to assure himself that she was all right. That action made her even more nervous. Her hands clasped in front of her stomach, she took a hesitant step toward him.
“What’s going on?”
Cain motioned to the sofa in front of the fireplace. “I think you should sit down.”
So the news was bad. Really bad. Nobody ever asked another person to sit down for good news. “I’d rather stand.”
“Fine.” She saw him swallow hard, before his mouth opened again to speak. “There was an attempt on my life.”
Faye gasped and instinctively pressed one hand against her chest. “Oh, God, no!”
“I’m all right.”
“What happened?”
“I went to see Robert in his cell to talk to him. When I called the guard to unlock the door, I got no reply. But I heard a gun being cocked.”
Her feet carried her to him, and her hands reached for him, finding hold in his shirt. “Cain! Oh, no!” The thought of Cain’s life being in danger cut off her air supply. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know.”
Faye tilted her head to the side. How could he not know? He’d clearly survived. “But you must have killed him. Otherwise, how would you be alive?”
“I managed to escape through the tunnels.”
Stunned, she stared at him. While she was aware of the tunnels and the secret passage way between her and the king’s suite, she didn’t know all the other underground routes. Cain had only shown her the one entrance she needed to know. “There is an entrance to the tunnels in the cellblock?”
“It saved my life.”
Suddenly her breath hitched. “And Robert?”
Cain stroked his hands over her upper arms. “Robert is safe.” He dropped his head. “I want to apologize to you. You were right. Robert isn’t a traitor. After what happened in the cell, I firmly believe that Robert was set up, maybe even to lure me down there to him so the assassin could get rid of me and blame Robert for it. I can’t know for sure.”
Relief traveled through her. Cain had taken her advice after all and given Robert a chance. But relief wasn’t long lasting, because her advice had landed him in this dangerous situation. “I’m so sorry, Cain. If I hadn’t put such pressure on you to see Robert, this wouldn’t have happened.” She felt tears well up in her eyes and tried desperately to push them down.
“It’s not your fault. You did the right thing. I was wrong about Robert.”
“What are you going to do now? Where’s the guard that did this?”
Cain shook his head. “The guard is dead. Most likely killed by whoever is behind this. My men are looking for the assassin, but we don’t have much hope. He didn’t leave any clues. We found a weapon that was most likely used to kill the guard. Haven checked for fingerprints, but there were none.”
Faye searched his eyes. “He’s going to try again and again until he succeeds, isn’t he?” How would Cain ever be safe?
“We have to assume that. That’s why I’m here.”
Her forehead creased at his odd statement. “What do you mean?” Was he suspecting her after all, even though he’d said it wasn’t her fault? Her heartbeat drummed in her chest. “You can’t believe that I’m—”
“Faye.” He pulled her closer. The intensity in his gaze rendered her immobile. “When I was in that cell about to be assassinated, all I could think of was you, and that I would never get a chance to tell you the truth if I died.”
“The truth?” she heard herself echo.
“About me and what really happened during the year I was gone.” Cain took a breath. “I lied to you, Faye.”
Instinctively, she tried to pull away from him, but his hands wrapped around her upper arms and didn’t allow her to escape.
“But I can’t go on lying any longer.” He closed his eyes for a moment.
Speechless, she stared at him.
“I think you’ll want to sit down for this.” He released her. “Please.”
Her entire body numb, she walked to the sofa and sat down, her back remaining stiff. Was he going to tell her now that there had been another woman after all?
The sofa cushions depressed when he sat down close to her, his body turned sideways to face her, his hands reaching for hers, holding them gently.
“I wasn’t kidnapped a year ago. An assassin made an attempt on my life and injured me. John saved my life, but the head injury was bad. When I came to, I had no memory of my life. I didn’t know who I was. I had complete amnesia.”
Faye gasped.
“John made the decision to smuggle me out of the palace via the tunnels and stage my death to keep me safe. I believe he did the right thing under the circumstances. I was in no state to defend myself against another attack.”
Faye pressed her hand to her lips. “Oh my God!”
“That’s not all.”
What else could there be? “You’re back now. You can fight whoever is behind this.”
The sad smile Cain gave her made her heart clench with pain. “Faye, I haven’t recovered from the amnesia.”
Not understanding, she shook her head. “What do you mean? Any non-mortal injury a vampire has will heal over time. And you came back. So you must remember.”
Cain sighed. “For the last year, I’ve been working as a bodyguard for Scanguards. They became my friends, the only friends and family I remember. My memory still isn’t back. I don’t know why the injury never healed.” He looked into the fireplace. “Faye, I don’t remember you. I don’t remember loving you. I remember nothing of my old life. Nothing about us. That’s why I couldn’t tell you what you needed to hear from me.”
A sob tore from her throat. He didn’t remember loving her? “Cain,” she whispered, but her voice broke with another sob. So it was true then; he didn’t love her anymore and had only been pretending. “The last few days. They were a lie,” she said, talking to herself.
Cain turned his head back to her and clasped her hands once more. “Not all of it. I may not remember our love, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.”
Her eyelashes rose and her eyes widened while she sucked in a breath.
His loving gaze pinned her. “I was given a second chance, Faye. A second chance to fall in love with you all over again. When you came to my room after my return, for me it was the first time I’d ever kissed you. Everything was the first time for me. To make love to you here in front of the fireplace, to feel your lips around my cock when you came to me in the shower. I got to experience your passion, your tenderness for the first time.” He shoved a hand through his short hair. “But when you pressed me to tell you that I love you, I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t lie to you and profess my lov
e when I didn’t trust my own feelings. I can now. Because now I’ve seen what kind of woman you are. You’re good and generous. Loyal and faithful even when you thought me dead.”
Regret suddenly flashed in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Faye, but you have to know this: I slept with other women. I didn’t know you existed. Had I known, I would have never touched another woman.” Cain dropped his head. “None of them meant anything. In my dreams it was always you.”
While it pained her to hear that he’d been with other women, she couldn’t really blame him. Without any knowledge of his former life, how would he have known to be faithful to her? Faye put her hand on his forearm. “Don’t blame yourself. Tell me about your dreams.”
Cain looked up, a tentative smile on his lips. “Several months ago I started dreaming about you. About us. Making love. I saw everything so vividly, I thought it was real. That’s why I had to come back when John came to see me last week and told me about you. About the fact that Abel had proposed to you. I knew I had to fight for you.”
“And for your kingdom,” she added.
He shook his head. “I didn’t come back for the kingdom. I came back only for you. What I felt in my dreams became reality. You became reality. And the way you treated those strangers and helped them, truly revealed your heart to me. And your trust in Robert only cemented what I already knew.”
Cain lifted his hand to her cheek and caressed it. “I can say it now, because I know it’s true. I love you, Faye, and no matter what happens, I’ll never again forget that I love you.”
A single tear escaped her eye and ran down her cheek, leaving a hot trail in its wake. “Cain.” It was all she could say.
“Will you take me back?”
Through tears in her eyes, Faye nodded, but words failed her. Instead she reached for him and pulled him closer, leaning her forehead against his.
“Help me remember, my love, and I promise I’ll do anything in my power to become the man you once loved.”
She pulled back a fraction and took his face into her hands. “Oh Cain, but you are the man I love. That will never change.”
A moment later his lips were on hers, and her heart opened to welcome him home.
37
Faye’s lips gave Cain all the reassurance he needed to take the next step. The final step. He had no doubt that if his own life was in danger, so was Faye’s. And there was only one way to make certain that he could truly protect her.
Reluctantly, he severed the kiss before it turned too heated. Breathing heavily, he pressed his forehead against hers. “Blood-bond with me. Right now.”
Faye gasped and drew away from him, but only enough to look into his eyes. “Now?”
“This instant. So I’ll always be able to protect you.” Their bond would allow him to sense when she was in danger, just as she would sense if he found himself in a perilous situation and reached out to her. Together they would be stronger than as individuals.
“Yes. My love.”
A smile formed on his lips. “My queen.”
He stood and lifted her into his arms. Her hands laced behind his neck, and she brought her lips back to his to kiss him. Finally, he could let himself go. He’d told her everything, and she’d forgiven him. Nothing stood in their way now, nothing but their clothes.
Cain knew that Wesley was still standing guard outside the door of the queen’s suite, ready to alert him should any trouble arise. But he hoped no immediate trouble would ensue to give him a chance to make the next few hours with Faye a lasting memory. It would be the start of their lives together. The beginning of eternity.
He laid her down on the bed, simultaneously ridding himself of his shoes, before slipping hers off her delicate feet and dropping them to the floor.
“I need you,” Faye murmured and reached for him, pulling him on top of her.
“So eager,” he whispered back.
“I’ve waited for you for so long.”
Cain brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “I’ll never again make you wait for anything. I promise. From now on, you’ll always come first.”
“But your kingdom—”
He put his finger over her lips. “My kingdom isn’t half as important as my love for you.”
She smiled up at him. “You have changed. A year ago the needs of the kingdom were more important to you than anything else.”
“I must have been a fool.” Cain lowered his lips to hers and took possession of her mouth, wanting to show her what he felt for her, how she got under his skin.
Her mouth was yielding, inviting his invasion and welcoming him with firm strokes of her tongue against his and the strong press of her lips against his mouth. Her hands cupped the back of his head as if she wanted to make sure that he didn’t withdraw ever again.
Finally he could explore her without regret, without guilt about the lies he’d told her. Only the truth existed between them now, and it made being in her arms so much more perfect.
“I love you,” Cain murmured between taking a breath and capturing her lips again for a deeper kiss, drowning out whatever reply she had for him.
No words were necessary now, because he could feel the depth of her devotion to him in the way her body pressed against him, the way her hips ground against his pelvis, asking silently to make her his. Just like her tongue danced with him in a mating dance as old as time itself.
Faye tasted like a rainbow after a long downpour. The scent of her skin filled his nostrils and drove a spear of anticipation through the core of his body. He was already aflame. Her kiss alone could do that to him, turn him into a man who could think of only one thing: making the woman in his arms his forever. In that instant, he reveled in the fact that he was an immortal being, a vampire, for whom the words I’ll love you forever really meant forever. And he counted himself lucky to have found Faye, to have saved her, so that she could save him in turn.
Even if he never gained his memory back, it didn’t matter anymore, because he had Faye back. She was his memory, his life. Nothing else mattered.
Slowly, with gentle movements, Cain started to peel away layer after layer of her clothing, first her T-shirt, then her jeans. Then he allowed her to do the same to him, to strip him of his shirt and his pants. He stopped her when she reached for his boxer briefs.
“Not yet.” He didn’t want to rush this, and though his cock was already tenting the front of his boxer briefs, he wasn’t ready to let the beast out of the cage. He wanted to savor this moment.
“Didn’t you just promise never to make me wait again?” Faye coaxed.
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, I’m not going to make you wait, just myself. I will shower you with pleasure this instant.”
Faye slid her hand onto his nape and pulled him back down to her. “I like the sound of that.”
He brushed his lips against hers in a feather light touch, while farther down, he moved into the “v” of her thighs, his groin resting against her pelvis. Even through the fabric of their underwear, he could feel how wet she was, how ready for him.
Cain inhaled, taking the tantalizing scent of her arousal deep into his lungs. His gaze wandered from her face down to her neck, where he saw her vein pulse as if to lure him to her. Soon, he’d drive his fangs into that very spot and take her blood to form an unbreakable bond with her.
Without haste, he hooked his thumb underneath one strap of her bra and slid it off her shoulder. He did the same with the other one, then pushed the cups down, away from her breasts, exposing her rosy peaks to his view. Rock-hard, they greeted him. He dipped his head and sucked one pert nipple into his mouth, swiping his tongue over it.
His eyes closed without his doing, and his body delighted in her taste and the texture of her flesh. Her moan sounded in his ears and confirmed that he gave her what she wanted. Eager to please her, he licked and sucked her beautiful breast, while his hands busied themselves to free her from the garment. When he’d finally opened the clasp, he tos
sed the bra aside.
He switched to her other breast, paying the same attention to it as to the first. His hands now free, Cain squeezed her breasts in concert with his sucking motions, and earned more moans and sighs for his efforts.
Faye’s back arched off the bed as she thrust her voluptuous bosom deeper into his mouth, demanding he suck harder.
The temptation to do more than just lick her was too strong to resist. He allowed his fangs to scrape against her warm flesh and felt her shiver from the contact.
“Yes!” she cried out, her voice a symphony of passion and need.
The vampire inside him responded to it with a growl.
“Screw it,” he cursed, releasing her breast. He couldn’t wait. He’d wanted to, but he had no control over the beast inside him that demanded his mate. “I’m sorry, Faye, I need you now.”
Their eyes met when she looked down at him. “What took you so long?”
With one jerky movement he rid himself of his boxer briefs then reached for her panties. The thin fabric ripped instantly though he barely touched it. Maybe the fact that his hands had turned into claws had something to do with that.
With all barriers gone, he adjusted his cock, bringing its tip to Faye’s quivering slit, and plunged into her. Her heat imprisoned him instantly, robbing him of his breath. Her legs wrapped around him, her ankles locking him into a tight vise, making escape impossible. She’d imprisoned him. And he couldn’t imagine a more heavenly prison to find himself in.
Cain undulated his hips and began to slide in and out of her inviting body. This was where he belonged. Just like in his dreams, he could sense their connection, the love they shared; only now it was real. She was real.
“I’ll always love you, Faye,” he murmured, gazing into her green eyes that had already started to change color.
With every second that their bodies moved in synch with each other, her irises turned from a vibrant green to a deep orange, to a glowing red. She was all vampire now, her primal needs at their height.