He roars and pulls back before slamming into me. Again and again, he fills me better than anyone ever could. He’s perfect in every way.
Clinging to the bedpost as if for my life, my pleasure builds. Screams fall from my lips, and I’m helpless to control them.
With another glorious roar, Sam fills me, jerking forward again and again while my body pulses around his thick shaft.
His heavy breath warms my neck, and he kisses my shoulder. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he eases us both to the mattress like spoons in the drawer. The tip of his cock still nestled inside me as if it was always meant to join us.
My tears continue to fall unbidden.
“Why are you crying, sweetheart?” He thumbs my tears from my cheek and brushes my hair from my eyes.
Part of me wants to keep these thoughts to myself. I’ve hidden from the world and the past for so long; what good can come of sharing anything? Nothing positive can be gained by caring. But I do care. It’s painful to think about a life without Sam Reus. “I’m happy, Sam.”
“And that makes you cry?” His hand rests on my hip as if he’ll always be with me.
It’s a dream. I’m not a dreamer. “The last time I was happy, I was a twenty-year-old human girl living in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.”
Unable to stop myself, I snuggle in so that my back is flush to his front.
On a soft groan, which I share, he slips his cock free. After several long breaths, he says, “What happened? Why did you leave your family?”
“For the stage. An opera company came through on the train. They stopped due to a breakdown. The composer heard me sing. He paid my father more money than he’d ever seen for the right to take me to Paris.”
“Your father sold you?” His grip on my hip tightens.
“I wanted to go. The money was needed. My singing was how the family earned money. My father played, and I sang. Without me, they would struggle. I was the eldest of six. Still, if I hadn’t wanted to go, my father would have run the opera man off.” I love that Sam was ready to defend me against a man who’s been dead for a century.
His grip eases. “I see. So, you went to Paris and met Pierre?”
Closing my eyes, I can see the theater as it was the first moment I stepped inside. Gold and crimson fabric covered everything. It was a dream to think I would become famous there, in the lap of luxury. “I worked hard to learn how to sing correctly. It was long days and nights of work before I was ready to make my stage debut. I sang a minor part for a year. It’s no brag, but my voice was too good, and soon I earned the lead role. I was young, and the attention was overwhelming. Pierre came to the opera, he saw me, he came backstage, and told me he was in love with me.”
When I don’t continue, he whispers, “What happened?”
I bite my bottom lip and push down fears that should have been dismissed years ago. “Pierre came every night. He courtedme as if I were a lady. He bought me gifts and introduced me to his friends at elegant parties. One night, he asked me to marry him. I was twenty-one. I thought it was the most incredible night of my life. When he bit me, I was confused. There was pain and pleasure. I’d never known anything like it. At some point, he stopped drinking my blood, but I was too weak to speak or move. He told me that I was going to die and if I wanted to live, I had to drink his blood and live as he lives.
“Death was so close. My mind couldn’t process what was happening. Although I clearly remembered a story my grandmother told, about creatures that lived forever by stalking the blood of the living. Until I was nearly dead, I’d believed that was an old myth passed along by an old woman.”
Cradling me, Sam rolls me in his arms and holds me. “He tricked you.”
“He did what he does. He loved me in his way, but that meant that I belonged to him to do with as he pleased. If I’d been wise, I would have told him to let me die.” I dash away my tears and look into Sam’s pure, green eyes. “I said I wanted to live and drank his blood.”
“What happened afterward?” His voice is soft and soothing, as if he’s speaking to a wild animal that needs calming. He’s not far off.
“I turned into an animal. Pierre brought me dazed humans of little worth, and I fed on them until they were dead. After a time, I learned to control my appetite. I remembered who I was, and I rebelled by refusing to feed on humans. Pierre was furious. He kept me prisoner in his house. It was a gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.” Old anger rushes through me.
Sam kisses my forehead, my hair, my cheek. “How did you escape?”
I’ve come this far, I may as well tell the rest. I draw a long breath. “Pierre wasn’t satisfied with making me sing for himand his friends. I had become petulant when asked to perform. Perhaps he believed that making me go back on stage would anger me. I acted as if it were an imposition, but I saw it as a means to an end. I loved opera. I loved the drama of it and the applause. I loved the music and the closeness of the troop.
“I told a few old friends I was being held against my will, and they helped me one night after the show. They sneaked me out of the theater and into a carriage. From there, I boarded a ship to London. I have managed to stay out of the limelight, and Pierre hasn’t found me. Perhaps he gave up long ago.”
“I’m glad you were so strong.” He holds me as if I’m a piece of china he might break. Considering the rough nature of our lovemaking, it’s at once funny and endearing. “Did you marry Pierre before you escaped?”
I shake my head. “Never. He only used that as a means to get me alone and vulnerable.”
Caressing my back and neck, he lets out a long breath. “I’m sorry for all you went through, but I’m glad you didn’t marry that monster.”
Pushing him onto his back, I lie on his chest and comb my fingers through his soft hair. “You are going to be a problem for me.”
