As she climaxed, something happened, something she’d never experienced before. She could feel an echo of her bliss, of her emotions, but also…him. She could feel what Rune did, as though a door between them had been opened.
Astra wrapped her arms around Rune, holding him closer as he drank from her. He wasn’t just taking her blood, he was giving back. Tears filled her eyes and streamed down the side of her face as he released the suction on her neck and ran his tongue over the small wound.
She could still feel vestiges of his emotions, the depth of his love for her, even though the connection between them had waned. It was beautiful. So beautiful that it hurt.
Rune lifted his head and saw her tears. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No, you didn’t.” She sniffed. “For a few seconds…I felt you. What you were feeling.” Her hands lifted to his cheeks. “I couldfeelhow much you love me.”
His grey eyes lightened to silver as he looked down at her, his weight resting on his elbows. He smiled.
“I’m glad,” he said.
“I do have a question, though,” she replied.
“Okay.”
“Is that normal? Or should I be worried that you’ve just worked a vampire mind meld on me.”
Rune laughed a little and ran his lips across her cheek. “No, there was no vampire mind meld. It isn’t typical when a vampire mates with another species though. It’s been known to happen, but it’s not common.”
“So, I shouldn’t be able to feel your emotions?”
“Vampires forge a connection with someone after they’ve bitten them. Usually, it’s one way. I would be able to feel what you did through that connection, but you wouldn’t. When vampires mate with other vampires, they both feel it. But vampires feeling that with other types of supernatural beings doesn’t happen very often.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called it mating. Is that what you were doing?”
He smiled down at her. “Yes. You said you’d marry me, so…”
Astra lifted an eyebrow. “What does mating mean, exactly?”
“Just that I’ve opened myself to you and you’ve opened yourself to me. Like I said, it’s a connection.” He paused. “I’m happy that it goes both ways though.”
Astra thought about it for a moment, remembering how he felt within her mind. “I am, too.”
“I could feel you also,” he said, lowering his brow to hers. “I’m humbled to know that you love me the same way I love you.”
One more tear slipped out of the corner of her eye. “Even if we never forge that connection again, it goes both ways.”
“I know.”
Rune slid his hands beneath her back and rolled them so that her cheek rested on his shoulder. Astra cuddled closer to him, resting her thigh on his leg. “One of us needs to go grab a towel,” she murmured, her eyes already half-closed.
“I’ll change the sheets when we get up in a little while.”
Astra yawned. “I don’t know if I’ll be awake in a little while.”
She yelped when he lightly pinched her nipple and retaliated by yanking a bit of his chest hair. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Just making sure you were awake.”
Astra rolled her eyes. “I can’t help it if you wore me out.”
His hand moved from her breast down to her hip. “How about a short nap and then we take a hot bath?”
She tilted her head back and opened one eye to stare up at his face. “With the jets?”
“Absolutely.”
