“I most certainly have not. We have a special sort of relationship.”
She grins. “Yeah, I’ve heard.”
I smirk, taking the last swallow of my drink. “Okay, two margaritas is my limit tonight. We have tons to do tomorrow. I’m going to go to bed and try not to worry. You’re right, he can handle himself.”
Raven smiles. “Night Embry. I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully you’ll hear from Corvinus later tonight or tomorrow.”
I make the climb up the stairs still buzzing with nervous energy, trying to calm the worry in my heart. It’s fine for Raven not to worry. Romano is not halfway across the globe meeting with the ruler of all the pureblood vampires either.
I’ve barely closed the door when strong arms wrap around me, pinning me against his hard body from behind. His fangs graze the side of my neck, sending waves of desire sliding down my spine. “Miss me?”
3
CORVINUS
The scent of Embry’s desire permeates the room, as feral as my own. My fangs graze the length of the creamy column of her throat. “I missed you too damn much for my own good, vampire,” she murmurs, tilting her head to allow me better access to her neck.
I pull her purple hair to one side before caressing her breasts while suckling on her sensitive and exquisite smelling skin, my own desire hardening against her tight little backside. “Tell me you missed me, love.” I may be exhausted from the long journey from Chicago back to Romania but I’m not too fucking tired for Embry.
She purrs her pleasure, wriggling her ass against me, raising her arms and entangling them in my hair as I turn her to face me. Her head tips in the most seductive of ways. “I almost went after you, that’s how much I missed you,” she says, kissing me with her moist lips. Her softness against my hardness after two days spent apart is almost more than either of us can bear.
The tremulous need for each other supersedes everything else in the world at this moment, not commitments, responsibilities or future plans have a chance in hell of taking priority right now. “I need you, vampire,” she whispers on ashaky breath as my hand slides underneath her short little skirt, pushing aside her lacy panties to slide a finger through her hot wet pussy.
“You’re fucking soaked, love,” I growl, lifting her against the wall. Embry’s legs wrap tightly around me as I free myself and run my dick along her hot wet slit, gathering moisture for a moment before giving her what we both so desperately need. I drive in hard, sliding right to the very end of her. Embry’s legs wrap around my waist tighter, her little shorty boots digging into my back as her fingernails grasp the nape of my neck trying to keep me in her sexy little web.
She should know by now that I’m in control of her pleasure though. I slide out, just enough to make her remember and watch her beg with those soft little moans. She shifts her weight, her pussy desperate for my rod but I’m keeping both of us on a perilous edge right now.
I slowly sink back into her heat. “Patience love, soon I’m going to teach you everything there is to know about anticipation and desire. I’m going to make you beg for me to fuck you harder, even when you think you can’t take anymore.” She moans as I thrust deep, sliding against that special spot on her front wall she loves so much. “You’re going to be the death of me, vampire.”
I smile, nuzzling her hair from her neck giving me access to her ear. “I’m going to fucking devour you all night long,” I growl before driving her over the edge and sending rope after rope of pent-up desire for my love into her hot channel while she squeezes me tightly, trembling on the end of my dick for the first time tonight. I hold her tight. “That’s foreplay, love.”
Much later, I stroke a finger down the side of Embry’s face as she sleeps, for the umpteenth time wondering why I was lucky enough to have destiny bring me to her door. I may not have believed in fated mates not that long ago, but that was beforethis little wisp of a vampire changed that and so much more. There’s no way I’m giving her back. She made a deal, and I intend to hold her to it, and by the end of that year, I’ve already decided, she’s going to be mine.
My mind drifts back to my promise. “I’ll protect you while you find yourself, locate your gramma and whatever it is you believe is in the witches’ shadow books. But you’ll be hooked to my side, and you’ll do as I ask, when I ask it, and be at the mercy of every sexual pleasure I wish to explore for a year. That’s the deal.”
One deal, and in hindsight, it could have ruined my position with the vampire community forever. Overmaster Descallia and his mate, our new queen, Lucianna, did not mean for me to allow Embry anywhere near the witches’ academy. What they wanted was for me to bring her back in one piece. Not get involved in something that could bring with it another war.
It’s a whole different situation now that Devora has pissed Descallia off by keeping secrets of her own. Descallia giving me his blessing to go explore the witches shadow books and find out what secrets they keep is more than I could have hoped for. At least I’m doing that with his blessing, because fucking the person I’m supposed to be protecting is by far a different story.
I’ll deal with his wrath in the future no doubt, but right now I need to focus on Embry’s safety and getting the information from those books that Embry wants and Descallia needs. We’re in a better advantage point than most with Raven on our side and living right next to the witches.
We’re fortunate that Master Romano has invited us as guests in his territory, the very battleground where the witches and vampires have fought over the land, each claiming it for their own for centuries. The same place the witch caverns convene, right along the property adjacent to Romano’s estate and the Carpathian Mountains. A mere wall and property line separatingthe vampires and witches. One that I plan to scale quickly to get what I want.
My thoughts drift to Master Romano. He’s in a tight spot but handles the middle ground well. His allegiance may be to the vampires, but he also has a responsibility to keep the peace for the sake of the vampires in his region with the witches who live next door to his estate, and especially his mate’s aunt, Devora, the leader of it all.
Now that Devora knows a vampire is with Embry here in Romania and has been in the secret witches cavern, tensions are at an all-time high. I only hope that whatever reason they have for being okay with Embry being in the region and not me can be explained some other way than the pesky witches having one scheme or another up their sleeves to harm our kind.
But I also know that nothing good can come of nosing around their academy for these damn shadow books, yet if that is what is needed to sooth Embry’s soul, and to keep her with me for an entire year, I’ll do whatever it fucking takes. We’ll sleep now that daylight has come and catch Raven and Romano up tomorrow night while we come up with a plan.
Two daysat Master Romano’s while Embry and Raven caught up and Romano and I have done the same. Now though, I’m restless and ready for this mission to be done. Tonight, as soon as dark ensues, it’s time to slip out and take a little look around on the grounds surrounding the witches’ properties and maybe even beyond.
Master Romano hands me a glass of Descallia Red and takes one for himself as we wait for the ladies who are still upstairs getting ready. While we filled them both in on Embry’s desireto find out more about her gramma and find the shadow books, what we did not tell Romano was that we plan to breach the grounds of the witches tonight. Only to keep his position of neutrality intact.
Romano acts as though he doesn’t know what we’re planning tonight, but I have no doubt he knows exactly what Raven is up to every second of every day. That woman has been his purpose on this fucking earth since the day he met her. I can’t imagine for a second that he hasn’t read her mind, or she hasn’t spilled Embry’s plans. Romano is trustworthy, but it wasn’t my place to tell him about Descallia’s request to me. If Descallia has talked to him, he hasn’t told us, and I’m not going to ask or be the one to bring it to light. But still, Romano knows we’re going out.
I don’t like him being put in the middle, causing him worry about his region, his responsibilities of keeping the peace or loyalties to our boss. Descallia has had a good handle on the vampires for centuries and if he said he’ll talk to Romano, he will when but only when he thinks it’s time.
I take a sip and allow the calming blood mixture to mingle in my veins. Fresh blood, a truly soothing balm for whatever ails you. I check the time on my Audemar’s Piguet Royal Oak open worked watch, an expensive gift of passage when I made my first billion.
