My eyes flashed wide open as that unbidden thought slammed into my consciousness.Drink from the healer? Truly, Primelle?Disgust with myself made me want to vomit.
Somehow, I replied in a steady tone, “I don’t need a healer. Not yet, at least. I’ll be okay, even if I stay this cold for...a while.” I couldn’t bear to voiceforever.
Kole embraced me from behind again. Thankfully, he didn’t comment on my temperature a second time. “How was your visit at your uncle’s?”
“Good.” Before I could stop myself, the practiced lines that had been forced upon me spilled from my lips, a near replica of the lies I told my parents. And since my uncle’s potion controlledmy scent and hid my emotional flavor, Kole had no idea that I was lying through my teeth.
Once I finished telling him about thewonderfultime I’d had at Manafold Estates, he turned me in his arms and cupped my cheeks.
I stiffened, waiting for him to make a remark again about my skin, but he didn’t. Instead, a devastating smile spread across his lips, and he leaned down to brush his mouth against mine. “You know, now that your parents and the Council know that we’re mates, they’ve lifted the restrictions on their magic.”
It suddenly hit me that not once had the Council’s magic flared around his wrist since he’d arrived. “Truly?”
“Indeed.” His voice turned husky. “Which means we can enjoy each other all we want, without having to trick the Council’s magic to do so.”
A spark of my old self ignited, and I replied in a teasing tone, “How unfortunate. I quite enjoyed commanding my warrior to pleasure me.”
He chuckled. “Oh, you can still command me, Princess. I still live to serve you.”
“You do?” Desperation filled my words, and for a split second, he cocked his head, but then he returned to his easy comments.
“Always. Now, tell me, Princess...is there anything you’re needing your warrior to do?” Heat filled his eyes, and he brushed his lips over mine. “Any areas that haven’t been tended to properly in the past few days? Or areas needing particular attention?”
A low moan left me. Desire, both mine and that of my new nature, filled me. “Yes.” I parted my thighs as his hands left my cheeks to wander down my body.
“Such as?” he asked suggestively, then leaned down to kiss my throat.
I arched against him,needburning inside me. I tried to hold on to the desire I’d always felt for Kole, tried not to give in to the consuming lust that my new nature provoked in me, but it was impossible.
Before I could stop it, the need to drink his blood while fucking him began to overtake me. I kept my lips pressed firmly closed, forcing my fangs not to lengthen. I concentrated on my love for Kole. He wasn’t just a male to satisfy my demanding body. He was so much more than that, and I’d be damned if I treated him like a blood bag.
“Touch me,” I whispered, the sound slurred since my fangs had slightly emerged despite trying to stop them.
“Gladly.” In a flash of speed, he had the curtains drawn, and I flung out my telekinetic magic to lock all the doors.
In my next blink, Kole had me on the bed, my dress off, and only my underthings covering me. A flash of worry hit me that my glamour wouldn’t hide my paleness completely, but Kole was either too gone in his desire, or my glamour still held, because he never commented.
Instead, he spread me out before him and slowly began to remove his clothing. A flash of trepidation filled me that now that my parents knew of our relationship, we had no reason not to complete our bond...other than my distant nuptials...but something told me Kole wouldn’t let that dissuade him.
“Are you going to . . . I mean, are we going to . . .”
A sly smile lifted his lips. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Princess. I can’t wait until my scent marks you, and yours marks me.”
My jaw dropped, and panic roared through my veins, because I had no idea what a mating bond would do to him or me since I was now a vampire. For all I knew, Kole would begin to carry the stench of the dead, and the thought of that made me want to gag. But the other part of me burned, needed,wanted.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and I desperately shoved my vampire urges down. This was Kole. He was my mate. He wasn’t a male simply to fuck and drink from.
Slowly, my fangs receded completely, but it took all of my concentration and the love for my warrior to do so.
“Prim?” Kole said quietly, my name soft on his lips. “We don’t have to do this now if you don’t want to.”
My eyes flashed open. Kole was watching me, concern on his face. Gratitude filled me that he cared more about me than sex.
“Can we wait?” I blurted, blinking rapidly to fight back the tears that wanted to come. “I want to, but not here. Not in the palace or where your fellow warriors are right outside the room. It should be special. Somewhere private. To complete a mating bond is such a sacred event.”
Tenderness filled his eyes, and I wanted to cry anew that I would never be able to have a true mate bond with him, not really. Since I wasn’t a fairy anymore, and instead somethingother, I could never experience what we’d once been promised. Forever, my new nature would try to take hold of me. Somehow, I knew that to the deepest part of my core.
But I didn’t want to think about that now. Those worries could be dealt with another day.
