Throughout it, Kole followed closely on his own mount, his attention never leaving my surroundings even though we both knew it was all for show. It was daytime, which meant it was safe, and no further vamfeers had been spotted anywhere.
By the time evening arrived and the sun began to set, I was brimming with happiness that my sisters had included me in their activities.
“You seemed to enjoy yourself,” Kole said softly after he closed my bedroom chambers door behind us.
I swirled to face him, not trying to hide my vampire speed. “I did. Immensely. And did you see that Koraline actually initiated a conversation with methreetimes this afternoon?”
He chuckled lightly. “I noticed that as well.”
“I don’t think she hates me as much as she used to. I think those testimonials are really helping her to see me differently.”
He pulled me closer and kissed me soundly. “She would be a fool not to see how perfect you are.”
I snorted quietly, but I couldn’t stop my urges from honing in on the sound of his heartbeat. The steadylub-dubin his chest flooded my ears.
I’d managed to keep myself from focusing exclusively on everyone’s pounding hearts throughout the day, and I kept reminding myself of what Nicholas had told me. That as I aged, my vampiric nature and urges would become easier to control. I took heart in knowing that. With any luck, in a few hundred summers, heartbeats wouldn’t command my attentionso viscerally anymore, and even better, hopefully I wouldn’t react so sexually to others either.
Although twice today, my unwanted sexual impulses had reared. Once, when one of Lillith’s female friends had ridden closer to me, and the other to a young lordling from House Ginella. Both times, I’d managed to subdue the unwanted thoughts that had run through my head, but my body had still responded. Thankfully, the wind had been blowing, making it harder to detect scents from my nether regions, and neither seemed to have sensory magic, so my arousal had stayed hidden.
Kole placed a finger beneath my chin and tilted my head up. “What’s wrong?”
I brushed my thoughts off. “Nothing. I was just thinking that I managed to go most of the day without thinking too sharply about anyone’s blood, and I only thought of sex with two of the fae twice.” I winced, realizing how horrible that sounded.
Kole’s nostrils flared, but despite the ire that strummed from him to me along our bond—something I knew he would always feel when I desired another—he nodded understandably. “Did you need to feed again? Or sate anyotherurges?” he asked in a slightly husky tone.
My chest tightened at how easily and readily he offered both. No judgment. No hesitation. Love unfurled inside me anew for this male who accepted me without question, even though I was bound to hurt him inadvertently many times over in the coming seasons due to my stupid vampire wants.
I laid a palm on his chest. “I’m still okay from feeding from you yesterday.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up, and he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I quite enjoyed the feeling of feeding you. Your body responded in a ratherenticingway.”
I giggled softly, and his grin increased.
“But I can’t feed from you too regularly,” I countered. “You need your blood too.”
He shrugged. “Like I said before, when you need to feed, I want it to be fromme. No one else.”
I leaned up on my tiptoes and brought my mouth to his. “It’ll always be from you, my love. I promise.”
He pulled me to him and kissed me deeply. Despite what lay ahead of us and what we’d planned to do tonight, my vampiric nature responded. A low moan left me, even more so when his hands dipped and cupped my arse.
“Is a distraction in order before we murder your uncle, Princess?” He nipped at my ear and began to lift my skirt, his palm sliding up my thigh.
The casualness of his question and what he was offering to do beforehand had me laughing. But then his fingers wandered farther up my leg, my skirt entirely hiked up. And when he tapped against the bundle of nerves in my core, I cried out.
His voice deepened. “Something tells me a distraction would beverymuch accepted.”
Lust began to fill me, both mine and that of my nature. But as before, Kole didn’t comment, and I could sense through our bond that he only strove to please me regardless of what drove my impulses.
I was panting by the time he had my back against the bedpost, my body dripping for him. And when he freed himself and slid inside me, my body and mate bond hummed to life.
“You like that, Princess?” he whispered into my ear as he began to thrust. “You like it when your warrior pleasures you?”
My head tilted back, and I let myself get caught up in our game, even though it wasn’t a game we needed to play anymore. Lips curving, I didn’t even try to hide when my fangs lengthened. Just as fast, he offered me his neck.
“I’ll always love when my warrior fucks me,” I breathed, and then I sliced into his skin.
Koleand I spent the evening tangled together. After he took me against my bedpost, we moved to the library, and he took me from behind as I leaned over the couch. Following that, he carried me to each room, and our need for one another only spiraled higher as the effects of our newly forged bond commanded us both.
