Rhys stepped out from the shelter of the gebel where he’d shifted from al Fahl back to his human form, fuming at what he saw.
How in the name of Isis had Gillian escaped Khepesh?
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, woman?” he demanded.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” she retorted, whipping something behind her back.
“Sentencing me to death, that’s what,” he shot back.
He should be angry with her, but he couldn’t find it beneath his fury at Seth. Hell—at himself, for getting into this situation to begin with.
She let out a gasp of denial. “No! I was coming back! I swear I was.”
His brows hiked. “You really expect me to believe you managed to break free only to return to your perceived enslavement?”
“Yes!” Her bravado deflated. “Because they’d blame you. I’d never let them hurt you because of me, Rhys. I couldn’t.”
He regarded her for a long moment, and read the truth of it in her eyes. “Then why leave, at all?”
She bit her lip. “Just something I had to do.”
Ah. This was more believable. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she’d hidden behind her back. Unfortunately, he couldn’t let her complete her mission.
He exhaled, grimaced, then tossed a leather pouch to Mehmet. “Here’s your reward, walad. Now, be gone with you. Breathe a word of this to a soul and you can count on being Seth-Aziz’s next sacrifice.”
“Yes, sir! I mean, no, sir!” Wide-eyed, the kid slammed his heels into the donkey’s sides and trotted off at full speed.
“Reward?” Gillian said indignantly over the clatter of hooves. “You bribed him to rat me out?”
“Better me than your future husband.” Rhys approached her and held out his palm. “Okay. Hand it over.”
She backed away, lifting her chin. “What?”
“Whatever you’re hiding from me.”
She took another step backward. “No.”
What made this woman believe she could be so damn defiant? And why did her feistiness only make him want her more than he already did?
He ground his teeth, debating whether he should take her in his arms and kiss her to within an inch of her life, or put her over his knee and spank her. His cock stirred at the thought of doing either.
But this was not the place.
“Fine. Keep it. I’m going to shift now, and when I do, I want you to climb up. Do you hear me?”
“You’re taking me back there?” she asked in alarm. Her breasts lifted and fell in rhythm with her quickened breaths. Distracting his gaze. And other parts of his body.
He made up his mind. “Eventually. But first we’re going to my place.”
Surprise lanced through her expression. “Won’t that be dangerous?”
“Extremely.”
“Then why?”
He pressed his mouth into a thin line. How about that he’d rather go to his death than forfeit the chance to have her under him just one more time before giving her up for good?
“Stupid, bloody question.”
He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms, crushing his lips to hers. She let out a noise of surprise, then melted into him. She whispered his name and it sounded like a prayer to the gods. She opened to him and she tasted like sweet black cherries and dark, forbidden love.
And in that instant, he knew he would do anything to have her. To keep her.
Before he lost complete control, he whirled in a circle, chanting the powerful words that would turn him into al Fahl.
She clung to him, burying her face in his mane, and swung onto the back of the stallion he’d become. Putting her life into his hands in more ways than one.
He reared up, then started to gallop, devouring the miles of desolate sand to reach the secret wadi where his house lay hidden. He didn’t miss a beat when he shifted back, sweeping her into his arms and striding through the stables and the kitchen, past the startled servants, and straight to his bedroom.
They tore at each other’s clothes, stripping one another naked as their mouths refused to relinquish the wet fusion of their kisses.
“You’re mine,” he said over and over as they kissed and touched, and renewed their unspoken vows. “Mine. Mine.”
“Yes. Oh, yes,” she moaned as he threw her onto the bed and mounted her in a single forceful movement. His cock scythed in, seeking the tight, wet heat of her. He grunted, holding back the explosive need to take her hard and fast. He wanted her to remember something better than mindless coupling for what might be their last time, if later things went badly.
“Oh, Rhys,” she said breathlessly. “I was terrified you wouldn’t want me anymore.”
“How can you say that?” he said with a groan, pulling back to look into her eyes.
“I haven’t seen you for two days. I thought you’d accepted Seth’s orders and given me up.”
“Darling, I’ll always want you, and will never give up hope of having you for my own. I need you to know that absolutely, no matter what you hear about me, no matter what happens.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around him. “You’re scaring me. You make it sound so dire. So final.”
“Promise you’ll trust me, Gillian. Just promise me that.”
“I do. I promise,” she whispered, concern etching her face. “What are you planning?”
He smiled. “Right now, to make love to my woman,” he murmured, and started to thrust.
He made it last, and he made it good. He used every trick he knew, physical and magical, to increase his own potency and her pleasure. He knew he was up against a formidable rival in Seth. Vampires possessed sexual powers unheard of in any other beings, and could gift her with more pleasure than Rhys ever hoped to. But he had one advantage that Seth didn’t.
He had her love.
And she his.
And in the end that counted far more than all the erotic pleasures in the world.