“I still can’t believe you asked the Daeva princess to help grant me immortality.”
Clad in a thick terry robe, she was coming out of the shower into his guest bedroom suite above the club to find him reclining on the couch. He’d washed up in his own quarters, his hair still damp at his neck.
Fresh drink in his hand, his gaze on her was both soft and lustful. She gulped at the intimacy in the air.
“You’ve healed already,” she said. The deep wounds inflicted by Norwell were now faint scratches.
“So have you.” He poured scotch into a lowball glass, added ice, and passed the drink to her.
She took it from his hand and sat beside him, her feet and knees together, her back straight. This felt so strange. Like being reborn. The hazy light of dawn rose outside. A clock ticked in the background. Time seemed suspended.
She grazed her fingers on her neck where he had bitten her earlier. “The scar is barely there.”
“It should disappear in a few hours.”
She frowned. “I will never get sick?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Wow,” she said quietly before taking a small sip of alcohol. “Another perk of immortality.”
“Don’t you feel different?”
She nodded, remembering the pounding of her heart as she’d slipped out of consciousness. That was the main thing she recalled from the ritual, her heart’s constant hammer, slower and slower, in tune with his. Before a rush of electricity had jolted her and she’d awakened with Mag’s concerned gaze searching her face.
“A little. Strong, for sure,” she admitted. “I should feel drained from the night we just had, but I don’t.”
“More stamina.” His half-smile raised a deep warmth within her.
”Yes, probably.” She sat her glass down on the coffee table and flattened the belt ties of her robe on her lap. “Your mom said my immortality was more like hers than like Emme’s. What does it mean?”
“Emme has some limitation. She cannot be in the sunlight without the special ring she wears and needs blood every day to survive.” His gaze turned serious. “Mom is just like any human, she needs regular food and drink or she’ll wither. She does love the sun.”
With a need to do something with her hands to keep from fidgeting, she reached for her glass again and cupped the drink in both palms. Despite being strong, she felt mentally fragile, with everything new and complicated. “I cannot die, then?”
“Technically, you could, just like I could. We found out a few months ago that immortals could be taken down with the right drug cocktail.”
“How?” There was so much she didn’t know about them.
“My brother Val—he’s looking forward to meeting you by the way—was overtaken by some lunatic scientist. He recovered with powerful magic but that shook us all. Apparently, some vampire hunter massacred a whole family of immortals some hundred years ago.”
“Oh, that’s awful.” She turned somber. “Despite being immortal, you still need to be on alert for those who will destroy you?”
“Yes. Which is why we keep things quiet about our existence.”
“The patrons were quite shocked tonight.”
“Mom erased most of their memories of the royals. But that poor girl Norwell took hostage, Sammi, she was still pretty traumatized.”
“You sent her out with your staff.” She had noticed his kindness with the woman. It made her love him even more.
“Sandrine texted me earlier. The girl is fine. That’s why I sent Raphael with them. A little vampire compelling helps now and again. Same in the club. Evan and Louka are used to cleaning up this kind of mess.”
“Compelling?” She shifted in her seat. “Like the whole vampire trick?”
“Yes,” he chuckled. “The very one.”
“Oh god. Have you ever…” She stopped herself, not willing to consider the possibility, and took a swig of her drink.
“No, babe. I would never have done that to you.”
“Why not?” She shot him a slow smile. “Didn’t you say you fed on women. Isn’t that how you have them agree to it?”
“Yes. And at first, I was extremely tempted to compel you to fall into my arms. I wanted you, Nyssa, from the moment I met you.” His gaze turned so sincere it thawed her from the inside. “It would have been so easy. But instead, I stalled you, hoping you’d keep coming.”
“Mag…” She was awed by the confession, her heart tumbling in her ribcage. “I thought you hated me.”
“Well, I didn’t like that you wanted to take the club from me.” His smile took a devilish turn. “But you, I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
“I recall that day so well.” She shook with lust at the memory of the unbearably handsome club owner, the casual leather jacket stretched against strapping shoulders, the enticing curl of his mocking smile. “You were so snarky. You sent me packing.”
“And you were so frosty. Like an ice queen.”
She laughed. “Really?”
“Oh yes.” The lust in his tone was unmistakable. “Who knew there was so much passion inside you?”
“You knew.” Her body feverish, she reached out for him.
“Yes. I knew and I wanted it all for myself.” He clasped her hand in his and gave it a meaningful squeeze. “But I wouldn’t compel you to be with me.”
“Why not?”
“It just didn’t feel right.”
She breathed out, let go of his hand and stood up from the couch. “And all these girls you had?” Nervous about what he was about to say, she walked to the small desk to stare blandly at a collection of faded pictures from the times when the Serpent was a jazz club.
“They didn’t matter, Nyssa.” His voice was hoarse behind her. “Not like you do.”
“You gave away your club for me,” she said, not quite willing to look at him.
“I would have given my life for yours,” he insisted, passion filling his tone. “And for Cat. “
She turned to look at him, so perfect and handsome, so striking. “You’ve lived for so long. All these pictures… I just can’t imagine.”
“You will, eventually.”
She walked back to stand above him. “I will need your help with it,” she rasped with sudden cravings, overly conscious of her nakedness under the thick white robe.
“And you will have it.”
“I’ll need directions.” Her gaze boring heavily upon him, she untied the belt of her robe. “To guide me in this immortal life.”
“Directions?” Amusement replaced his earlier somber tone, and he laid his drink on the table to reach out for the belt of her robe. He drew her towards him with a strong pull.
“Yes, handling.”
“Handling?”
“Lots of handling.” She wiggled to let the robe fall open, baring her chest. Completely naked, she straddled his lap, her knees at each side of him.
“Like this.” His eyes feverish, he slid his hands upon her waist to secure her on his thighs and she felt his desire grow beneath her.
“Say you were to advise a brand-new immortal woman, what would you have her do now?”
“Now?” He swallowed, his expression suddenly filled with predatory lust.
“Yes,” she purred. “Right now. What should she do?”
“Undo my belt, poupée.” A primal growl erupted from deep inside him as his hand gripped her bare waist farther.
“Your belt?” She shot him a tantalizing smile. “That’s it?”
“For now.”
She bent to tug at his belt, and undid the buckle, very much aware of the hard bulge so close to her touch. She sat back and licked her bottom lip as she leveled with him, her pulse racing with desire. “Like that?”
“Now take my pants off.” It was both a plea and a command, the urgency palpable in his tone.
She unzipped the jeans and took a moment to cup his crotch. With a gentle squeeze, she asked. “Just the pants?”
“Boxers, too,” he croaked. “Take them off.”
“As you wish.”
She slid both hands at his bare hips and tugged the pants and shorts down. The waistband of his silk boxers caught on his erection and she very carefully, very slowly, pulled on them to free him totally.
Oh god. For the very first time, she got to admire him fully.
Longings shook her straight to her core. He was gorgeous. And all hers. She bit her bottom lip and stared at him, shared hunger reflecting in his eyes.
“You want it all off?” she managed to say despite the storm of needs overtaking her body.
“Do it.” He could barely speak, his hands digging down into her hips.
She shifted to slide his pants and boxers down over his knees and took them off him, one leg at a time.
Naked at his feet, with his hands dug into her hair, she was a puddle of desires. But he had been so generous the first time they were together that she wanted to do everything to please him. Follow his lead.
She slowly stood up in front of him while he trailed his touch down her shoulders and arms, his gaze taking her all in.
“You are just so beautiful, love. So perfect.” His gaze settled at the juncture of her thighs and he trailed a slow finger along her navel. “A natural blonde.”
With shivers scattering along her skin, she smiled and cocked a playful eyebrow at him. “And what would have your immortal girl do now?”
He reached out and pulled her onto his lap. “Come here, you. My ice empress.”
She straddled him again and gasped at the intimate touch of her bare crotch against his erection. “I want you, Mag.”
Their kiss felt like forever. She sensed its heat, its passion right to her very bones. His tongue exploring hers, his needs of her, were a deep pressure that seemed bottomless.
But they had time to fill the well. So much time. An eternity.
He broke their kiss with a growl and lifted her slightly above him. “Now! I need you right now.”
His hand reached between her thighs and his fingers explored her slick folds. She panted as the intimate touch drew her near the edge. She was so wet, so ready for him. She had been for months.
“I won’t wait this time,” he urged.
“Don’t.” She melted in his embrace, wanting nothing more but let him take over every inch of her.
At her word, he lifted her a little higher and with her help slid her down and around him. She cried out as his thick, solid cock penetrated her, his urging and commandeering body deep and wide inside hers.
She sat with her back straight against his palms, taking all of him, inside her. “I love you, Mag. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
And it was true. All this time she had thought he was wrong for her and now she knew without a doubt that he was who she had been waiting for all along.
His strength filled her, his hard erection taking control of her. She shifted a little around him and he groaned.
“Je t’aime, mon amour.” With one hand on her hip, the other reached between where their bodies were joined, his thumb finding her needy spot.
She moaned with intense pleasure as the pad of his finger flicked back and forth against her tender nerves. She held on tight to his shoulders as she rode him, knees digging into the couch, taking him deeper and deeper with each of her thrust.
“Nyssa,” he growled. While his thumb still played with her, his free hand found one of her breasts. He cupped it and squeezed the flesh tenderly.
“Oh god,” she cried out. “Mag.”
He left her breast to seize her butt for leverage. His fingers were working faster and faster on her, mounting tides of hunger inside her, each wave stormier than the other.
“I want you to come, Nyssa,” he ordered, his tone as urgent as his touch on her, tugging, flicking, pinching. “Right now. Come, babe. For me.”
Lightheaded, she blinked. She could no longer hold it in. The powerful orgasm shattered her, wild and hard through her entire body and around his thick cock.
He grabbed her hips and rammed her into his crotch, his strong thrust making her ride the last waves of pleasure. Everything in her was raw and sensitive but she no longer had a mind of her own.
In a swift move, he flipped her onto the couch under him.
“God, Nyssa, you’re mine.” He thrust solid inside her, urging her to sigh with pleasure. “I love you. Just you.”
Overtaken by all that he was, every movement more powerful than the next, she was completely at his mercy.
She let go of the last of her carefully erected barriers as he tensed in her arms and cried her name as he came.
He held himself there for a few second, his body exuding pure power, before he fell on top of her. Their sweaty bodies collided, their heart thumping against each other.
“Dang it, Mag,” she rasped. “That was something.”
“It’s not over yet, babe.” He brushed her lips with a kiss and her heart pulsed with eagerness—his fangs drawn out, his eyes the darkest of hue.
There he was, her immortal.
“Do it,” she ordered. “I want ALL of you.”
With a groan, he dug into her flesh.
She barely felt the sting of his bite. And as he drank her blood, a tide of passionate bliss rushed through her.
His erection grew inside her. And he slid himself slow and long, his body angled just right to tease her most sensitive zone. He took his time as hunger overtook both of them again. She sensed his hammering pulse as her blood entered his system to make her a part of him. His hand slid between them and he stroked her intimately with each of his unhurried thrusts inside her, with each of his long pull on her neck.
The effect was intoxicating.
And she no longer knew time. She was now immortal, suspended between intense delicious hunger and imminent release, with the man she loved in her arms.
She possessively cupped the strong muscles of his buttocks as she fell into his timeless entrapment.
He finally let go of her neck. The predator had retreated, replaced by the human side of him—because he was indeed human, his expression both vulnerable and fierce. And when they both came together, when the pleasure crushed through their melded bodies, the gaze between them was steadfast. Certain their bond would never break. They would remain forever entwined.
In true eternity.