Damien sank his teeth into her, tasting blood that was bright, pure power. There was a flash of white light before his eyes. Then he felt the prick of Ariane’s fangs, and he was being bitten for the first time since his mortal life had been taken from him. His orgasm slammed through him, and he felt Ariane clamp tight around him as her body responded in kind. They rode each intense wave together, drinking deeply from one another as they joined with the sort of deep intimacy that only the night races were capable of.

It was bliss. It was everything. It was right. He felt it with every fiber of his being.

When the pleasure had ebbed and he could think again, when his mouth brushed hers as he gathered her against him, the two of them lay curled like a pair of kittens that had spent all their energy and needed a nap. Damien could feel the change Ariane’s blood had wrought in him as it worked through his system and knew he had fundamentally altered his existence.

He didn’t care.

Whatever happened next, Ariane would never be able to just walk away from him, something people had been doing with great regularity for both his mortal and his vampire lives.

Ariane was his. And he protected what was his.

Damien’s fingers brushed the single black cat now curling around the edge of Ariane’s Grigori wings, as though guarding them, and he was full of a single, satisfied thought.

Mine.

Chapter Twenty-One

DAMIEN HAD NEVER BEEN AN EARLY RISER, so he was surprised when his eyes opened to find the clock on the nightstand reading 8:34. Outside, in the world beyond the heavily lined curtains, he knew the sky was still beautiful and bruised as the sun vanished below the horizon.

Inside, he appeared to have spent the day curled around Ariane’s lithe form, his nose buried in the silken cascade of her hair. Tentatively, he raised his head just enough to see her mark. It stood out dark against her skin, his cat guarding her wings.

He hadn’t dreamed it. He’d joined with her. She was his.

Damien ruminated on this as he nuzzled her hair again, breathing in Ariane’s scent. She stirred slightly, making a pleasant little noise in the back of her throat. He felt the purring start up in his own throat and didn’t bother to fight it this time. It was no use.

Besides, he knew very well that he’d spent most of the previous night making the same sound.

Mind-bending sex would do that to a man.

Damien rested his hand on Ariane’s hip, stroking it absently, and mulled where to go from here. She would need things. The best things. A lovely home, clothes, baubles, whatever struck her fancy. He protected his treasures, and Ariane was the greatest treasure he now possessed. He hadn’t been a fool for imagining what it might have been like to have a woman like her after all, pampered, guarded, tucked away so that he could enjoy her light during every spare moment he had.

Somehow, he’d actually made it happen.

Damien smiled lazily, satisfied. They were well suited, really. He adored everything about her, and she seemed willing to put up with him even though he’d made no secret of his limits. He had little to offer a woman, or anyone, really. Not even his heart—he’d given up on the nebulous idea of “love” ages ago. He didn’t believe in it. Love was just a word, a cudgel used to bludgeon someone into submission with until they got sick of it, or you.

But he wanted her. He needed her. He could provide for her. That was all real enough. So here they were.

Damien looked down at Ariane as she began to waken. Her hair fanned out on the sheets in a pale semicircle, draped over the arm he rested on and feeling like rare silk. Her long, inky lashes were still twined together, though he could tell she was no longer truly asleep by the way she rubbed her feet together where they rested against his legs. Her skin was luminous, as though the night they’d spent exploring one another had left a glow.

A pretty thought. She’d spoiled him for all other women. Nothing, he knew, would ever top last night… though he intended to spend centuries trying.

On the nightstand, his cell phone buzzed into life, the fact that it was vibrating instead of ringing making it no less annoying.

Ariane gave a soft groan. “It’s early.”

“I know, darling. I’ll make it go away.”

Damien lifted up on his elbow and looked at the number.

Drake. Of course it was. The man had a knack. Damien bared his teeth at the phone, then slid out of bed and fumbled around for a pair of pants to put on. Ariane barely stirred, opening one bleary eye to watch him.

“I have to take this, sweet. Just business. Close your eyes, and I’ll be back in no time.”

“Mmm,” she murmured. “It’s cold in here without you. Don’t be gone long.”

He left the room thinking that he would gladly spend the rest of his days lounging in bed with her. He always seemed to be hungry for her—her voice, her touch, her smiles. Her body. And though Damien knew it was archaic, knowing he had been her only lover had ignited the sort of possessiveness in him that even his rarest treasures could not inspire. She had given herself to him. Only him.

Now he would make sure he was all there would ever be.

The phone began to vibrate again, and Damien slipped out the door, padding barefoot down the hallway and then ducking into an empty bedroom to take the call.

“You’re up early.”

“So are you. I thought I’d have to call at least five or six more times to get your ass out of bed.”

Drake sounded like he always did, gruff and in a hurry. Nothing seemed amiss… except for the dread that rolled through Damien the moment his employer began to speak. Which was nonsense. He’d known a new job would come in. He would simply tuck Ariane into his life, and go on about his business. Nothing had really changed.

Except that apparently, everything had changed. He rubbed at his mark, barely aware he was doing it.

“What do you have for me?” Damien asked.

Drake chuckled. “No small talk? You must really want out of there. I wouldn’t have left you hanging for so long, but there was always the off chance the Grigori would come back to the table. It didn’t seem right to pull you out until I was sure.”

“Meaning they came to collect their diamonds?”

Drake sighed. Money was the only thing he ever got wistful about.

“They came to collect their diamonds. We won’t be seeing anything like those again. Doesn’t it figure that you’d find the damned missing Grigori anyway? Bastards.”

Damien remembered the diamond that should have been his, the feeling of peace and contentment that had flowed through him when he’d held it. It seemed like ages ago. It was a shock to realize that he felt no sense of loss. He hadn’t even thought about the thing in over a week.

“Damien? Did you fall back asleep?”

“No… no, I’m here,” he stammered, trying to shake it off. His life until now had been an organized thing, perfectly compartmentalized. He needed to fit Ariane into the appropriate compartment, or he was going to have problems. Because as it was, his obsession with her seemed to be spilling over into… well, everywhere.

Maybe a brief trip to clear his head and get his priorities in order wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

“Pack your bag, Damien. There’s no diamond in this job, but you’ll make some good coin.”

His lips felt numb when he spoke. “Lovely. Am I stealing, stabbing, or both?”

“Stealing, possibly with a side of stabbing. Quick job, important client. No muss, no fuss, and it’s payday for you. A car will be there for you in twenty minutes.”

“That’s awfully short notice.”

“And this client is awfully impatient.” Drake’s voice took on a hint of annoyance. “I figured you’d want to leave as soon as you could. There’s nothing there, no cash, no glory. Except… is this still about the Grigori woman? Because if it is, I advise you to get your head out of your ass immediately. You’re back on my time, Tremaine.”

“Understood,” Damien said flatly, and then listened with half an ear as Drake filled him in on the specifics. He mumbled something appropriate once Drake was done, and hung up. Afterward, he simply stood in the dark, empty bedroom. He didn’t want to go. For the first blasted time that he could remember, he had exactly no interest in a job he normally would have considered an easy, lucrative bit of fun. He wanted to stay here. Or drag her off with him, which was absolutely out of the question.

He’d had quite enough of Ariane nearly being killed, thank you.

You could run, whispered a voice inside of him, one that had guided quite a few of his actions in his life. You could run now and not look back. She’ll manage.

But he wouldn’t manage. And that was the problem. She made him feel…

Well that was it, wasn’t it? She’d made him feel. It wasn’t something that occurred very often anymore. Or, if he was being honest, at all.

He was no fool. He’d spent centuries watching people fall in and out of what they called love. He didn’t believe in love. He believed in want and need, which he and Ariane had in spades. And he believed in the power of the tangible. That was what held people together or tore them apart.

The marks they’d blended, those were real. The things he could provide for her were real as well. He took care of his treasures. He would take care of her. It didn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

The thought soothed him, and the tension in his shoulders eased. If there was one thing he was capable of, it was spoiling Ariane. It might not work forever. But it would damn well work until he could figure out some other way to keep her with him.

Damien left the room, new purpose in his step.

He might not have a heart to give Ariane.

But everything else was hers.

Ariane listened to the low thrum of Damien’s voice down the hall. She lay comfortably curled in the blankets, her body deliciously loose and warm. She didn’t think she’d ever felt this good. No amount of imagining what joining with another vampire, biting and being bitten, would be like had done the experience justice.