Then she slid out of the slacks, taking the matching panties with them. He tilted his head, as much as his restraint would all ow, and focused on them, compel ing her to bring them up to his face. He inhaled the scent, the tip of his tongue darting forth to register how her arousal had soaked the crotch.

“Al for you,” she whispered. “You can merely look at me, and my body readies itself.”

“My lady,” he said again, and this time instead of an honorific, he was saying it as it was meant. My lady. His love, his heart. His temptress, his tormenter.

It was when he combined everything that way, engaging her heart, mind, body and soul, that she was most vulnerable to him, most off her guard. So she wasn't ready when, in a flash of movement, he pul ed free of the vines on his left arm, breaking their hold with a screech of splintered wood from Mason's trel is. That arm banded around her waist, yanked her body fully to him, high enough that her pussy pressed against the hard ridges of his abdomen.

Her knees landed against the openings of the trel is, finding a desperate brace as he sank his fangs into her throat.

She cried out at the pleasure and agony of it, because he always seemed to know just how gentle or not she needed him to be. He bit down like he was an animal taking her flesh, drinking deep out of that frantical y pounding artery. The flow was so thick that some escaped in a heated trickle over her col ar bone, flowing down to her breast.

Let me go, my lady. Let me have the ability to pleasure you fully.

Perhaps I like my vampire like this. A partially caged beast, proving his ferocity and passion to me while still under my control.

As he swal owed her blood, a throaty chuckle vibrated against her flesh. Then put my cock inside your needy pussy, my lady. I'll prove what a wild beast can do for you.

He refused to relinquish his hold on her throat, so she had to work her hands down between them blindly to open his jeans, but she used his banded arm around her back for leverage. When he sprang hot and hard into her hands, she caressed and squeezed him, his pre-cum slippery on her palm.

Jacob . . . She was getting lightheaded, but she didn't want him to stop.

Though he'd inherited her abilities, he was stil a very young vampire, capable of being goaded into ful bloodlust. Moments like these could be particularly dangerous for them, because everything disappeared but this. She knew she would fully surrender to his ferocity, let him drain her, because she would give him everything. There was a destructive part of her that no longer feared death, only losing those few, precious things that meant the most to her. And yet it was when she was most careless of her life that his protective instincts overcame his savagery, his yin to her yang.

Because of the powers she'd transferred to him, it was as if there was an essence of her will that he could grasp, to help cal himself back. Which might explain why she had less will with him than she'd ever had with a servant—he'd taken some of it from her. Of course, she knew that wasn't the whole truth of it, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it. Giving him her life was one thing.

Female pride was another.

Lean back, my lady. Now. His fangs eased, a split second, and she pul ed free. Lifting his free arm, he took firm hold of the trel is, a self-restraint. His fingers were trembling, his eyes flickering with that red glow. Though he made a noise of protest, a warning, she reached toward that hand, molded her slim fingers over his. She loosened his grip, turned it so they were palm to palm. Slowly, their fingers tangled as his heart rate modulated and his eyes came back to blue. The vines slipped away so he was fully free, and his other arm came around her hips, giving her support again. Moving to the center of the trel is, he sank down on the bench with her straddling him. She was fully naked, while his jeans were raked to his thighs, the tatters of his shirt barely on his shoulders. She moaned as he sank deep inside of her. Watching his face, she saw his jaw tighten in a similar reaction of pleasure and fierce need.

Close your eyes, Jacob. Lean forward and lick the rest of the blood away. Slow, easy.

She had to close her eyes when he did it. Then she began to move, a gradual rise and fal , aided by the constriction of his arm over her hips. When he suckled the blood away, his powerful body trembled, bloodlust warring with his love for her, his ever present need to care for her. She knew which would win. In a thousand years, she'd never trusted anyone the way she trusted Jacob Green. If the day ever came that he did kil her, it would be because she'd offered her life to him freely, knowing it was meant to be.

I love you, my lady.

Before she could reply, he lifted his head and brought her mouth to his. She tasted herself as he caught her in the demanding kiss, channeling the bloodlust into something else entirely. He thrust up deep into her channel, as he'd promised. Her fingers pressed into the cuts left by the vines in his throat, his biceps, and he let out that feral growl again.

Love your cunt . . . could fuck you forever.

Male need taking over, finesse gone. She threw her head back, hair lashing her buttocks and his knees as he dipped his head and covered her nipple, sucking it in, scoring it with fangs, a sensual threat. When she clamped down on him, he thrust even more violently into her, her slim body banded in the restraint of his arms. Slipping her legs out from their folded position, she locked them around his hips and dropped to a deeper angle of penetration, one that increased her sounds of need. He gripped her ass, fingers bruising, pushing her down on him, again and again. The fire in her bel y expanded, the orgasm coming, driving up from their joining.

Come for me, my lady. Make me come . . .

She would let him give the order this time, because it matched her own desire. Her pussy was already spasming, and as she gave herself to it, the long, low cry that split from her throat grew higher, more frenetic. She held him fiercely, determined to have her way as well.

Come, Jacob. Come for your Mistress.

His thighs were hard columns, his booted feet pressed into the earth beneath them. As the earth responded to their magic, the energy they raised,

she twined it around them, made it part of their shared orgasm, driving them even higher. The shiny leaves became even shinier, the moon sliver whiter.

The ocean pounded louder in the distance, and the stars seemed closer. The whole world was connected to this magic. She rode the wave of it with him, twisting, turning, lost in the pleasure of it, screaming as he spurted inside of her, his seed bathing her cervix, teasing her over another pinnacle.

Though she already had her arms wrapped around his shoulders, she pressed her face against his skul and held him even closer, reveling in the equal lock his body had on her, all that need and desire culminating in one moment that shattered them both.

When the world reoriented itself, he nuzzled her throat. “You shouldn't push me that way, my lady.” Stroking the reddish-brown strands of hair back from his strong face, she gathered it on his shoulders with one hand and tugged, giving him a feline smile. He sighed. “I know. I might as well tel you not to breathe.”

He rose, stil holding her by the waist, but let her feet touch the ground when he'd moved the necessary several steps to her clothes. Hitching up his jeans, he refastened them, then picked up her blouse, slacks and underwear. “Mason and Jessica are coming,” he said as he helped her dress. He left the slacks half zipped to hold them on her hips as he buttoned her blouse and then tucked in the tails for her, his hands caressing her curves as he did so.

“Is that why you have a sudden urge to make sure I'm dressed?” She gave him an arch look. “You're not wearing a shirt.”

“Someone destroyed it, so you'l just have to deal with Jessica ogling my manly chest. I think it's best we don't test that bloodlust problem of mine too much around Mason.”

She let out a ladylike snort. “Males are so predictable.”

“Perhaps, but not as much as women like to think we are.” Mason emerged from the darkness. As Jacob had sensed, Jessica was with him. Her gaze flickered over Jacob careful y, but despite what he'd said, he knew she was gauging things other than his half-dressed state. The scent of blood and violent sex lingered in the area, and both of those things would make her wary. Though she'd been around Jacob enough to be more at ease with him, Mason's human servant was always wary around vampires other than her Master.

It was understandable, since she'd spent five years as the second-marked servant of a vampire who'd tortured her in ways that should have destroyed her mind, and nearly did. Only Mason's third-marking of her, and the bond that had formed between them, had salvaged what was left. It hadn't taken Jacob long to understand the vampire's devotion to his fragile servant. She had the courage and endurance of a whole Spartan legion, and the fact that she depended on Mason's strength and love to manage in the vampire world didn't diminish that accomplishment one bit. If anything, it just made the powerful vampire all the more dedicated to her.

It was like that with a remarkable woman. Jacob glanced at Lyssa. Sometimes a man would destroy the universe to win one smile from her. Fortunately, tonight such drastic measures weren't needed. The third member of Jess and Mason's party was more than capable of winning smiles, and making Jess a little more relaxed. Having an armful of toddler could do that.

Kane had a passion for female hair. Jessica had been growing hers out, to Mason's immense pleasure, and the chestnut brown locks were past her shoulders, long enough for Kane to secure an iron grip. He looked cranky, which didn't bode well for the universe after all. The second he registered Lyssa's presence, his piercing wail split the air, loud enough to spook Mason's horses on the other side of the estate.

Hungry, Jessica mouthed with a half smile.

“Tyrant,” Jacob informed his son. He took the child from Jessica to pass him to Lyssa since his lady, even without her ful vampire powers, stil made Jess more uneasy than Jacob. Kane flailed, screwing up his face to scream some more. “Yeah, yeah, I know.

I'm not the one you want right now. Little Judas.”

“He's gnawed on me a couple times, but I'm obviously not to his liking,” Jessica said with a half smile. “He didn't want more of the blood mix, so I figured he was ready for a meal fresh from his mother.”