The orgasm hit her like a rocket and she was screaming into the comforter, her body undulating as his fingers kept working her. When her body settled down, he removed his fingers then leaned over her to smooth back her hair. He kissed the back of her neck then kissed his way up to her ear and murmured, “We’re just getting started.”

“Oh, God,” she said aloud. She shuddered and moaned. She drew her arms up close to her body. She breathed in and let his scent envelop her once more. Fennel was thick in the air.

Do you like the view? she sent.

A growl returned and once again she felt his cock poised at her core.

She closed her eyes and savored. She was so happy.

* * *

Havily was right where Marcus wanted her, on her stomach and vulnerable, her legs spread. He wanted her from behind, then on her front, maybe sideways, against the wall, in the shower, on the sandy beach, in the arctic water, the hell if he cared. He would have her tonight over and over.

It was such a turn-on to see a naked woman, naked except of course for the ridiculous sexy stilettos that showed every gorgeous curve of her legs and the thigh-high stockings trimmed with red ribbon. She was a feast for him, a honeysuckle-drenched feast. He dragged air through his nose and let her erotic scent drift straight into his brain. He got up close to her.

He pushed at her entrance with the tip of his cock but he wasn’t ready to enter her, not yet. He breathed in again and, because her hips flexed, she released a wave of honeysuckle that brought him straight to his knees, which was exactly where he wanted to be.

He pushed her legs farther apart, held her thighs wide, and licked, a long slow lick so that he could take into his mouth what she was giving.

He groaned, his cock throbbing, his mouth tingling.

He licked again. She whimpered and her pelvis bucked. In the same way he had held her shoulders down, he held her buttocks down, pinning her in place so that he could do to her what he needed to do. He drove his tongue deep and for the next several minutes, he tongue-fucked her, hard thrusts, his jaw pressing into the tender flesh around her opening as he went as deep as he could get.

Marcus. Oh, God.

Her voice in his head made him thrust harder, faster.

Marcus.

Each time she said his name, he rewarded her until he was punching into her and she was screaming once more.

Oh. Oh. Oh, bounced through his mind and made him smile as he tongued what belonged to him. He kept punching into her until the wild shudders of her body eased and her hips once more relaxed on the bed.

I love you, he sent.

She rolled slightly so that she could look at him. “You are taking such beautiful care of me. Is there anything I can do for you?” She licked her lips, which caused him to shudder. Several images pounded through his head, each one causing his cock to jerk. He massaged her buttocks, savoring the softness of her flesh, the womanliness of her body.

“You’re here. That’s enough.” He knew what he wanted next, but first he had to feel her in just this position, take her just like this. He rose up and settled his hips between her legs. He positioned himself and with his hands on her hips he began easing his cock inside.

He hissed. She was so damn tight.

Marcus, she sent. Heaven. Just heaven. The feel of you.

God, yes.

He thrust into her, his hands creeping up her waist, her back, spreading in ownership over her wing-locks and over her shoulders as he flexed his hips and set up a rhythm. He possessed her now. Again, he was where he wanted to be. Honeysuckle floated all around him. He leaned over and kissed the nape of her neck, his thrusts not too forceful. If he went any faster, he’d come and he didn’t want to.

Heaven came back to him again.

He didn’t want to leave the well of her body, but his chest was full of longing, that peculiar call of Second Earth. They needed to finish what had begun four months ago. It wouldn’t take much to complete the breh-hedden now; his cock buried inside her, each of them taking blood at the same time, and the mutual sharing of deep mind-engagement.

Damn, his chest burned. He withdrew and she gave a cry of protest. He leaned over her and kissed her cheek. “It’s time.” He stroked the side of her neck with two fingers.

She groaned. She met his gaze. He stroked her neck again and a heavy wave of honeysuckle flowed over him. His nostrils flared as he squeezed his eyes shut and drank in her scent.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He stepped away from her just enough to allow her to roll onto her back. “We need to get rid of the comforter.”

When she sat up, he scooped her up in his arms then carried her to the side of the bed. With a single thought, he folded the comforter to the chair in the corner. He kissed her and she licked his lips. “I taste some of me on you.”

He kissed her again. “I love how you taste.”

She smiled and put her arms around his neck. “I’m so grateful you’re here.”

“Me, too.” He laid her back on the bed, on the black silk sheets. He stated his case plainly as only a vampire could do. “I want your blood.”

She smiled. “And I want you to have my blood, now and forever.”

His smile eased into a grin. “At the very least it will give me stamina.”

She glanced down at his cock, shuddered, then tilted her head to expose her neck, “By all means then.”

He laughed. He was loving this. He had forgotten how wonderful this could be, the closeness, the intimacy, the sex when love was on the menu.

He stretched out on top of her, pushing her thighs apart with his knees, making room for his big warrior body between her legs. But he felt her tense suddenly. “What is it?” he asked.

“This is it, isn’t it? The breh-hedden.”

“Yeah,” he said, petting her peachy-red waves with his hands. “Once I have your blood in me, there will be no stopping, no going back.”

“And I’ll take your wrist?”

“Oh … yeah.” His voice dropped an octave.

She tilted her neck and exposed her throat for him.

His cock throbbed all over again and, just to appease it a little, he connected with her entrance and thrust in about an inch. She moaned.

More, she sent.

Wait. But he groaned. His body wanted more, a helluva lot more, but he needed to hold back. He held steady as he dipped down and licked her throat. His fangs emerged, the scent of her rich in his nose.

Now was the time. He took a deep breath and eased his cock into her core, pushing and pushing until he was seated deep. Her arms slid around his shoulders and tightened. He began to drive into her and set a slow steady rhythm. But now his fangs throbbed. He feared, however, what would happen to his body once her blood hit his stomach and fired through his bloodstream. Even thinking about it made his lower back tense. Again he breathed, keeping his control tight for all that needed to happen first.

Oh, Marcus, she whimpered inside his head. I’m on fire. Take me.

He drew in a deep breath. With his fangs, he struck quick and deep, just to the right depth, and began to draw her nectar into his mouth. Oh. God.

* * *

Sensations rolled through Havily, of the penetration at her neck and the invasion down deep as he thrust his cock into her in quick erotic jabs, that which was so essentially masculine and so welcome. Her internal muscles pulled on him the way he pulled on her neck. She drew him into her and he groaned.

Because he pinned her at her throat, she didn’t have the freedom to use her hands the way she wanted to, which was all over him.

Instead, her fingers were a light fluttery touch over his shoulders and up his neck, through his hair. She loved the feel of his hair through her fingers.

A groan flowed from his mouth even as he took her blood.

She was aroused, an inferno.

His thrusts grew heavier, his hips pumping hard.

Take … my … wrist, he said, his telepathic voice nothing more than a pant inside her head.

She reached for his arm and brought his wrist to her mouth. She felt the veins, stroked them as he pummeled her body low, his mouth still dragging against her neck. Fire traveled in streaks where he drank from her, ignited over the tender flesh between her legs and deep inside her body.

Her fangs emerged. She positioned his wrist over her lips. She licked his skin, drawing the veins forth. He groaned and she struck, swift and clean.

His blood hit her mouth in the most exotic elixir. Fennel, she sent.

Honeysuckle, he responded, groaning again.

For a long moment, she drank, savoring this part of him, wet, warm, and tasting of him. Oh. God. She clenched deep and her pelvis rolled.

He grunted, pushing harder into her.

Marcus, we’d better move this along. I’m so close.

You ready?

Yes.

I’ll enter your mind, then you’ll return the favor and after that just hold on.

Got it. She didn’t know how much more she could take. Her body was on the edge of orgasm as it was.

She felt him push against her mental shields and she lowered them, all the way down, so that his mind flowed into hers, not in the simple way words could be layered telepathically over a mind, but in deep possession. She felt penetrated and taken all over again as she continued to drink from his wrist. She loved being a vampire and now he was in her head.

Havily, how beautiful you are. My heart is so full. Now … flow into my mind. Just … be ready and … let go.

Havily didn’t wait. She moved to his mental shields and pushed. His shields gave way and he groaned as she slid into his head. Once there, his life was laid out before her like a feast. She saw his life, his memories like swiftly flowing images. Mostly, she felt the level of his pleasure, that he was poised on the threshold of ecstasy and barely holding back. She was struck overall with the intensity of his character, the willfulness of his life, his determination as he’d built his empire, the passion with which he’d fought as a warrior. All this came forward and swelled her heart, because this was the man who had met her in the darkening, not just to make love with her but to come to her when she needed him, to battle Crace, to get her to safety.

Then the breh-hedden changed the dynamic.