He tasted like champagne and the blood he drew when he scored his tongue with a fang. Pain flared as he scored my tongue next, though his blood healed it almost instantly. That coppery flavor increased, yet when I pulled back in instinctive aversion, his grip tightened.

"I thought 'all of me' included sharing each other's blood."

Testing my vow already. I expected no less, but if he thought I'd wave the white flag, he was wrong.

"Don't hold anything back."

I felt him smile against my lips. "I don't intend to."

Then he picked me up, taking us not to the bed, but the fireplace. He set me onto the thick fur rug in front of it, his eyes never leaving mine as he took off my shoes and stockings.

I reached for his pants, but he caught my hands, holding them over my head as he unhooked my bustier. My breathing quickened when it fell away, leaving me in nothing but my panties. The hunger in his gaze made my ni**les harden, and when he dropped it lower, I could almost feel my blood rushing to follow. Desire plumped all the parts I wanted him to touch while my loins seemed to throb with a pulse of their own. It had been so long since I felt him inside me. I didn't want to wait another second.

I tried to pull him onto me, but his grip on my wrists tightened. "Not yet."

I disagreed, and he might have my hands restrained, but my legs weren't. I hooked one around his hip and rubbed our lower bodies together, a gasp escaping me at the feel of his thick, hard flesh. His low laugh was both erotic and threatening.

"You'll enjoy regretting that."

His mouth lowered then, his hot, wet tongue making my ni**les tingle with its rapid flicks. He released my wrists to stroke my back before drawing my panties slowly down my legs. Every time I reached for his pants, though, he blocked me with a low chuckle. Once my panties were off, he pressed me back, his body covering mine. I had a few moments to revel in his weight, the feel of his muscles, and sensual way his chest hair teased my ni**les before his mouth sealed over my breast. He sucked until tingles turned into throbs, and when I felt his fangs lengthen, I arched in silent invitation.

Pleasure followed the momentary sting in less time than it took me to moan. Then warmth spread, the effect from the tiny drops of venom in his fangs. He sucked harder before flipping me over and pulling me on top of him, switching to my other breast.

He drew on it strongly, making me clutch him with growing urgency. I let my legs slide down until I straddled him, and when that jutting hardness in his pants grazed my clitoris, sparks shot from my hand at the deluge of sensations.

He bit down the same instant, flooding my breast with warmth and making my nipple erotically burn. My head fell back while an animalistic sound came from my throat. Vlad grasped my hips, molding me closer. Then he arched forward, increasing the friction while his fangs penetrated more deeply.

The double assault of pleasure was too much. I cried out as thousands of nerve endings clenched at once. That cry turned into a moan as ecstasy washed over me, turning need into sweet release. My pulse, once thundering, seemed to slow while languorousness stole into my limbs, making them feel heavier.

Vlad's mouth left my breast after a final lick. It slid in a searing trail across my shoulder and up my neck before he kissed me, pressing me back against the silky fur. This time, I barely noticed the coppery flavor to his mouth. I was too focused on the way his tongue stroked mine, the feel of his hard chest against my overly sensitive ni**les, and the desire that flared anew when he took off his pants.

I opened my legs, moaning as he grasped my thigh and pulled it against his hip. A delicious expectation caused my inner muscles to clench, making me even wetter. When he reached down and his fingers invaded my depths, I gripped him and arched with more demand than invitation.

His chuckle ended in another fiery kiss. Those fingers went deeper, intensifying the ache that had me moving against his hand. My breath came in muffled gasps as he continued to kiss me with increasing fierceness, ravening my mouth with his lips and tongue. Then his hand stopped its sensual torment and slid beneath my hips, lifting me.

I was more than ready, but he was big and it had been a while. Inner walls stretched as he moved deeper, and when his full length pushed inside me, I let out something like a sob.

His hand left my hip to tangle in my hair, thumb caressing my jaw. His kiss changed, too, matching his slowness as he began to withdraw. My body hadn't fully adjusted yet, but I wrapped my legs around him and sent him a single, fervent command.

Don't stop and don't hold back.

The sound he made. Harsher than a moan, more primal than a growl. Then he thrust forward while his fangs buried into my throat.

Both sites flared with quicksilver pain and then overwhelming, molten pleasure. I didn't have a chance to cry out before another thrust/bite, sending more shattering sensations through me. My nails raked down his back as the electricity I couldn't control surged into him. It only made him grip me tighter as he continued to move with those rapturously rough strokes. By the time I realized he'd stopped biting me, I didn't care. He could've kept drinking me until there was nothing left. As long as it felt like this, I'd welcome it.

My senses sharpened as pleasure built toward a crescendo. Vlad's smoke-and-spice scent had never been more intoxicating. His body was scorching, muscled thighs harder than stone against mine, and his mouth ravished everything it touched. I felt lost in him, and when those incredible spasms shook me from the inside out, the strangest sort of vulnerability filled me. He'd wanted all of me and that's what I'd given him. Did it mean I had nothing left?

"No," he muttered, voice thick with passion. "You have me, and I love you."

Then he kissed me, moving faster, and reality blurred once more. By the time his cl**ax surged powerfully through him, I couldn't remember what I'd been concerned about. Losing myself was gaining him, and vice versa. That was well worth any cost.

Chapter 30

Yesterday, I woke up in the infirmary still nursing a broken heart. Today, I woke up in Vlad's bed as Mrs. Dracula. What a difference a day made.

"If you introduce yourself to anyone as Mrs. Dracula, I'll bite you in a manner you won't enjoy."

I smiled without opening my eyes. Some things didn't change, like Vlad being grumpy when he first woke up.

"I'm quaking with fear."

"As you should be, and I've been up, my lovely bride."

Now I did open my eyes. Vlad was dressed, to my disappointment, sitting in a chair with an iPad on his lap. He rose and came toward me, expression so serious that I tensed.

"What's wrong?"

"Just reading some e-mails," he said while his fingers flashed across the tiny keyboard. Then he held it up to me.

Someone in this house has betrayed me.

I sucked in a breath. An ironic smile twisted his mouth as he typed something else and held it up again.

Aside from Maximus, that is.

I left that alone. How do you know? I thought.

More rapid typing. I became suspicious when my staff tracked Maximus's cell phone to that hotel, yet Hannibal beat me there. You said Hannibal knew details about your powers that were privy only to members of this household. As final proof, an e-mail Mencheres just sent confirmed that more incriminating information leaked that could only come from someone here.

I hadn't forgotten Hannibal's too-accurate knowledge, but getting kidnapped, dying, being comatose, and marrying Vlad, all in less than a week, had pushed it from the forefront for me.

Not for Vlad, obviously. Do you know who it is?

An eye roll preceded his next sentence. Wouldn't I be torturing that person now if I did?

True, and while details of my abilities could have accidentally reached the wrong ears, telling Hannibal's boss where me and Maximus were was no innocent slip of the tongue.

Then the significance of Vlad's typed messages hit me. You think whoever did this is on this floor.

Vampires had great hearing, but Vlad's bedroom was better insulated than most. Plus, his house was always full of people, which meant lots of background noise. Unless he thought the betrayer was very close, Vlad wouldn't type instead of speak.

And only his most trusted staff had rooms on this floor.

I winced. I'm sorry.

Don't pity me, he typed with lightning swiftness. Pity the man who will die a terrible death once I discover who he is.

I probably would pity that person then, but right now, we needed to find him. I held up my right hand with grim purpose.

I'll help you weed him out.

Vlad stared at me, his cold expression changing to an inscrutable one. When I saw his typed response, I read it three times, yet still couldn't believe what it said.

As long as you remain human, you won't.

I descended the narrow steps to the dungeon, guards I'd had to trick before now bowing to me as I passed. Marty walked in front of me, two curved silver scimitars attached to his belt. The knives reached his knees, making him look almost comical, but I knew how fast Marty was. Vlad knew it, too. That's why Marty was my bodyguard now.

I hadn't wanted Vlad to accompany me for more reasons than the fight we'd just had. I'd known our marriage would be tumultuous, but I hadn't anticipated the sparring to start less than twenty-four hours after we said I do.

What's that you were saying about the difference a day made? my cursed inner voice mocked.

I ignored it and kept walking, nodding at the guard who let us through the entrance. Once inside, torches provided enough light that I could see where I was going. The manacle-laden stone monolith was now empty, as were the poles in front of it. Whatever that meant, I wasn't sure and didn't want to ask.

"This way," Marty said, taking the passage to the right.

I hadn't ventured to this part of the dungeon before, and when I saw the next chamber, I never wanted to come back. Torchlight revealed machines both ancient and high-tech, complete with grisly accessories that defied even my abilities-driven imagination as to their use. It made the part of the dungeon with the impalement poles look as benign as a waiting room.

"Freaky, isn't it?" Marty grunted. "When you're a prisoner, the first thing they do is give you the grand tour. Then you're manacled to that stone wall to think about what you saw. Next is the pole, where round one of questioning begins. If you don't answer to their satisfaction, you come here for more incentive."

I looked around with a shiver. Why would any of Vlad's people betray him, knowing they'd end up in this little slice of hell if they got caught?

Then again, I was here to see someone who'd done just that.

Marty led me past the chilling machinery room to another tight passageway. This one didn't open to a large antechamber. Instead, a string of cells were hewn into the rock. Most were only as tall as Marty, leaving those unlucky enough to be in one unable to stand. This part of the dungeon was colder, too. My turquoise skirt hung to my ankles and I had on a long-sleeved top, but I should've grabbed a coat, too.

As I passed the smaller cells, nothing stirred in them. They, like the rest of the dungeon so far, seemed empty.

I had to ask. "Do you know where the prisoners are?"

Marty opened his mouth, but another voice beat him to it.

"Vlad had them all executed in honor of his wedding."

Maximus's tone was harder than the stone walls surrounding us. I swallowed and then followed it to the end of the walkway, where the last few cells were regular-sized, at least.

"How magnanimous."

I wasn't being sarcastic. I'd prefer death to experiencing everything this dungeon had to offer, and if someone wronged Vlad enough to end up here, death was the only way out.

Well, almost the only way.

Maximus came into view as I got closer. At some point since I'd last seen him, he'd been given new clothes, but his hair was still reddish from all the dried blood in it. He leaned against his bars, his gray gaze lit up with green. Then he looked at the ring on my gloved finger and his mouth curled downward.

"I'd say congratulations, but we both know I'd be lying."

I rested my hands against the bars. "Considering where you are, I don't blame you."

"That's not why."

Quick as a striking snake, he had my hands in his. Then his fingers tightened, preventing me from pulling away.

"After your breakup, I thought Vlad was still fixated on you because you ended things. Then he brought Mencheres to the boat even though seeking another Master's assistance in rescuing his people makes him appear weak. That's when I knew."

"Knew what?"

"That he loved you," Maximus said in the same tone most people used to deliver terrible news.

My mouth quirked. "Yeah, he told me. Even if he hadn't, proposing would've been a big clue."

Maximus made a harsh sound, releasing my hands to turn in a short circle. "You're romanticizing it, but you're trapped now. He didn't allow his first wife to leave him. Why do you think she jumped off that roof?"

"Because she thought he was dead and an army was on its way to drag her off to captivity." Even Wikipedia knew that.

"So she left her young son to face them?" Maximus asked, spinning back around. "I think not. He was Clara's world."

I said nothing, absorbing two facts I hadn't known before. First, Vlad had never told me his first wife's name, and history had forgotten it. But the other detail was more significant.

"You knew her."

A bleak smile flitted across his lips. "I was one of the guards Clara brought with her to her new husband's home."

Vlad's words the day before rang in my mind. My actions horrified her, as they horrify you . . . It was more than an advancing army that made her throw herself from our roof. It was me . . .