Had he told her that just a week ago? Levi knew exactly what he was doing. The moves she'd learned over the last week had come to her naturally after her change. They were second nature, as if she'd practiced them all her life. But she'd never learned anything about weapons, so she'd have to do that from scratch.

Part of her wished she'd taken up fighting when she'd first arrived at the Institute.

"No hot chocolate for you, then?"

He was back.

Dominion

Levi shut the door behind him. The gentle click of the lock sounded like thunder in the silent weapons hall.

He brought his attention to the volatile newborn vampire who was glaring like she wanted a piece of him.

First things first. "Do you want a report on today's events before we discuss the rest?"

Her jaw was tight. "Would you give me a full report if I asked?"

Fair. He deserved that. "I see no point in deception now. You're considerably more durable."

Still glowering, she nodded.

"The casualties are two huntsmen—one, now that you've healed Bash." He frowned, still confused. "Did I hear that your blood was the cure?"

Chloe nodded. "Eirikr told me our blood was different, as his—my—family has drunk vampire blood for generations."

Fascinating.

She’d talked to Eirikr himself. He’d guessed as much, because she was standing, and in one piece; as Tom was in India, based on his last phone call, he’d gleaned she’d somehow convinced their volatile ancestor to help her.

Levi was acutely curious about the other elder, but he was practically salivating to ask for a few drops of her blood to study—and synthesize. But he had a feeling that request wouldn't be well received at the moment. She had questions of her own, and many reasons to be furious with him.

His deception.

His killing her.

"What about the other huntsman?" she asked. “You said two casualties.”

Levi watched her closely. New vampires weren't equipped to deal with their newfound strength. Her rage might destroy the whole house.

Never mind. He could build another one.

"He died. I believe he was called Reiss."

Choe gasped and leaned against the glass display case behind her.

Good. She was sad and shocked, but not wrathful. An acquaintance, perhaps a friend, but not a close one.

He kept going. "All ferals were destroyed, and we estimate that about thirty-four vampires escaped Oldcrest's borders. As we've killed another forty, I'd say we haven't heard the last of them. Besides, we found no leader among the bodies we've assembled. Strictly foot soldiers."

Better she focused on the oncoming threat than grief.

He was right to start with that; some of her ire and sorrow disappeared, morphing into concern.

"Do we know more about their queen?"

"Not as of yet, but I'll send orders shortly. Most of my forces will be looking into it. I've also contacted your brother. He's on his way."

Her eyes widened.

"How do you know my brother?" she asked.

Thus prompted, Levi told her everything. His journey to London many moons ago, suspecting what she was at first glance, Tom and Viola's visit, his decision to have her protected while they figured out the real enemy.

"I never expected them to breach Oldcrest. The implication isn't something anyone would like to believe. Someone here has betrayed us. We knew there was a traitor among your entourage because of the scarf. Now we’re sure he or she lives here. No one may enter or even find this hill unless they've been invited by a resident. Today's attack wasn't part of the plan. Your brother and I agreed that we wanted you to finish school. Finish learning about our kind, and then ideally start to suspect what you were so the truth might not have been that much of a shock."

He hated the way she'd been turned, surrounded by violence and fear. A born vampire joining their ranks was a joyous event. In the old days, it would have been celebrated.

“Besides, knowing your nature, and speaking of it outside these wards, might have increased the danger to you. We…”

The blow didn't surprise him when it came. She was a lot more collected than most newborns he'd encountered, but he'd known the anger would win eventually.

As well as the lust for his blood. His flesh, his essence.

This, she probably didn't understand.

The shove on his chest was so strong Levi was flung backward, and then she had him pinned on the wall. He could have pushed her back, but what was the point? He rather liked her on top.

"Didn't it occur to you that I might have known there was something wrong with me long before I even got here?" she growled.

"Sure. No doubt you thought you might have ADHD or be bipolar. I doubt you were prepared to hear that you might be a vampire."

She cut him off. "Never again. You will never lie to me."

Levi didn't like making promises he might have to break. If it was in her best interest, if telling her the truth might put her in danger…

She stepped forward, closing the small distance between them, her chest against his.

"Never again," she repeated slowly, weight on every word.

Dammit.

"All right. Never again. I do reserve the right to hide Christmas presents and…"

He never finished the sentence, because her lips were crashing against his.

He smiled under her mouth, his hands pulling her hips closer, pressing her against him. Chloe tasted of forest, wood, and fire. Spices mixed with everything he loved and feared. He couldn't imagine he'd ever get enough. Her mouth left his lips and dropped along his chin, then to his throat, his collarbone. Her fangs grazed his skin, never breaking it. He expected to find her confused by her own craving, but her eyes weren't asking for explanations; they were asking for permission.

"Biting me isn't simple, Chloe. There's something between us—this would only make it stronger."

Unbreakable.

As he'd promised not to lie just moments ago, he knew he had to tell her.

"You're mine. Whatever gods still watch over us occasionally bless our kind with a soul bound to us in a way that's past natural. Taking my blood is a step toward…"

"You talk too much."

Her fangs sank into his shoulder. Levi fell to the ground, not even attempting to still himself as she climbed on top of him and sucked. He threw his head back and moaned, trembling under her mouth, tongue, and fingers. She fumbled with the top of his shirt.

Levi laughed, grabbing both sides of the fabric and ripping it off his torso. He wanted to feel more of her everywhere.

And she obliged. Her mouth lowered to his pecs, nipple, and along his stomach, kissing her way down. He growled, flipping her around so that she was the one seated on the floor, and then he hovered over her, encircling her with his arms.

Two thousand years he'd lived, and in all that time, no one had ever brought him quite so close to madness.

"You got me. What are you going to do with me now?" she questioned.

"Everything."

He started at her earlobe, nibbling it, while his thumb flickered at the apex of her thighs, teasing her heat through layers of fabric. As a human, she should have felt it. Now that she'd turned, he knew it was pure torture, as intense as if he'd directly touched the sensitive flesh of her clit, and yet not quite enough.

"More," she demanded, her breath hot on his skin.

Who was he to refuse her?

He loved savoring her every move and gasp as he took his time with her tank top, lowering the strap on one side and kissing her shoulder, then her stomach, and finally wrapping his mouth around her breast.

"Levi!"

He smiled, sucking at her left nipple and playing with the right. His free hand dipped to her crotch and opened the top button of her muddy jeans before sliding under the fabric. She arched to him when he played her hot inner folds and circled her clit, then pressed on it.

She was so fucking wet, gorgeous, perfect. His.

A younger, less experienced immortal would have bitten her right then. Claimed her body and soul after they exchanged blood. Made her swear herself to him. But she was twenty-five, and they'd known each other three months. What they had was already too soon. Her marking him without understanding what that meant was enough of a shaky beginning. If he rushed this now, he'd regret it until the end of time.

They'd get to know each other. And she'd understand what she was getting herself into when they completed the binding sequence.

For now.

Levi peeled off her pants and flipped her over onto her hands and knees. She pushed her pear-shaped ass up in the air.

Fuck. She looked perfect. Freeing his erection, Levi rubbed it along her wet slit, hitting her clit.

"If you keep teasing me, I swear to God…"

The last word ended in a half-whimper, half-plea as he pushed his length deep inside her tight pussy. Fuck.

He’d had a lot of sex in his day. He hoped they never got around to divulging number of previous partners, because he'd honestly lost count. If he'd had sex with one person a year since his boyhood, the number would have reached four digits. But most years, he'd had more than one woman—and man. A lot more.

He knew the feeling around his cock, his groin, his legs. He'd never felt it in his mind, heart, soul. He wasn't in control. His beast wasn't in control. Something else moved him, making him pound harder, faster, as if to attempt to climb deep beneath her skin and root himself within.

Anchoring her hands on the wall for support, Chloe was meeting him at every thrust, demanding he go deeper, harder. Every part of him was tense, hovering painfully at the top of a cliff, until she tightened around him, her release making him join her in ecstasy.

They were panting like they'd run a thousand miles, his cock still deep inside her.

Levi ran his hand down her back and kissed her delightful ass before finally mentioning, "You know your friends are still here, by the way?"

A New Beginning