Embrace the Mystery (The Blood Rose 3)

She slid beneath the furs to wait for him, her body thrumming with life and desire, and she wondered if their recent couplings would make a vampire-fae-troll baby. She then realized with a start that for the first time in her life, the idea of having a child actually appealed to her. Amazing what changes the right man could make in the life of an independent woman.

When he appeared in the doorway, she sighed.

“You are freakingly good-looking, Quin.” He’d pulled his hair back in a clasp but that was the only thing he wore.

He paused and planted his hands on his hips. “Well, you’re not arranged quite as I’d hoped.”

She giggled, threw the covers back and hopped out of bed. “It’s cold in this room.”

“Not for long.”

She knew what he wanted.

She rearranged the covers then stretched herself out on top of the furs.

“Much better. Exactly the way I wanted to see you.”

He moved with all the strength of his vampire genetics, muscles flexing and quivering, until he stood beside the bed and looked down at her. His gaze took her in once more, as it had while she’d bathed.

She held her arms out to him and he came to her, stretching out on top of her.

She caressed his face. “I can’t believe we’re here.”

“I know.” He looked so serious suddenly.

“I was afraid we wouldn’t make it back alive, but you got us there.”

“We got us there.”

She smiled. “I guess we did. Is this really happening?”

He leaned down and kissed her, a full, moist kiss that melted her h*ps and legs. She parted for him, feeling his rigid stalk as he glided lower. He was heavy on her in the best way.

He kissed her for a long time, stroking her arms with his hands, grinding against her, but he didn’t try to enter her.

Easing his tongue out of her mouth, he licked her lips. She was ready for more, when she felt a shift in his vibration and suddenly his fangs struck, stinging just her lower lip.

She cried out, but he retracted his fangs and began to suck and the pleasure flowed.

Her breaths mingled with his. She felt his chin quiver and his c**k twitch as he drank from her.

He drew back slightly, staring down at her mouth, his eyelids at half-mast. “I love seeing blood on your lips. Sweet Goddess.” He flexed his h*ps and his c**k pressed against her.

She touched his face with her hand. “Do you want inside now?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve just gotten started.”

To prove his intention, he nuzzled her neck then her ear. A second later, a fang pierced the soft flesh of her earlobe above her pierced earring. He took the lobe in his mouth and drew from her what had to have been the smallest rivulet of blood possible.

Oh, Cha, even a few drops is like heaven to me.

Her h*ps rolled on the bed. She shifted around trying to find a way to capture his c**k between her thighs, but he kept just out of reach.

He let go of her ear and met her gaze. “No, you don’t. You made your request and I intend to deliver.”

Another shiver went straight through her.

His lips and tongue made a slow progression down her neck, over her collar bone, then lower.

* * * * * * * * *

Even Batya’s skin tasted like her tropical-flower scent, something rich, heady, more than he’d ever dreamed of.

He marveled that his stomach no longer hurt, not even a little. How had this extraordinary thing happened—a woman in his bed at long last, covered in furs, and writhing to the feel of his lips, his tongue, his fangs.

He watched her beneath hooded eyes and every arch of her back or rock of her hips, brought another moan from him. Her mating frequency played over his skin and even flowed over his c**k so that he was as close to coming as ever, but somehow managed to hold back.

He wanted to pump his seed inside her, nowhere else, at least not right now. Maybe she was ripe and ready to bear a child, maybe that factor was in play as well. He just didn’t know.

But he wanted her full of his child. That much made perfect sense to him now. He wanted to parade her in front of as many other men as possible, to show them what he could do to his woman, to prove all that he was in a tradition as old as time.

He suckled her first, taking turns and delighting in how she’d flex each breast when he nursed on a nipple, forcing more of her into his mouth. He took more, until his own body called a halt. How many times had he almost come?

But he moved to the side for what he needed to do next, the one thing she’d asked of him.

Her hand found his arm and she squeezed his bicep, so of course he flexed for her, then turned to meet her gaze.

Her eyes were full of love. That’s what he saw, and what came to him in a wave of powerful emotion. He felt his life meet full circle in this moment, of having known love in the early years of his life, then lost it for centuries, only to have the blood rose phenomenon bring him home again.

He leaned over and kissed her. “Thank you, Batya. Thank you.” He wanted to say more, but simply didn’t have the words.

But she nodded, caressing his face.

His gaze drifted, as it often did, back to her full br**sts.

“Give me what I need,” she whispered.

He didn’t require another invitation, but settled his lips over the upper swell of her breast, struck, then sucked once more.

At the same time, he fondled the other breast, teasing the tip into a tight bud, stroking the low fullness and weight. Your br**sts are so beautiful.

They’re yours, Quin. Only yours. All yours.

Quinlan took his time, and worked over every inch of her br**sts, biting and sipping, and with each strike, her trembling increased. He could feel her pleasure which fueled his own.

She healed fast, but when he knew she’d reached her limit, he rose up and stared down at least two dozen puncture wounds, all healing quickly. Her ni**les were hard beads and her labored breathing caused her br**sts to rise and fall.

He positioned himself again between her legs, his c**k a hard and ready missile. As he pushed inside her, gliding easily along the wet pulsing channel, she groaned.

Had sex ever been better?

No. He thrust three times, just to feel her well and to seat himself deep inside.

Then he let the real magic begin as he supported himself on his forearms, stared into her eyes, and opened up his mating vibration.

* * * * * * * * *

Batya lay poised on the edge again, ecstasy hovering just a breath away. She stared into Quinlan’s eyes, the man who’d teased her mercilessly and delivered a thousand times over what he’d promised all those weeks ago.