No, right now there was no one else here. It was just Damiel. And the smile of true happiness that shone out from his soul.
“So, how do we…do this?” I gasped as his lips kissed down my neck.
The deep buzz of his easy chuckle rumbled against my throat. “We’re highly-trained elite angel soldiers, Princess.” His hands dove under my sleeves, slipping off my jacket. “I think we can figure it out between the two of us,” he added with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
Nervous, anxious, and pretty damn impatient too—I wasn’t even sure where to put my hands. I kept moving them.
He pulled my arms around him and set my hands on his back. “You’re overthinking it, Cadence.”
“I am not overthinking anything. I just want this to be perfect. For you to think it’s perfect,” I added, feeling suddenly very shy.
“Here I am, alone with the woman I love. How could it be anything but perfect?”
“I…”
His mouth captured mine, swallowing my words.
A deep groan broke his lips. I moved my hands to his head and began to massage deep, slow circles into his scalp.
His strong hands stroked my back. His kisses grew faster, more impatient.
His mouth dipped to my neck, trailing soft, butterfly kisses all the way down, leaving a hot brand wherever his lips touched my skin. I felt something sharp and hard.
His fangs, I realized. All angels had them. It was part of our vampire magic.
Damiel’s fangs had descended. Slowly, they teased the throbbing, pulsing vein in my neck. I knew what he intended to do. And I wanted it. My instincts were demanding it, even as the voice of propriety screamed protests in my head.
“Damiel, wait,” I gasped. “It’s against regulations.”
“I am well aware of the Legion’s regulations, having written many of them myself.” He spoke with an easy, sensual arrogance, slowly undressing my proprieties one protest at a time. “This regulation in particular—the one forbidding one soldier from drinking from another—is intended to prevent intimacy inside the Legion. Its purpose is to keep us each separate, alone. The exchange of blood creates a bond and those bonds between soldiers weaken the Legion as a whole.
“But it’s too late for that, Cadence. It’s too late for me. The rules don’t apply to us. We were meant to be together. We were destined to be one.” His fangs teased my vein. “I want you. I want to feel your blood and magic burning through my veins. I want to feel my blood and magic inside of you. I want our hearts to beat as one, our blood to flow as one, our magic to merge as one.”
“Well,” I said, breathless. “When you put it like that…”
“So I have your permission?”
“You have a lot more than that,” I told him. “You have all of me.”
Smiling, he dipped his mouth to my throat once again. Twin peaks of pleasure exploded as his fangs sank into my skin. Fire flashed through my body, the euphoria overwhelming, unstoppable. At the same time, I could feel my magic and blood inside of him, colliding and merging with his.
Moaning, I clutched tightly to his hot, hard body. My fangs descended, searing my gums with savage need. I had to taste him too. That desperate, devastating urge overwhelmed my mind and overrode all my previous protests. I wanted him, and I was going to take him.
I sank my fangs into his shoulder, relishing in the satisfying pop as I broke the surface. He moaned against my neck, a buzz of pleasure on my skin. His blood flooded into my mouth, the taste as sweet as the gods’ Nectar.
Why did his blood taste like Nectar?
I must have been thinking very loudly because he responded, your blood also tastes like Nectar. My guess is it has something to do with our Immortal blood.
I hardly heard his words. The magic in his blood ignited mine, drowning me in an ecstasy of intense sensations. I couldn’t fight it. I didn’t want to fight it. The urge to drink from him was purely primal. I had to have more.
I drank from him and he from me. Each draw of his mouth shot a fresh quake through my body. Each drop of blood set off a tiny explosion inside my mouth, igniting raw and wild urges that I’d never experienced before.
My magic crashed against him, each burst creating something new out of the two of us, binding us. I clutched him to me. He was mine. All mine.
He gripped me so hard that his fingernails cut into my back. But it didn’t hurt. No, I was desperate for him to grip me harder. To make me his as I was making him mine.
But it wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. Hunger, savage and insatiable, ravaged me. We weren’t close enough.
He broke away from my throat and kissed me roughly. His hands tore at my clothes.
I returned the favor, relieving him of his shirt. “I can taste my blood on your lips,” I said between kisses. “Can you taste yours on mine?”
He captured my wrists and pinned me to the ground. “Stop inciting me, Cadence.”
“I am doing no such thing.”
His huge, hard body loomed over me. “Because inciting me is very dangerous.” His hands grabbed the wristband of my panties and tugged them down my legs. He considered the lacy blue garment for a moment. “This is not a regulation undergarment.”
I gave my brows a sassy tilt. “I didn’t anticipate an underwear inspection.”
He tossed my panties over his shoulder. “You should always be prepared for anything.”
“Am I in trouble?” I sat up, arching back against my arms.
His eyes dipped to my chest. “You’ve made the Legion’s wickedest angel fall desperately in love with you. Yes, Princess, I think it’s safe to say that you are in very big trouble.”
The closures of my bra popped open. I didn’t even see his hands move.
His eyes slid down the length of my naked body. “You are so beautiful.”
His fingers closed over my nipples, pulling them into hard points. A sudden, unexpected surge of pleasure shot through me, and I cried out. My whole body quivered with denied desire. Never before had I felt anything so intense, so thoroughly consuming.
His hands went lower, slowly parting my legs. My breath catching in my throat, I looked down. He was now completely naked—and completely ready. My body shook.
He must have seen anxiety in my eyes because he said, “We don’t have to go further now.”
“Chickening out?” I teased him, my heart hammering against my ribcage.
His eyes flashed. “Say that again. I dare you.” His hand caressed the inside of my thigh.
“Scaredy-cat,” I whispered, gasping in anticipation.
Heat blossomed between my legs, insistent and impatient. His fingers slid closer. Ever. So. Slowly.
“I didn’t quite catch that, Princess.”
My body quivered so hard I felt I might burst. I was sure I would die if he didn’t… Didn’t what? I couldn’t say what I needed. Just that I needed him. Desperately. Instinct took over, bypassing my mind and compelling my body into action. I ground my hips against him.
“May I?” he asked, his eyes serious.
“Oh, gods, yes,” I growled out.
A smile stretched his mouth. He looked at me like I’d just offered him the most precious gift in all the worlds. Very carefully, he lowered me onto the blanket, as though I were made of delicate glass. He kissed me softly on the lips.