“Yes.” He pushed in further and Shayla moaned at the incredible stretching and filling of the invasion. “Your blood? Who can claim your blood?”
Shayla found it difficult to speak through her panting. “Only…you.”
His weight fell upon her and he braced himself on his elbows near her shoulders. One of his hands tangled in her braids and lifted her head up for a searing kiss. Finally he pulled away and trailed kisses to her ear. Under her hands, his taut muscles radiated leashed power. “Your virginity, Shayla, your womanhood,” he rasped.
“Yours,” she pleaded.
His body exploded in movement.
He thrust his hips until he was fully seated within her.
Shayla cried out, her body pulled between pleasure and pain. But he didn’t give her time to feel the latter, because then he threw his head back, roared in a sound that could only be described as ecstatic triumph, and dropped his face to her throat.
He bit her, burying his fangs deep within the yielding flesh of her neck.
Shayla was overwhelmed, awash in competing sensations. The speed of Kael’s actions surprised her and his pleasured shout drowned out her gasped whimper. His bite seared her throat. But all of that seemed as if in a different lifetime, because the very first sucking pull of his mouth against her throat removed every bit of pain from her body.
Euphoria. Complete and utter.
His movements possessed her, claimed her. He wrapped his body over hers as he hunched and thrust between her thighs. His hands cradled and held her as he moaned and sucked at her throat. Her body broke out in a sheen of sweat and she was slick everywhere, easing his way as he slid his massive taut frame above hers. She wrapped her arms around him and dug her fingers into his shoulder blades, his lats, his ass, as she tried to anchor herself to reality.
The suction at her throat pulled through her whole being until her toes curled against his calves. Surrendering entirely, her legs fell all the way open and she ground her center against his hammering thrusts. Each suck of his mouth throbbed in her pussy until she was mad with need.
Shayla whined and pleaded and nuzzled his hair and writhed beneath him. Kael growled as he fed and the sound vibrated through her chest.
Impossibly, her body detonated again.
She arched against his robes while her muscles clenched and pulsed around his length. For a split second, she went insane with the pleasure. Her mind couldn’t handle it. The world disappeared in a floating blissful haze as she shuddered and moaned and gasped for oxygen.
It was glorious. And totally overwhelming.
Kael licked the wounds closed on her neck and looked down at her. “That’s right, Shayla. So good. You are so fucking good.”
Her heart swelled at his praise. She had nothing to compare him to, of course, but he was proving himself an amazing lover—passionate, attentive, and impossibly sexy.
She couldn’t imagine needing—or wanting—anything more than him, than what he was giving her.
The fear of losing him at the end of the night burst into her brain and stole her breath for just a moment. It was true. It could happen. So she shoved the useless emotion away and focused on the incredible vampire still atop her. She wouldn’t waste a moment worrying. She would burn every touch, every sensation into her memory.
In case that’s all she had come morning.
Satiation surged through Kael’s system. Her powerful blood fed his muscles and reinforced his humanity. Shayla was magnificent beyond his hopes and expectations. Her body was decadence personified. Her eyes blazed with life and acceptance. Her hands held and touched him and made him feel.
And her words, the longing and…familiarity with which she called out his name.
It was their first time together, but it felt as natural as if they had always been.
Her orgasm all played out, Kael withdrew from her and sat back on his haunches. He pulled her into a sitting position and kissed her, long, languid twists of lips and tongues that spoke of much, much more than lust.
Shayla’s hand curled around his still-hard cock, her grip tentative at first, and then surer, harder. Kael gasped, and their gazes collided.
“You haven’t…” She looked down to where she stroked him.
He shook his head. “I’m not done with you yet, Shayla.”
Her eyes widened as her cheeks pinked. Her heartbeat tripped into a sprint loud enough for him to hear and pronounced enough to cause a vein to jump at her throat. “I see.”
“Do you now?” That vein had him licking his lips. “Turn around,” he whispered against her mouth as he leaned in for a deep, lingering kiss. “I want to watch you as I claim you.”
Trembling, Shayla moved until her back was to him. He pressed a large hand against her spine and she fell forward onto her hands and knees.
“It’s so much deeper this way. And I want every inch of you.”
He pushed home and they both groaned. He went slow, tormenting them both with his restraint. When he’d first entered her, Kael the Fair had disappeared in favor of a nearly feral vampire who craved blood and carnal pleasure in equal amounts. That raw male remained in him, just under the surface. But Kael wanted to draw this out, wanted to revel in every sweet sensation. It had been so long since sex had been about more than just slaking a physical thirst.
Wrapping his arms around her abdomen, Kael pulled Shayla into a kneeling position over his lap. Every bit of his skin screamed for contact with hers, and this way he could hold her as he took her.
And there was another benefit as well. He cupped her chin and guided her eyes across the room to where their movements were reflected in a huge gilded mirror hanging on the wall.
“Watch,” he commanded.
With one hand, Kael fondled and teased Shayla’s full breasts. Using his other hand and his massive thighs, he set a hot, satisfying pace gliding in and out of her velvety heat and chasing what he knew was going to be massive orgasm, one that hopefully delivered a revelation that would change the rest of his life.
Shayla urged him on with her searching hands, first gripping his hips, then reaching back over her shoulders and tangling in his hair. She murmured a string of whispered encouragements full of belonging.
The energy in Kael’s body congregated in his groin, tightening his muscles and stealing his breath. “Shayla,” he panted as he thrust and observed the beauty of their joint movements, “I want you. I want you.”
It was a chant, a prayer, a plea to the fates.
“Yes.” Her hand fisted in his hair and she reclined her head and kissed his cheek. “I…want you…too.”
“Please,” he cried, begging her, imploring the ancient blood magic that joined mates together. Unable to wait a moment longer, he sank his aching fangs into the yielding flesh of her throat.
His body was wound so tight from the intensity of the whole night with her, this time the first hot pull of her life-giving fluids unleashed his orgasm. He clamped down tighter—his mouth on her neck and his arms around her body—as he bucked against her. His cock pulsed again and again, releasing his seed deep within her. He devoured her blood, unable to stop sucking but knowing he needed to. She would already be drained from her earlier blood loss and the sheer vigor of their lovemaking.
Finally, he eased his fangs from her neck and licked her wound, his body still shuddering Around him, the room seemed to spin. He anchored himself to Shayla, held her close and prayed.