As the last streams of his cum filled her, Kael felt it: a sharp tingling radiating out of their still-connected loins, up his chest, and down his arm to his right hand. He gritted his teeth against the biting burn and squeezed Shayla in reassurance when she cried out at the sensation.
“It’s okay, dearhreart,” he managed. “It’s okay.”
Her head went slack against his shoulder and she unleashed a deep, sleepy sigh. He tilted his gaze to the ceiling and whispered strained, fervent words of gratitude in the ancient language.
He laid her down on the bed and stretched out alongside her. She immediately turned her body toward his. Their gazes met for a brief moment. The corner of her lip raised in a half smile. And then she fell asleep.
Lifting his hand, Kael admired the intricate mating mark, a series of symbolic knots that wrapped around the front and back of his hand. He was amazed by it, in awe. His heart ached with fullness and hope. Long-lost joy flooded his mind, enlivened his soul. Joy not just for the chance at a mate again, but because it was her.
Shayla.
Her beauty and grace and strength had already breached his heart.
He fingered the unique pattern, different from the one he’d shared with Meara. Its disappearance from his skin upon her death had been salt in the devastating wound of her loss. Never again. His life would be first and foremost about protecting Shayla’s.
Assuming…
He shook his head and focused on the decadent sight of her luscious curves, curled up against him, so trusting and vulnerable in her repose. He wished she would awaken so they could join hands and see the way the marks flowed from his right to her left in a continuous, conjoining pattern. But as her heart settled into a normal pace again, he resolved to let her rest and recuperate.
Hopefully, there was no rush. They would have all the time in the world.
As long as she wanted him the way he wanted her.
Completely. Totally. Forever.
Chapter 8
Shayla was deliciously dazed, sated like she could never need anything again in her whole life. She stretched against the soft covers and her muscles ached in a way that reminded her how she and Kael had used one another so thoroughly. She rubbed her eyes, trying to remove the grogginess from her head.
Unexpected color caught her attention and she stilled.
Beautiful, thin black knots covered her left hand.
She gasped and bolted upright.
Kael appeared out of nowhere, wearing the emerald silk robe again, and settled on the bed beside her. He placed a tray near her knees and held out a glass of water which she gladly accepted, nearly draining the entire thing as if she’d been lost in the desert. She lowered the glass against her leg and raised her hand, then looked at Kael.
He grasped her left hand with his right and kissed it. Her eyes drifted to his mirror markings and she gaped. The hair rose on her arms and neck. “What…?”
Kael shifted onto his knees on the bed. “Shayla McKinnon, this mark proves what I already suspected. You are my mate. You are destined to walk beside me, rule with me, share my blood and, through that, my immortality.”
“Mate?” Shayla’s mind raced as she traced the incredible marking with her fingers, then followed her tracings onto his hand. “What…I mean, I don’t…”
“I know, dearheart.” He kissed her forehead and sighed. “Just relax for a moment. We have time to talk.” He folded a length of tartan over her legs and waist and scooted the tray closer to her. “You must be hungry, yes? I brought you some food. I know it’s not much, but…” He shrugged.
She tugged the robe up to cover her breasts and glanced at his face, found him a little shy for the first time. “I’m starving, actually, and this looks and smells delicious.” She picked up some cashews and popped them in her mouth, all of a sudden ravenous for the feast before her. “Thank you.”
His smile was dazzling, proud, and grew as she polished off her piece of the savory frittata and, at his insistence, half of his, the spicy olives and artichokes, most of the nuts, and an orange. Her mind raced with questions and buzzed in amazement, but she was so ravenous it was as if she couldn’t think about anything else until that hunger was finally sated.
“I feel like I haven’t eaten in days, and this was fabulous.” With a satisfied groan, she pushed the tray away. Kael’s eyes flared at the sound, which unleashed a new hunger low in her belly.
How could she want him again so soon? But she was suddenly insatiable for more than just food…
Kael inhaled deeply and chuckled, ran his hand through his hair. “I like the way you think, Shayla, but perhaps we should talk first?”
For a split second, his words confounded her, but then he took another slow, deep breath in through his nose and licked his lips. Could he…? Oh, jeez. He could! He could smell her. She crossed her legs where they were extended in front of her.
Kael frowned and gently encouraged her ankles to part. “Never feel bad for wanting me,” he said, echoing her earlier words in a low, serious voice that amped up her desire further. “Because you can be sure I’m always hungry for you.”
Shayla shook her head, blushing and smiling as his expression softened into something she would’ve sworn could only be described as adoring. She drew her legs up to her chest and embraced them, rested her head on her knees so she could see him.
“So, talking then…” She admired the design on her hand. Realized the ache she’d earlier felt was gone. She gasped. “Is this why my hand has felt so odd all night?”
An oath in that strange language spilled from his lips, low and fervent. “You felt it, too?”
The awe she felt was reflected back to her in his green eyes. “Yes, but what does it mean?”
“That this…that we would make a very strong mating.”
She looked at the swirl of knots on her hand again. “Mating,” she whispered, trying out the word.
“Yes. Oh, Shayla. This pleases me. Greatly. I want you to know that. I hope it pleases you, too.” He tucked his right hand into her grip, once again joining their marked hands.
She thought of all she’d hoped for from this night. “It does, Kael, more than you know.” She squeezed his hand. “But how does all this work? What does it mean practically? For me and for us?”
He tilted his head. “More than I know? Tell me what it is I don’t know, then. Please?”
She nodded. “I will. I promise. But please explain all this first. I need to understand.”
He stretched forward and kissed her cheek. “Of course. In my world, Shayla, blood is magical, powerful, the source of all life. Some blood, when joined together, is especially strong, especially right. For a vampire, that rightness can manifest in a bond that identifies mates who would be a good match, who would bear strong offspring. And it is a rare, special thing.”
Shayla studied her hand, his words opening up new worlds in front of her, worlds she’d only dreamed of and never once thought would truly exist for her. “So, we’re mated now?” A cacophony of reactions flooded her mind.
Awe. Joy. Triumph. All awash in a sensation of utter surrealism.
Kael’s eyes flared. “No. Not yet. The mating mark lasts for three days. If the mating ritual isn’t completed within that time, the mark will disappear along with the chance to ever be together. If you agree, on the other hand, there will be a ritual ceremony to affirm the bonding and celebrate the start of our life together, with you as my queen, sharing my world, my blood, my immortality.”