“—lence,” she finished, in his arms in front of one of the basement entrances. When he would have smashed open the door, she put a hand to his chest that stilled him without her having to ask. “Wait, please.”
She muttered the unlock spell keyed to the entrance and let them inside, allowing herself the comfort of basking in his arms for a few moments before getting down. Kaia immediately missed his strength and slowly beating heart. For all that people referred to those Of the Bloode as the undead, they weren’t. Vampires were very much alive, just different from most magir.
“Follow me,” she whispered to Orion.
“Yes, mistress.” He winked and rubbed her shoulders. “Let’s get somewhere private.”
Oh God. She refused to answer that and hurried them through several passages dimly lit by fae lamps and down the one passage she sometimes used when she needed a break. No one knew about it, which she appreciated, and she led him into her special room.
“We’ll be safe here.” She watched him studying the large room filled with empty bookshelves, a large couch, and some old study carols and cabinets pooled in one corner. And there, the couch she’d had teleported into the space last year from one of the open study rooms on the third floor that no one used. It hadn’t been a cheap spell, but it was so worth it when she worked late nights.
The couch wasn’t large enough to fit Orion comfortably, but he could let his feet fall off the end while he slept.
He yawned. “Sun’s coming.”
She looked at the phone she’d tucked in her back pocket and frowned. “I can’t believe it’s that late already.” She glanced at him, wondering what to do. He had been bound to her mother, but she couldn’t sit in Sabine’s magic forever. Her coworkers would notice the change in power signature, as would anyone she happened to run into who knew her.
Kaia needed to sever the link he had with her mother. Easier said than done.
“Orion, I need you to promise me that you’ll remember I freed you from her spell.”
His eyes narrowed. “Whose spell?” He looked around, seeming once again to grow larger. “I don’t sense any danger.”
“No, it’s something that was done to you. I’m going to fix it.”
His tension melted away, and he smiled at her. “Oh, sure, babe.”
“Babe?”
“Do whatever you want to me. I trust you.” He wiggled his brows and yawned again. “But hurry so we can get a quickie in before I sack out.”
“Right. A quickie.” A glance at the bulge between his legs showed he was ready for some fun.
She ignored her blush and put one hand on his chest and reached the other toward his forehead. “I need you to sit on the couch.”
He sat, and she once again placed her hands on his chest and head. Orion took that as an invitation to snuggle against her, his face pressing lovingly between her breasts.
“Oh yeah. We definitely need some quality private time. You are so soft, Sabine.”
Her mother’s name on his lips angered her more than it should. Determined to wipe the White Sea Witch away, she closed her eyes and focused on her mother’s energy around the vampire. Except it wasn’t just her mother but a darker, most foul presence entwined with Sabine’s.
Kaia shifted her hand on him and felt a raised patch of skin to the left of the center of chest, over his heart. Scar tissue from a recent injury, she’d bet.
Not sure how the heck to break the spell but determined to try, she pushed her magic through her mother’s and twisted it, trying to breaking Sabine’s hold. Except the imprint remained, now filled by Kaia. Orion no longer had to suffer the will of Sabine Belyaev but was in the hands of Kaia Dunwich, who planned to set him free.
She let herself feel ownership, wanting the vampire to belong to her so she could then will the possession gone. Kaia breathed him in, taking his essence into her lungs before lowering her mouth to his, giving him back his breath, his willpower, his freedom.
He groaned and turned the kiss from magical to carnal. Before she knew it, Kaia was in his lap and under his control, being kissed to the point of distraction.
He rumbled under his breath and ran his lips down her cheek to her neck. But instead of biting her, he grazed her skin, and the erotic friction nearly undid her. “Yes, sweet. More.” Fingers tugged at the snap of her jeans, and the fabric parted as the zipper fell. His rough, warm hand slid under her panties.
“Orion,” she gasped.
He kissed her again, his tongue conquering as a thick finger slid between her slick folds and into her. Into a place no man had ever been.
A burst of heat and pleasure tore through her, and she clamped around his finger as she cried out, the drugging desire overpowering. A blast of energy radiated through the room, leaving it bathed in a neon blue glow that slowly faded.
He pumped against her hips before finally stilling and swore under his breath, his finger still buried inside her.
It took her some time to come down off her high, and she blinked up at a satisfied vampire. He withdrew his hand and brought his finger to his lips. Still watching her, he sucked the digit clean and thrust against her bottom once more, caught in a sigh.
“You taste sweet, mate. Like life itself.” He looked her over with approval.
Holy crap. She’d had her first orgasm with another person.
Who happened to be a vampire.
She had the worst thought. Did he still think of her as Sabine? “I’m not Sabine.”
“Who?”
Thank goodness. She relaxed, watching him button her back up. “I’m Kaia.” Wait. He’d called her “mate.” Perhaps he meant it in a different way than life mate.
“Kaia.” He kissed her, and the sultry gentleness had her squirming once more. The foreign sensation of something inside her had been replaced by extreme pleasure, and she wanted to feel that again.
Orion yawned. “I made a mess. Maybe when I wake, you can clean me with that clever tongue.”
It took her a moment to realize he’d climaxed too. In his pants. A flush of heat made her shiver. The sight of him half naked in addition to knowing what it felt like to come in his arms? What she’d been looking for all her life. And she’d found it in a vampire.
I’m in hell, no doubt. But wait. “You know I’m Kaia.”
“Yes, mate.”
“Mate? Like, friend? Like, ‘g’day, mate’?” she added in a bad Australian accent.
He frowned. “Kaia, I’m yours. Just let me sleep and I’ll satisfy your need soon enough.”
She hurried off him and watched him settle down onto the couch, his legs dangling off an end. “Orion? I need you to wait here until I come back.” She pushed her power through him once more, the waves of clean magic rolling through the pathways she’d created. “Stay here until I return, please.”
Something snapped between them.
He tensed then utterly relaxed. “Of course. The Night Bloode never back down. I’m yours, love.” All life left him, and he didn’t move again, lying as if dead.
She leaned close but felt no breath, saw no rise of his chest.
Dawn had come. The torpor brought with the sun’s rise was real.
Kaia let out a relieved breath. She’d done it. She’d rescued the vampire from her mother’s hideout and had broken the spell. She’d freed him.