Her trembling increased and he pushed back his possessive jealousy to focus on her.

  She needed blood if she was to grow strong. And his was the only sustenance she’d ever have again. Such was the way of their kind. He was about to give his Regina a lesson she’d never forget.

  He let his resolve and desire wrap around her just moments before he stood and began to walk slowly in her direction. Her eyes grew wide, and her lips parted on soft, panting breaths. His lustful thoughts hit their mark, filling her mind with erotic images of his plans.

  “Yes, Regina mine. Feel how I need you.”

  She took another, subtle step back, still attempting to resist his pul , but it was obvious she was waging a losing battle.

  He knew the moment she recal ed the feel of his lips on hers, his weight pressing her into the mattress, the exact instant she decided to give in to her own desire. His fists tightened in triumph when he realized she’d stopped fighting. She wanted more…and he wanted everything.

  Each brush of his tailored pants against his cock was a torment. Every step an agony of pleasure as he thought of all the things he wanted to do to her.

  He caught a stray thought in the fragile mental pathway their first blood-sharing had created. It was a thought she’d had before. Incomplete, and yet it chilled him.

  They had healed her, given her sanctuary. He knew he would slay any Trust member or renegade Shadow Wolf who dared to threaten his grathita now that he’d found her. So what was going through her labyrinthine mind? What was this grand plan?

  And why was she still so sure she was going to die?

  Zander stopped in front of her and leaned down until his lips were a breath away from her own. “One of these days you’re going to tell me about this secret plan of yours and why it worries me so damn much.” He lifted her easily in his arms, his hands cradling her spread thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

  “But not right now.” He walked her towards his luxurious bed. “Right now you’re going to feed, and then I’m going to do what I’ve been dying to do from the moment I saw you dancing in my pub.” He set her gently down in the middle of the bedspread, its dark blue color the perfect foil for her raven hair and creamy skin.

  He needed to be inside her more than he needed his next breath. The sight of her, eyes soft, body open and waiting for him, was almost his undoing. The fact that she’d recently been so close to death was the only thing that held him back long enough to ensure she got what she needed first. Blood.

  He’d replenished himself with some of the synthesized blood Lux kept in the refrigerator in his room for emergencies. He’d known she’d have need of him again and for some reason, heading downstairs to drink from a willing volunteer hadn’t tempted him in the least. All he wanted was to return to Regina. She was the only ambrosia he craved.

  He stood above her and began to unbutton his shirt, giving himself a moment to rein in his need for her.

  Reggie pushed herself up on her elbows, flinging that obstinate strand of hair out of her eyes before attempting a rather weak glare.

  It was hard to be angry while watching him undress with a sensual skill that left her trembling, slowly revealing his impressive physique to the tune of her pounding heart.

  “We’re going to have to work on that tone of yours first, ‘Oh Great and Powerful Master’.”

  Zander’s blue eyes flashed with a fire that sent Reggie scuttling backwards on the bed.

  She got a sudden image of herself through his eyes. Naked, hands tied to the headboard with silken scarves, completely at his mercy.

  “Oh no you don’t.” She gasped, even as the vision caused her body to tense with lust, showing its readiness with a flood of arousal that had her pressing her thighs together in shock. After al she’d been through how could she even consider trusting him that much?

  The lust on his face dimmed for a moment, before he quickly finished shedding his clothes to join her on the bed. He took her chin in one hand, gently unraveling her braid with the other.

  “Don’t compare us to that, Regina. I would never do anything to hurt you. All I want, all I’ll ever want, is your happiness and pleasure.” His eyes went dark as he spread her dark hair over her shoulders.

  His broad fingers caressed her silky blouse, and she resented for a moment the fabric that separated her from his touch. No sooner had the thought formed than a zap of electricity shot through her body, followed by a sudden chill, before she realized with a gasp that she was completely naked, her clothes nowhere to be found.

  He tapped her nose and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Being a Trueblood comes with a few special…perks.”

  A chuckle gurgled up from her chest, astonishing her with its joyous sound. She shrugged and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, kissing his jaw while he looked down at her as if staggered by her easy acceptance.

  She snuck a peek at him before sighing dramatically. “Impressive. Now if only Super Vampire would use his powers for good.”

  Zander’s mouth quirked, dimples deepening before, in a swift and surprising move, she found herself sitting on top of his thighs as he lay beneath her on the bed, his hands light on her hips, careful of her tender wound.

  “I’ll show you just how good I can be.” He promised. “After you drink.”

  She was having a hard time following his directive. The view was just far too captivating to be ignored. He was so big, so male, and so…delicious-looking. Zander looked at her from beneath his thick lashes with a knowing grin.

  “Then taste me.”

  His deep voice echoed in her head, lips unmoving. She really needed to figure out how he was doing that. But not now. Now she would do what he asked. In her own way, of course. She just couldn’t resist.

  Pulling her long hair over one shoulder, she leaned down to kiss and nip at his taut abs.

  They tensed beneath her lips and she smiled, feeling his excitement, his desire without him needing to say a word. She worked her way up, teasing him in the same way she knew he’d meant to tease her earlier, sucking his hardening nipples into her mouth until he struggled for breath.

  She leaned forward and licked his lips, staying just out of reach before lowering her mouth once more, bypassing his offered neck in favor of heading further down towards his impressive erection.

  He was beautiful. Long and thick and hard, the silken tip already dripping with his desire…for her. She felt her womb clench at the thought of how he would fill her. She softly kissed the darkening head of his shaft, before lapping gently with her tongue, gathering the sinful, salty taste of him in her mouth.

  His hips jerked upward instinctively at the sensation, his hands gathering in her hair before she could take him fully into her mouth.

  “Not yet, Regina.”

  Zander released her hair to grasp her under her arms and drag her up his body, a moan of mutual need escaping at the friction they created. He wrapped one firm hand around the back of her neck and lifted his chin, offering himself to her. “Drink.”

  His command shivered through her, drew al her attention to the blood pulsing strongly through the vein in his neck. She could feel the reins he held on his desire, how much he needed her to taste him.

  Through his memories she relived her unconscious feeding of the night before. The sensations that had burned through him at the touch of her lips, the feel of her fangs sinking into his flesh. He wanted her, needed her.

  She moaned, leaning forward, rubbing her wetness against his pulsing cock, laving his neck with her tongue. Her fangs extending, breaking through her gums before piercing his skin.

  The warm, thick liquid touched her tongue and her heart sang. Here was that feeling she had sensed from him. Yes… It was a pleasure unlike any she had known.

  Her thirsty cells drank him in, absorbed him, one with all that he was. She was home.

  Her body was healing, the aches disappearing. He gave her his strength without reservation. And then there was the need. It increased until she was mad with it, her body readying itself for this man. Zander. She needed him inside her, needed him fil ing her body as he was already fil ing her soul.

  He groaned against her mouth, the sound vibrating on her lips and she answered in kind. He rolled her beneath him, careful not to break contact or jar her with his movements.

  “I can’t wait.” She heard his thought a moment before he raised her legs high and entered her with one slow, powerful thrust.

  She released him with a sharp cry of need as he fil ed her. Licking his throat instinctively to help close the wound before arching beneath him, she silently begged for more.

  She felt him stretching her, her muscles tightening around him in instinctive rejection when he pul ed back before sinking deep once more.

  He leaned forward and sucked her nipple hard against the roof of his mouth, releasing it to lick gently, his breath against her skin causing it to tighten to a hard peak. He repeated the process—again and again he ate at her breasts, the movement of his hips against her slow and torturous as he sampled her flesh.

  “So tight around me. So wet, Regina. It feels so good, my love.”

  She heard him in her mind, watched him gorge on her breasts, his eyes closed in mindless delight, ful mouth tilted in rapture.

  He angled her pelvis higher, his rigid arousal hitting that magical bundle of secret nerves that had her wavering on the brink of something amazing.

  The blood in her veins began to heat, her limbs quivering as he thrust inside her. In moments she was falling over the edge, the deliciously sweet taste of him stil hot on her tongue. Her muscles rippled, contracting around him and he growled against her flesh.

  He pulled out quickly, sinking down on the bed, his mouth replacing one source of nourishment with another. “Zander!” She moaned aloud, her hands moving to clench in his golden hair. His tongue lightly flicked her clit before lowering to lap at her flowing juices.

  “Manna. Manna from heaven. So sweet on my tongue. I want more.”

  His intimate words had her arching against his face as he nuzzled her dark curls with his nose. His tongue slid inside her damp entrance, thrusting lightly, teasingly, curling the tip to gather more of her flavor. Lips wrapped around her swollen bud, pul ing it into his mouth to suckle with gentle pressure.

  “There?”

  “Yes. Yes, there.”

  In moments, she found herself soaring again, before she’d even had a chance to catch her breath. Her muscles trembled and her blood rushed loud in her ears as she called out his name, “Zander.”

  And still it wasn’t enough. She needed him inside her, needed to feel his release more than she craved her own. The feeling was so strong she must have projected it outward.

  He growled his agreement, lifting himself from the feast between her thighs to enter her once more.

  Zander’s eyes blazed down into her own. Both wordlessly acknowledged the exquisite feel of his cock buried deep within her, the intensity of the moment.

  He swooped down to take her mouth with a desperation that thrilled her. The taste of her own juices on his tongue. When she licked the sheen of her arousal from his lips, his eyes darkened to a deep midnight blue. He smiled down at her, his extended fangs gleaming, thrusts increasing.

  “Yes. Taste how delicious you are. Feel what you do to me, priya, my beloved.”

  Never had she felt so full, so stretched, so…taken. Each powerful stroke of his cock inside her marked her, changed her, pushed her closer to an ecstasy unlike any she’d ever known.

  Her eyes snagged on where their bodies were joined, his thick width spreading her open, her arousal coating his length, easing his way.

  She looked up to find him watching her, his face flushed with restrained desire, his jaw clenched in need.

  Sliding his broad palm between her shoulder blades, he lifted her up against him, his other hand holding them both steady as he looked into her eyes.

  “As one.” He sent her an image and she felt his flare of excitement. She shakily nodded her agreement. Wanting it just as much. Needing it.

  He lowered his mouth to her neck, sinking his teeth into the curve of her throat while she did the same. He was thrusting faster within her, deeper—his blood sliding down her throat like liquid heaven. Suddenly, everything converged in a flash of blinding white light as they leapt off the cliff together. Merged. Unity.

  Confusion filled her. One minute she’d been riding a blissful wave of delight, the next she’d been overwhelmed by a thousand and one sensations, only half of them her own.

  She felt his cock jerk deep inside her as he came, and his own exaltation and excitement at the feeling of her inner wal s massaging him. The fire shooting down her spine, and the lightning flaying his.

  The dual sensations were maddening, phenomenal. It was as if they had joined more than their bodies, more than their minds. Their souls had merged, twining together in joyous recognition.

  It was terrifying.

  This was not the lighthearted, lust-fil ed romp she had envisioned. She’d tried to convince herself that she could keep her distance, enjoy the moment and stil do everything she knew she must…and then this happened.

  Zander Sariel. What was it about him? Why did it suddenly feel as if nothing would ever be the same? As if she would never be the same.

  She licked her mark away once more and held still until he’d released her to lie beside her on the bed.

  The clothing she’d been wearing before he’d zapped them away were neatly folded on the recliner by the fire, and she left the bed before he could stop her, leaping towards them as if towards a lifeline.

  Her legs were still trembling from the aftershocks of the experience. Her skin tingled as she lifted the peasant blouse and quickly pulled it over her head to hide her naked flesh.

  Taking a deep breath she turned towards him, her smile wobbly. “I’d love to know how you did that.” She gestured towards the skirt she was slipping over her hips. “It’s probably some secret macho trick that Trueblood fathers teach their sons when they start dating.”

  The chuckle stuck in a throat gone dry and tight with nerves. She had to get out of here, get some perspective before she lost what little control she had left.

  Zander had been lying silent on the bed, his arm covering his eyes as he caught his breath after the most amazing sex of his life. He had to focus.

  His logical mind was attempting to wrest control from his more primitive instincts that were even now howling with the need to drag his woman back where she belonged. To take her again and again until she no longer had the strength to run from him, until she could do nothing but accept the truth of their union.

  He hadn’t wanted it to end. Tasting her as she came, feeling her wet heat embracing him, the sound of her voice when she called his name. He’d wanted it all to last forever.

  But as the fire raced up his spine and blood pounded hot and heavy through his near-to-bursting cock, he knew it was wishful thinking.

  Never in all his years on this earth had he felt so out of control. And when he was able to blood-share with her once again, one step closer to total Unity with his grathita, any chance of holding back disappeared.

  She was afraid. He could feel it, even through the powerful blocks she was so very good at erecting in his path. Those blocks that were even now losing their ability to deter him as the sharing brought him further into her mind.

  He knew she had found pleasure in his arms unlike any she’d ever known. That wasn’t what caused her to flee like a frightened rabbit from the bed they’d just shared. It was Unity.

  His father had always warned him that when he found his grathita and experienced his first true sharing, the world as he knew it would be changed forever.

  Zander had scoffed along with his brother, believing himself above the silly displays of affection his mother and father so often engaged in. Their mother had them all wrapped around her little finger, but he had been so confident that no other woman would ever hold him in such sway.

  Alexander Sariel deserved one hell of an apology. But at least he’d prepared him. As prepared as anyone could be for such a personal invasion.

  Blood mates were a blessing, a beautiful gift from the Mother, but it was still a difficult transition, even for a natural-born. He could only imagine how Regina, someone so young, someone who had been human only two centuries before, would be affected by the connection.

  The knowledge that another shared your emotions, your feelings…your secrets.

  She was edging towards the door, determined to flee. A heartbeat later he was there, taking her into his arms. “I wish you’d quit trying to run away from me. You’re putting a serious dent in my ego.”

  He felt her laughter against his chest, her breath choppy. “I’m beginning to doubt a sledgehammer could accomplish that feat. Remember, I know practically everything about you now.”

  She grew still as the words slipped out of her own mouth. He knew she’d just realized what she’d admitted out loud. The very truth she’d been running from.

  He held her closer, rubbing her back in understanding, even sharing a bit of her horror at the invasion of her privacy. He wouldn’t change the miraculous act of their merging for the world. She was his heart, his grathita. But he was overwhelmed by the sadness and anger that he shared with her for what she had already experienced in her young life. The memories that rushed into him as if they were his own.

  Taken from the loving arms of her grandmother at the tender age of sixteen, in order to become little more than a slave for her father and brothers, criminals al . No control, no say in what happened in her life until, at the age of eighteen, the night before she was to be sold to a horrible man so that her father could continue to drink himself into oblivion, her life had once again been dramatically altered.

  He could only be grateful to Elizabeth, though he never believed he would ever use that word in the same sentence with the chit, for giving Regina the opportunity to escape her intended fate. Yet he knew that the young girl she’d been had been horrified when she finally realized what she had become.