Black Magic Rose (32 page)

She rocked her hips. “I already know our lives are tied to each other.”
 

Whether it was her rhythmic movements or the way she blinked those green eyes, Dragomir couldn’t say, but his cock hardened again.

He gripped her hips, stopping her from distracting him. He had to ensure she knew before she drove him too far.
 

“Our lives will become as one. This is not the place for us to discuss this, not like this.” Dragomir untangled them, lifted her up and off him, and placed her on her feet in front of him much to both their disappointments.
 

“I’m not getting out of the shower,” she said. “You explain it here. I was having a good time.” Her hands went to her hips.
 

He shook his head. He’d been having a good time, too as was clearly evidenced by his still throbbing erection.
 

“If we drink from each other while making love, we will seal our union. At this moment you can still walk away. It won’t be comfortable, but you could live apart from me.” Dragomir positioned Sofia back under the water when he saw goose bumps rise on her skin. “To consummate our joining will force you to be with me. You won’t be able to leave. Your freedom to walk away, to have a life without me ends. You will need me.”
 

“We both drink?” Her nose twitched.
 

Chapter Twenty-nine

 
“Yes. We must both drink.” Dragomir’s gaze on Sofia was unyielding.
 

She stepped forward to allow the water to drill into her back, which suddenly tensed as though she’d been the one holding him up for the last twenty minutes. “We already did that.”

“The true bond is formed during the act of love, when we give ourselves to each other completely with no reservations, with no threats or worries.”
 

He was nervous. Sofia felt it. His emotions were jumbled. Excited, happy, frightened, worried. She’d never noticed so many things before, not even in herself. She didn’t like seeing him worry.
 

“I cannot allow you to enter into this without fully understanding.” He shivered.
 

Sofia pulled him under the water. “Tell me then.” She held his hands and looked up at him. There were so many things she needed to know. She just wished they could have found another moment to discuss them.

“The bond of true mates is more powerful than anything else. It transcends life, death, the afterlife. You would be swearing yourself to me, agreeing to be at my side, to take my place in all matters, even battles.”
 

Sofia reached for the knob this time. Maybe this really wasn’t the best place for the discussion. “But I’m not a vampire. I’m not even half as strong as you, and I’m no warrior. I don’t understand any of the vampire rules.” She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower into the towel Dragomir held for her.
 

“The laws, I can teach you over time. There’s no need to understand them all now. It’s the commitment you must acknowledge.” He stood in front of her naked, gingerly rubbing a towel over her hair.
 

She couldn’t help but notice his arousal. The desire to touch him crept back over her. If she didn’t have so many questions, she wouldn’t have been able to keep her hands off him.
 

“I thought we were already trapped together?” She forced her gaze up.

“Yes to an extent. But you could still choose to be away from me.”
 

“Or you from me?”

“Yes, but that is not going to happen. I’ve made my decision. I’ve given my heart to you freely.” He stopped massaging her hair.
 

“I did the same.”
 

“You threw yourself between me and a stake. I believe it was a promise made under duress.” He pulled a comb through her tangled hair, gently working out the knots. “You did it to avoid a violent outcome.”

“I would do it again.” She unwrapped the towel from around her and dried Dragomir’s chest. “I can’t explain why I feel this way. I just know as sure as I’m standing here that I would do it again and as plain as day I feel a connection with you all the way into my soul.”
 

“You will never remove the violence of my world, Sofia.” His hands caught the towel as she began to rub his belly. “You must accept that you live in a different world than before, one where you will be tested. You will be required to defend yourself and possibly to strike first.”
 

“I know.” She could barely think the words aloud. Actually hearing them come out of her mouth was nearly a shock. But she said them, staring up into his eyes. “I know this world is different. I don’t understand it all. I know it’s not Disneyland. But if this is where you are, it’s where I want to be.”
 

The tingling began in Sofia’s neck. It traveled down her abdomen, to her toes and out to her fingertips. Her head tingled as though every strand of hair was energized. Dragomir’s woodsy-soapy scent came to her. Only now it was perfumed with something sweet, flowery. She breathed in the aroma, wanting to hold it inside her forever.

Dragomir inhaled a slow breath. “Do you see it? Our bond holds us together.”

She didn’t see it. She felt it. Just as she felt the connections the wolves had, she recognized her bond to Dragomir. As two energies flowed together into each other she felt them merge to one, stronger together than alone, bound by some metaphysical force. Warm, hot even, but cool to the touch. Comforting and strong. Powerful yet soft. It wrapped around them and Sofia couldn’t help but fall into it.
 

She sighed. “I feel it. I feel you, your love. Take mine. Keep it in your heart forever.” She pressed her hands to his chest.
 

Dragomir gasped and threw back his head. He jerked Sofia into his embrace, holding her tight against him, and moaned loudly.
 

She licked her way across his chest, catching one of his nipples between her teeth and sucking.
 

“Ah. Sofia.” He drew out her name and shuddered. His hands held her in place. His head rested on hers.
 

After a moment of listening to his ragged breathing Sofia giggled.
 

His hands came to her neck and he cupped her face. “You surprise me at every turn, my love.”

She smiled. “Well, who knew that could happen?” She certainly had no idea she could give him an orgasm just by touching his chest. That had never happened to her before. “Must be an erogenous zone.” She traced circles over his heart.

“I had heard of such things. Just never experienced…” He grinned and his voice dropped to a low, throaty growl. Then he yanked the towel from between them and picked her up, peppering her cheeks and neck with kisses. “Let me show you what I can do.”
 

Chapter Thirty

Sofia lay panting beside Dragomir. He drew a lazy zigzag pattern up and down the inside of her thigh and she shuddered, nearly into convulsions. He fought to hide a surge of pride. Her head rolled toward him and her eyes fluttered open. “Stop that. You’ve done quite enough for one night.”
 

“Hardly.” He turned her on her side and cuddled her in the curve of his body. Her hair fanned out on the pillow above them. He nestled into it, willing to let her rest, but ready to take her again.
 

He’d pleased her quite well. Her limp body was testament to that. Those big doe eyes that had stared up at him when he first brought her to the bed had morphed into the most seductive pair of bedroom eyes he’d ever seen. She’d hardly needed any prompting to unleash her inner vixen.
 

She wasn’t skilled and hadn’t seen a lot. Two facts that pleased him more than he could ever explain. The thought of another man’s hands, lips, or any other part on Sofia made Dragomir’s vision fade to black and white. He’d gladly kill anyone who even thought about touching her.
 

Sofia sighed and snuggled further under the blanket. She yanked the pillow down under her chin, rolling it into a ball to fit in the curve of her neck. “Good night,” she mumbled.
 

“Good night, love.” He kissed her cheek and placed his head on the tiny corner of the pillow she hadn’t claimed. Maybe he wouldn’t get another. He certainly didn’t mind sharing. He couldn’t have been more comfortable with her in his bed. He tightened his hold.
 

He planned to keep her in bed for a few days. Food. He’d need to order some food for her. If he hadn’t been so damn comfortable, he’d have gotten up then to get it, but there was no way he’d leave her side the first night he had her, not even to acquire items to please her.
 

He watched the glittering cloud swirl above them. Their bond. He grinned. She was his and he, hers. Given freely to each other. Soon that faint cloud shimmering in the night would illuminate their quarters. It would be all the light they’d need. And even when the bond was sealed so tightly no one else could see it, they’d still be able to call upon it to guide them.
 

He replayed her soft pleas in his mind. “Take from me. Seal us together. Forever.” She’d tilted her head back, offering the tender flesh of her neck. But he’d already marked her there.
 

When he’d shaken his head, she gasped, eyes flooding so quickly Dragomir almost bit her to stop the tears. “Why?” All the seduction drained from her voice, leaving only hurt and worry. “Not there.” He kissed his way to her breast, sucked the nipple into his mouth. “Not here, either.”
 

The so recent memory of the most perfect moments of his existence made him hard. He lay behind her solid as a rock and wanting very much to wake her with a good hard orgasm. But he restrained himself, replaying the moment in his head. “Where?” A breathier whisper filled with desire had never been spoken. He’d kissed her belly, suckled her hips, poised his open mouth on her inner thighs and grinned. Her heart raced. Her sweet scent filled the air. He followed it to the source. “Here.” He licked her clit then dove lower, sliding his tongue inside her so fast she bucked into him.
 

He watched her back arch, breasts pointed to the ceiling. Her hands bunched in his hair. She tried to wrap her legs around him, but he pinned them open, wanting to see every move she made.
 

Sofia had screamed his name when his tongue found the spot that brought her to come. Her sweet juices flowed and he drank her, like a drunken man he drank. When she began to relax and he knew she thought he was finished, he bit and sent her spiraling into her next round of orgasms. This time she cried. Tears rolled down her temples, and she begged him never to leave her, never to stop. “Promise you’ll always love me.”

The demand brought him up to kiss her lips. “Always. Until the end of days.”
 

“Let me drink from you again.” Another demand holding more than just possession. Love.

He pulled a knife from his bedside table and pierced the skin over his heart.
 

“No. Your neck.”

He brought the blade to his throat. “Why? Why not near my heart?”

“I want everyone to see you’re mine.” She wrapped her hand over his and nodded.
 

Dragomir sliced into his skin. Sofia pushed him down, pinned him beneath her, and drank from him. As the slash began to heal she bit into his neck, clamping her blunt teeth around the wound. Pain seared into him until she sucked it away.
 

Just the memory of her taking from him, claiming him as her own brought him too close to the edge. He nuzzled her neck. “Sofia. Wake up, love. I want you again.”
 

“So soon?” She started to roll toward him.
 

“Stay. I want you now.” He hooked his hand under her thigh and pulled her top leg up then slid into her, burying himself as far as he could.
 

“Oh.” The surprised moan didn’t help to contain him.
 

“Don’t say anything else. I’ll never last.”
 

She didn’t, but the soft giggle unleashed him and he roared as he held her against him and pumped into her, stroking, kissing, squeezing, praying he’d be able to hold on for long enough. It was a miracle they were so well matched. If she’d lasted any longer, he’d have ended in misery for not pleasing her.
 

“You’re insatiable.” She panted and pushed her hair away from her face and neck.
 

“Only when it comes to you.” His leg draped over hers.
 

She was right. He was insatiable. The moment he pulled out of her he wanted to be inside her again or tasting her or kissing her. He hadn’t experienced this feeling of excitement and unbridled desire since his transformation. It was very much like being a new vampire. Lustful, hungry, needy. Wild emotions colliding with common sense.
 

He’d need to get a hold of himself, if he wanted to keep her happy and not hurt.
 

“Dragomir?” Sofia twisted around to face him.
 

He raised his leg so she didn’t struggle, but lowered it right down the moment she stopped moving.