immortal, if that is still your desire. And from that moment henceforth, you’ll be an impossibly stubborn, fiercely beautiful vampire queen whom I vow to love and protect for the rest of eternity.”
Charlotte gasped, a new light dancing through her coppery gaze. “Sounds an awful lot like a real date, Mr. Redthorne.”
Dorian was captivated once again by her eyes, and for a moment he said nothing—just allowed himself to get lost in them, memorizing the threads of gold, the light, the sparkle, the storm.
“Is this truly what you want?” he finally asked.
She took his face between her hands and smiled. “It’s truly what I want, Dorian. But only if you want it to.”
“I do, love,” he said, and despite his lingering fears, that was the truth. “But you must promise me you’ll do exactly as I say. Once I determine your heart has slowed enough—almost to a stop—you’ll need to drink my blood. Your body may reject the taste at first, but you have to fight through it. If you don’t take my blood, your heart will—”
“I’ll take it. I promise.”
“Maybe I… I should call Isabelle. Or Colin. If anything goes wrong, they can help—”
“No. Just you, Dorian. You and me.” She put her hand over his heart again and smiled. “I trust you. I trust us.”
Dorian let out a deep exhale. “All right, love. You and me.”
They stripped out of the last of their clothing, then he turned her toward the window again, both of them gazing out across the rolling hills to the river beyond. In the early evening light, it was a copper vein drinking in the last golden rays of the setting sun.
It was beautiful.
It was perfect.
Dorian swept her long hair aside, blazing a trail of kisses down the back of her neck, the taste of her skin a remedy that chased away the last of his fears.
Bracing her hands against the window, Charlotte arched her back, and he slid his cock between her thighs, entering her from behind with a soft, slow rhythm as his hands wandered her luscious curves. He skimmed over her hips, up the sides of her ribcage, sliding forward to cup her breasts. She moaned softly as he grazed her nipples, teasing and tugging, dragging his lips down the gentle slope between her neck and shoulder, hovering over her pulse point.
It beat for him, singing to him as it always did, an invitation as blissful as it was dangerous.
Taste me, I’m yours… Taste me...
Dorian’s cock thickened in anticipation, his fangs descending, everything in him throbbing with need.
Charlotte let out a sigh of ecstasy.
“I love you,” he whispered against her pale skin.
And then…
He bit her.
She cried out in pleasure, in pain, her body tensing, her heartbeat kicking into a frantic thrum as Dorian’s fangs pierced the artery. Warm blood pooled in his mouth, and for a brief instant he savored the unique pleasure, the richness, the utter decadence.
A possessive growl rumbled through his chest.
Mine.
He swallowed it down, the taste of it making him dizzy.
And then, at long last, he began to suck.
Charlotte finally relaxed into the bite, the pain receding as the intense pleasure took hold. He gripped her hips and slid deeper inside her, stroking her, teasing her, guiding her body through the wild sensations he knew she was now feeling—the rush of heat from the pleasure of the bite and the slide of his rock-hard cock. The lightheadedness as the blood loss set in. The unmistakable tug of a human soul desperate to flee a dying body.
And she was dying. Every second Dorian fed, he pushed her a little closer to that black, terrifying edge.
He held her life in his hands. In his mouth. If he took too much blood, if he didn’t initiate the change in time, if her heart spasmed, she’d die.
Charlotte’s hands slid from the window, her arms falling to her sides as her body continued to weaken.
And still, Dorian drank.
Taste me, I’m yours…
Deeper. Darker. More.
Taste me…
Her pulse slowed.
Taste me…
So faint, he had to strain to hear it. To feel it.
Taste me…
And then it was nothing more than a memory, and she let out her last breath, collapsing backward against his chest.
With one arm holding her upright, his cock aching for release inside her, Dorian dragged his mouth from her throat and bit hard into his wrist. He pressed it to her lips and whispered his command against her ear.
“Drink, love. Do it now.”
He waited, counted to ten, held his breath, but still, Charlotte didn’t respond. Not