Hunter's disclosure of Mira's vision had nearly rent them apart. Corinne exhaled a shaky sigh. "At least we were able to change the outcome of the vision. If nothing else, at least we know now that not everything Mira sees must come true."
Hunter shook his head. "There was no altering of what I saw in Mira's eyes. The vision she showed me played out exactly as she predicted. It was my interpretation that was wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything you said in those last few moments was part of it, Corinne. You asked me to spare him. You pleaded for me to let him go. All your words, just as you said them, were part of Mira's precognition." He brought her fingers up to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to them.
"When I raised my hand and prepared to bring it down on him, you physically tried to stop me. And I let my hand drop anyway. I had to - it was the only way."
"I don't understand," she murmured. "You didn't kill Nathan. The vision was wrong."
"No," he said. "The blow I delivered should have killed him - it would have, if his collar had not been disabled. That was the thing I didn't know, the thing the vision had not revealed to me. I didn't realize until the moment it was happening that the strike I made against your son was meant to save his life, not take it away."
"Thank God," Corinne whispered, curling herself into the shelter of his embrace. "But Nathan is gone anyway. I've lost him, just the same."
"We will find him," Hunter said, his deep voice rumbling from all around her, low and soothing, as strong as his protective arms. "I give you my vow on this, Corinne. No matter how long it takes, or how far I must go to see it through. I will do this ... I do it for you. Everything for you."
She turned her head to gaze up at him, moved by his promise.
"I love you," he told her. "My life now and for the rest of my years is committed to your happiness."
"Oh, Hunter," she sighed, emotion catching in her throat. "I love you so much. You've already shown me happiness I didn't think possible for a very long time."
He bent and dropped a kiss on her brow. "And I have never known any of the things you've made me feel in our brief time together. You have made me want to experience everything in life. I want to experience it all with you at my side ... as my mate, if you deem me worthy."
"I don't want to live a day without you either," she confessed. "You are a part of me now."
"I want that," he said, catching her lips in a sensual, passionate joining of their mouths. When he drew back a moment later, his eyes were glowing bright as coals. His fangs gleamed, the sharp points extending even farther as he gazed at her. "I can't help but desire you. I want to taste you again. This feeling I have for you is more than intense," he said roughly. "It is a possessive thing, greedy. I look at you, Corinne Bishop, and all I can think is that you are mine. "
"I am yours," she confirmed, stroking the proud jaw and muscled cheek of the male she wanted beside her eternally. "I am yours alone, Hunter. Yours forever."
With a growl, he pulled her into another, deeper kiss. "I want you to belong to me," he murmured against her mouth. "I want to know my blood lives inside you, as a part of you."
"Yes," she gasped, thrilling to the idea of binding herself to him now and for always. Their eyes locked together, he raised his wrist to his mouth and sank his long fangs into the flesh. He brought it to her, the most precious gift he could give her. Corinne put her lips to his opened vein and drew the first taste of him into her mouth.
His blood hit her tongue like wildfire.
Thick and strong and roaring with power, it was the very essence of all Hunter was. And now that vitality was feeding her, enriching her cells, filling her senses ... weaving into every fiber of her being. She felt the bond take hold, a radiant, glorious connection. She grabbed on to it and let it wrap around her, reveling in the total saturation of joy that engulfed her as she continued to