Then he remembered a critical fact. To return home, Trehan had to eliminate all who witnessed him-except for his Bride. The far-fetched loophole that was too ridiculous to consider had happened tonight!
Thoughts of witnesses and ancient laws faded, replaced by an instinctive protectiveness.
Could she feel the same pull toward him? She was born of a different species. From the tales he'd heard of otherlander Brides, he knew she wouldn't automatically want him with the same ferocity with which he desired her.
"So happy you've come to me," she whispered in a slurred tone, eyeing him with such a proprietary glance that he was taken aback. "To my bed." She was looking him dead in the face, but acting as if they'd met before.
Then comprehension struck. She was of the Sorceri; it was likely that she-or one of her kind-had foreseen her mate. Of course!
"Been waiting for you, darling."
At her words, excitement soared inside him. A shade with a stupefyingly boring existence? No longer.
He merely needed to complete this blooding, then take his new Bride back to his underworld realm. His target could wait until she was safely ensconced in Dacia.
Then this delicate sorceress would grace his home-and his bed-for all eternity.
He knew of other males who'd felt panic at this realization; Trehan experienced only satisfaction. Secret longings resurfaced, at last to be appeased.
I am ready for her.
At that moment, his lungs started to expand. He inhaled deeply, until they felt too big for his chest. Blood rushed to his shaft, hardening it. He groaned as it distended against the confining fabric of his pants.
His gaze raked from her pert br**sts to her waist, dropping to the titillating skirt that bared most of her gently flaring h*ps and her long, shapely legs.
Her Sorceri adornments-the collar around her neck and the gold climbing her pale arms-now struck him as unbearably erotic.
A sexy, delicate sorceress. Apparently I've been waiting for you as well.
Long-dormant drives came roaring back to life-to mate, to claim, to bite? After eons, he hungered.
No, not hunger! Dacians didn't pierce the flesh of others. He wanted only to possess and master her.
But first, he had questions. What is the name of my pretty Bride? Why are you so drunk? What is your connection to this demon realm?
He'd gone the better part of a millennium without bedding a female. Will you forgive how out of practice I am with all this?
She gazed up at him from under her lashes. "I won't disappoint you, I swear it."
Disappoint him? "I am-"
She raised her fingertips to cover his lips. "Shh. Don't say a word. Please. You're in my bedroom for a reason. Let me show you how right you were to come here." She began unlacing her bodice, shimmying from the material. With a shy grin, she tossed it aside to bare the most exquisite little br**sts he'd ever seen.
At the sight of her rosy ni**les tightening before his eyes, Trehan's powerful, rational mind went blank, his questions forgotten.
Bettina had awakened to a darkened room.
All her candles had burned out, but she'd sensed a male's presence, an awareness that made her skin tingle. She'd barely been able to discern the outline of his towering form.
Cas! He'd returned. How to get him to stay? she'd thought in a drunken panic. How to get him into my bed?
So she'd taken off her top. His response: a sharp intake of breath. Which told her he either liked the view-or was merely surprised by her daring.
Talk to him; don't let him get away! "I'm going to make you so glad you've come to me, darling," she said, but she could hear herself slurring. You've got one shot at this, one shot at a future worth having!
Strike fast and hard? She would seduce him yet. When she piled her hair atop her head and arched her back in invitation, he gave a not-so-subtle growl. A growl of appreciation? Or frustration that he couldn't have what he wanted?
She fretted her bottom lip, letting down her hair. But as soon as the locks concealed her br**sts, she felt two wisps of air as he swiftly swept her hair back over her shoulders.