All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,21

whimpers in that high-pitched, pleading tone that drives me wild.

And then it’s too much for me. I lose my battle with lust, with control. With deSire. I dig my fingers into her flesh and fuck her so hard, the room spins.

I roar.

I come.

Something in me opens. Uncorks. A flood of emotions pour out of me—tangled ones that feel like love, heartbreak, grief, commitment.

Everything I’d experienced so long ago.

The last time I loved and lost.

The pain of watching the woman I loved die, and knowing I must live on.

Dammit. I can’t do this again.

Gwen

I had no idea sex could feel this good. I definitely need to make up for lost time.

Dimitri eases out of me, and everything’s perfect. Or so I think.

He climbs off the bed and walks swiftly to the window.

I look over my shoulder at him, still holding the position he put me in. His brow is knit, his closed fist rests on the wall.

For a moment, I think he’s going to be sick or something. Why did he race away?

I swing my legs off the bed, and he puts up a hand.

“Stay there, babygirl. Stay in bed.” He’s still not facing me.

I don’t follow orders. I scramble after him “What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No.” His chest rises and falls. He’s magnificent in the moonlight; a lean giant with a perfect profile. As I watch, he tosses his head back, groaning as if he can’t take in air.

“Dimitri?” I’m close enough to touch him, so I do.

His head snaps towards me.

I fall back a step. His canines are really long. Too long. “Dimitri, what’s happening?”

“Come to me, little one.” He opens his arms. I’m helpless in his thrall. I go to him. He half lifts me, easily cradling me against his chest.

“I knew this was a mistake.” He sounds mournful.

I open my mouth in a silent cry. First Chad, now him? The rejection hurts so much. “Did you not want me?”

“I want you, Gwen. I want you too much.”

His head moves so fast, I don’t quite follow it. I’m still processing the blurred motion when I feel a prick on the side of my neck. And then golden liquid pours through me, warm and delicious, like honey simmering in my veins.

“Dimitri,” I cry out as my orgasm crashes over me like a giant wave, carrying me away. I thrash in his arms, practically fighting, but he grips me tighter, his lips still fastened on my throat.

After a moment, he carries me to the bed and lays me down, licking the side of my neck.

“Did you just… bite me? What's happening?” I cup his face and turn him to face me. I need to see.

Sure enough, there are his canines, white and long and dipped in blood. My blood.

“You're not afraid,” he says with wonder, and reality comes crashing down.

I drop my hands from his face and straighten. “Are you going to hurt me?”

“No, little one. You won't remember.”

“But I want to remember.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “You won’t remember me.”

It’d hurt less if he’d stabbed me in the heart. I move back, my hand on my chest. “What?”

“You can’t know this. You can’t know what I am. You can’t know me.” He continues in a low voice, as if talking to himself, “This can’t work. This isn’t meant to be. I can’t fall in love again.”

I’ve lived too long. I’ve loved and lost.

“You had to watch the woman you loved die because you live on,” I blurt, desperate to hold onto something. To snatch at the threads of this thing unraveling between us.

A deep sadness settles in his expression. “Yes,” he admits.

“We were together before, weren’t we? Last night? Did you make me forget?”

“You can’t know what I am,” he repeats, as if that explains everything.

“But I remembered,” I persist. “It didn’t work.”

“I’m sorry.”

He sounds like he’s apologizing for what he’s about to do, not for it not working last night. I swallow. “So, what are you going to do?” My voice comes out a lot more serene than I feel.

“Nothing terrible. Just a trick of memory, to make you forget.”

“How is that not terrible?” I come to my knees beside him. “Dimitri, I want to remember. Why would you send me away?”

He cups my neck. I lean into the caress until I realize what he’s doing. With a tug, he undoes the ribbon, the makeshift collar he gave me.

“No!” I grab it before he can toss it away.

“We can’t be together, Gwen. You’re human and I’m… I’m not.”

“You're