But he would not have her for the first time when she was unconscious beneath him. He wanted to watch her face as his conquest was complete.
It would not be complete, though…of that he was now quite convinced.
It was not her body he now realized would be the greatest challenge, as it was for most. For most, the body fell last—the mind surrendered first. For her, he knew it would be the opposite. It would be her heart that would remain closed to him. And farther than that, it would be her mind that would be the ultimate prize. If she could love him, would she ever not feel regret for doing so?
Those would be the battlegrounds of their war. And what a wonderful fight it would be.
He had heard her command echo in his mind. Kiss me. She had demanded it from him. And who was he to resist such a thing? And so, he had granted it to her in full. Released of his bite, the pleasure that had been forced over her like a poison had faded, and with it she had become overwhelmed.
He had kissed her until she slipped into unconsciousness. Now he lay with his head on her chest, listening to her heartbeat, careful to keep his weight from crushing her.
Beautiful child. Wonderful child.
He had barely taken more than a few mouthfuls from her. She would not even be dizzy come the dawn. He grinned to himself and turned his head to plant a kiss against her collarbone. She was so very warm. So very soft. He growled in his unsated desires and tried to take solace in those that had been fed this night.
You are mine, Maxine. The threat he had paid her had not been an idle one. It had not been a vain statement to scare her. It was the simple truth.
This surprising child—this mistress of souls—belonged to him now.
And no one would pry her from his hands.
Maxine was dreaming.
She would have expected a nightmare. Flashes of being chased by a ghoul through the streets, perhaps. The cruel laugh of a Vampire King, threatening to steal her and consume her.
“You are mine, Maxine.”
The words echoed in her mind, the dream whispering close to her ear. But it was not a cackling laugh from the shadows. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.
She moaned in her dream. Her hands twisted in crimson sheets. He was there above her, caging her in, dark tendrils of hair draping around his alabaster features and brushing over her skin. She felt him there between her legs, lying against her, as he had been atop the tomb when he had fed from her. When his fangs had been buried in her throat.
But now, one thing had changed.
He was hilted deep in a very different way.
It was a dream. Only a desperate fantasy of her sleeping mind. The world around her was fuzzy and unreal. Intangible at the edges, like a watercolor painting left in the rain. But what was close to her—near to her—was very real.
His lips claimed hers, and she whimpered. Her stomach twisted in excitement. Despite her entire inexperience in the act itself, that didn’t stop her body from dreaming up what it might be like. From imagining the primal truth that creatures knew and desired. That was before one counted the memories she had gathered from others. Those dreams of other lives had shown her what it was like to experience intimacy from both partners’ perspectives.
But she had never known it herself. It had been an impossibility.
Until now.
When his lips trailed to her ear, she felt something change. Something shifted. The dream became…sharper. Clearer.
She was not alone.
“My, my…What a pleasant surprise.”
She went rigid and tried to push him away. Embarrassment rushed through her. But his hand caught hers. He carefully pressed it to the silk sheets beside her head. She stammered. “I—”
“Shush.” He kissed her, silencing her protests, and she cried out as he pressed his hips into hers, deeper than she had imagined the dance might possibly go. Her body might not know what it felt like—but his did. Taking from his memories, she felt the pleasure tear through her.
She moaned as he withdrew slowly, nearly all the way, before repeating the gesture and filling her. He was slow. Gentle, but unstoppable. Unwavering as he stretched her and withdrew. Moving with the same patient tempo as when he had fed from her, he was once more proving to her what he could offer