Again he tried to pull away and again she held tight, sliding herself against him. Kyrian ground his teeth, trying to stave off his orgasm.
It worked until he felt her climax again. The sound of her cry combined with her clutching him was more than he could take. Against his will, his body released.
Kyrian leaned his head back and shouted from the ferocity of his pleasure. There was truly nothing better than being in Amanda's arms. Her body.
For the first time in two thousand years, he felt at home.
And as those tender feelings swept through him, he felt his Dark-Hunter powers recede again.
No!
Amanda kissed him lightly on the lips and rolled over with him. He was too weak to protest. All he could do was stare up at her.
She left the bed and pulled on a robe.
"Amanda?" he called.
She returned a moment later with a glass of wine. "Everything is all right. I'm here, my love," she said.
She held the glass of wine to his lips. Trusting her completely, he drank it.
After a few minutes, the room began to swim. "What are you doing?" he asked as a feeling of dread consumed him.
But he already knew.
Like Theone all those centuries ago, she had drugged him.
The last sight he had was of her opening the door to admit Desiderius into his bedroom.
Kyrian came awake with his hands tied above his head. He was positioned against a dark, dank wall inside an unfamiliar house. The old-fashioned room was lit by candles that cast dancing shadows around him and he heard whispers surrounding him. By the looks of the place, he would surmise it was an older home probably not all that far from his own house down in the Garden District.
Scanning the room, he found Amanda and Desiderius standing a few feet away from him with Desiderius's arm draped around her shoulders.
Disbelief overwhelmed him.
Not again. Dear gods, not again.
How could he have been so damned stupid?
His mind had tried to tell him something had been wrong. He'd even known Desiderius would be able to get to Amanda. But he hadn't listened. He'd let his love for her, his need for her, blind him.
Kyrian clenched his eyes shut.
What hurt most was knowing what Desiderius would do to her once he killed him. Without him to protect her, Amanda was at Desiderius's utter mercy.
It really would be like Theone all over again. Once Valerius had executed him, the Roman had thrown Theone out, saying he didn't want a whore in his bed who might ruthlessly hand him over to his enemies someday.
Since Theone had betrayed the military leader of the Macedonians and caused their defeat, she'd been unable to return home. The villa she had loved so much had been burned to the ground. Everything she'd held dear had been confiscated.
Persecuted by his countrymen, she had fled Greece to Rome where she ended up a prostitute in a rundown stew.
She'd died of disease less than two years after him.
In the end, she had caused the very fate she had tried so hard to avert.
Opening his eyes, Kyrian saw Amanda a few feet away from him. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. With her hair pulled back, he could see her profile perfectly as she clutched a doll to her.
How could she do this to him?