Such a small price to pay for the companion of a lifetime, he decided.
“I love you, Kat,” he whispered when their lips parted from yet another kiss. “And I love our weekend getaway.”
She had suggested that they spend a romantic weekend at the forest retreat that she had picked out on the Internet. They rented a cabin, and upon arriving, ensured that its windows were blocked out with dark cardboard from the sun’s lethal, ultraviolet radiation.
“As I love you,” she softly replied before kissing his lips, his cheek, and the soft skin of his neck. She listened to the melodic rush of blood pulsing through his arteries and the rhythmic harmony of his heartbeat causing her thirst to build.
He noted that his lover’s eyes were still glowing green, like two small emerald orbs in the darkness. That meant one of three things: she was angry, aroused, or hungry. Somehow, he felt that aroused was a possibility, but hunger was most likely given his recent open wound and her tasting him. He couldn’t recall the last time that she had fed, though they had brought plastic packets of blood with them to store in the cabin refrigerator.
“Want a little nibble?” he quietly offered.
Katrina kissed his neck once more. “Do you mind?”
She’s so polite to me on that topic, he noted appreciatively. She had never once taken blood from him without his approval. It was one of the things that she had promised him after declaring him her mate.
“Happy to oblige,” he replied with a grin.
She gently guided him to the ground and encouraged him to lean back against a large fallen tree trunk while adjusting his posture for easy access to his neck. While she didn’t have to draw blood from the neck, it was her favorite location.
Call me a traditionalist, she reflected.
She squatted down to straddle his body between her knees then bent towards him while placing her hands on either side of his body. Her soft lips kissed his neck and formed a seal against his skin. As she pressed her tongue against him, he felt the telltale numbness begin to grow. He held very still, and moments later, he felt an increased pressure as her fangs fully penetrated him.
Small, slurping sounds emitted from her as he lay prone with his eyes closed. The darkness and sedate sounds of the forest were soothing as he floated on a sea of euphoria. He relished such peaceful moments of tranquil bonding with Katrina. However, the time slipped away before he knew it. The slurping ceased, and she withdrew her fangs from his neck. Finally, her tongue pressed against his skin, and she gathered additional saliva to the wound area until it sealed fully.
“Thank you,” she whispered before affectionately kissing his lips. He’s perfect for me, she resolved in contentment.
“Anything for you, Kat.”
They leaned back against the fallen tree trunk for a time, merely appreciating each other’s company and the peaceful Georgia night. Beyond the canopy of treetops, the sky’s blanket of darkness provided the perfect backdrop for a spectacle of stars, at which Caleb thoughtfully gazed. When he shivered from the growing chill in the air, Katrina extended her arm across his shoulders, pulling him close against her body.
His eyes moved from scanning the stars to gazing into her beautiful green eyes. He marveled at the wonder that was the stunningly beautiful woman sitting next to him.
She’s a phenomenon! She’s nearly five hundred years old, and yet, her body’s cells regenerate almost magically. He envied that she would appear thirty forever.
He smirked as he pondered her angelic profile while she stared into the night sky.
Yeah, and as if that weren’t enough, there’s always her blazing-fast speed, tremendous physical strength, hypersensitive senses of vision, smell and hearing, and immunity to illness or diseases. Never mind that she has virtually no need to sleep, and her endurance is seemingly limitless.
As if sensing his close inspection, her attention reverted to him.
“Such a penetrating stare. What are you thinking, my love?” she softly queried.
He appears mesmerized, she recognized, and I’m not even trying to hypnotize him.
A knot formed in the pit of her stomach at that thought. Not that I’d ever try that again, she resolved. It seemed like only a few years since she had managed to hypnotize Caleb as a child to encourage him to forget about her killing his abusive father before his very eyes. The effort had worked at the time and allowed him to grow up believing that his father