“I’ve never felt special,” she breathed, her fingers unconsciously stroking over the satin-smooth skin of his chest.
He muttered a low curse, his lips skimming her furrowed brow. “Because your fiancé is an arrogant prick who wouldn’t recognize a female of worth if she bit him on the arse.”
True. But that hadn’t been her point.
“I never had expectations from Magnus,” she corrected, feeling a familiar sadness pierce her heart. It didn’t seem to matter how many years passed. She would always be that little girl who ached for her father’s love. “But it would have been nice if Sariel had bothered to notice me as more than a piece of property to be bartered for his own gain.”
“Forget him.” He lifted his head to study her with a somber expression. “He doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”
“It’s not that easy. He’s my family.”
Something flared deep in the jade eyes. “Not anymore,” he reminded her in a soft voice.
Fallon flinched at the blunt reminder that she would soon be shunned.
God Almighty. Once she’d cursed the tedious peace of her days. She hated playing the role of submissive princess. She hated having her life ruled by her father, and later by Magnus. She hated the fear that she would never travel beyond her homeland.
But now the tumultuous changes in her life were all happening too fast.
“You’re right,” she rasped, her voice thick with pain. “I’ve been . . .” She couldn’t even speak the awful words.
“Don’t,” he growled, holding her gaze as his fingers threaded through her tangled hair. “I’ve got you.”
She blinked back her tears. “You don’t understand.”
“No?” His gaze lowered to the dejected droop of her lips. “I was abandoned by my sire before I even woke as a vampire. I would have died in those caves. Hell, for all I know, he intended to kill me.”
Fallon grimaced. “Okay, maybe you do understand.”
“Aye.” His expression softened. “But I found a new family. And I’ve never stopped appreciating what they did for me.”
Shying away from the mere thought of never seeing her homeland again, she slid her hand beneath his hair, her fingers brushing over the dragon she’d seen tattooed on his shoulder blade. It was a stunningly beautiful symbol of his position.
“Is that why you became a clan chief?”
“In part.” His fingers combed through her hair, his touch soothing even as it began to stir the familiar heat in the pit of her stomach. “It was a terrifying experience to awake alone with no memory of who or what I was. I intended to make sure that I never felt that vulnerable again.”
She twitched beneath the heavy weight of his body, her mouth going dry as she felt his cock harden against her hip. The heat was beginning to spread through her, those delicious tingles of anticipation making her shiver.
Good . . . Lord.
She was supposed to be a proper princess, not a harpy in heat.
“What was the other part?” she demanded, trying to distract herself.
The jade eyes darkened as Cyn reacted to her unmistakable arousal, his fangs visible between his lips.
“I’m a bossy, conceited bastard who likes to be in charge.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” she said, her breath hissing between her teeth as his lips brushed her forehead before skimming down her cheek.
“I also like protecting my family.” He nuzzled the edge of her mouth, one hand still tangled in her hair while the other traced the curve of her hip. “Nothing and no one is allowed to harm those I consider mine.”
I consider mine . . .
The words should have made her panic.
Her entire life had been filled with overbearing males thinking she belonged to them. First her father and then Magnus.
The last thing she wanted was another man with a caveman mentality.
But it wasn’t panic that was making her heart flutter, or her stomach quiver.
“We should discuss what happened,” she abruptly announced, needing a distraction.
“Discuss?” Cyn chuckled, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. “I’d rather share a physical demonstration.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Our astonishing bout of mind-blowing sex?” he smoothly interrupted, using his fang to trace the vein that ran down the side of her throat.
Sparks of pleasure shot through her. She moaned, battling against the impulse to tilt back her head and urge those fangs to sink deep into her throat.
Cyn had already made it clear he didn’t consider her blood worthy of his finicky appetite.
“We need to find out who the man was sneaking through the caves,” she clarified.
“I would suggest that we contact Siljar, but I’m no longer confident that the Commission hasn’t been compromised,” he said, his thoughts clearly not on the mysterious cloaked figure. Not when his hand was slowly stroking up to cup her breast. “Clearly the Oracle Phyla has some connection to the magic-user.”
Fallon gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. “I can try to scry for him.”
That got his attention.
Jerking up his head, he glared down at her.