“How did you know I was here? What time is it?” I shook my head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs from my brain. I felt disoriented and confused.
It was still dark beyond the windows, but there was a shimmer to the air, invisible to human eyes, which indicated dawn’s approach.
Arys watched me closely, and I felt scrutinized under his heavy gaze. Lifting an eyebrow in question, I shot him an irritated glare. He crossed his arms and cocked his hip in a way that was both sexy and told me that I was being analyzed.
“I’m surprised that you have to ask.” He glanced around before answering me. I had the strangest feeling that he was nervous. “I could feel you. Your pain … it drew me. I had to get to you. I don’t think I could have denied that need if I tried.”
Staring into his eyes, I saw the truth there and with it, love? No. I had to be imagining the emotion swimming in the abyss of his gaze. I was reminded then of two things: One, Harley stating that Arys must truly love me, and the other, another time in this house when Arys had tuned into my pain. Raoul and I had an emotional confrontation, and I had cried. Arys knew it without laying eyes on me. What was this all about?
“What?” My throat was dry, and I coughed. My dream came rushing back to me, and I was suddenly much more alert. “Arys, I dreamt about Harley. He was trying to blood bond me, and I was fighting him. So hard.” My eyes closed as I saw the image again, Harley’s fangs flashing in the light as he used his weight and power to hold me.
Arys’ expression grew dark, and his energy was alive with rage. “He wouldn’t dare.”
His fingers clenched into fists, and I grew warm from the heat of his anger. There was something in his anxious manner that betrayed his words.
“You know he would.” I reached out to him, needing to feel his cool skin, his power mingling with mine. “He’s not going to let me have you.”
Arys grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet. His arms went around my waist, pressing me against him. I looked up at him, and he bent his head to capture my lips with his in a breath-stealing kiss. I was sucked into the magnetic draw, falling into him with no resistance. The power we shared sought to control us, and I wanted to allow it. After the torrent of emotions I’d already dealt with tonight, I wasn’t afraid to let the power lead us.
I wanted to feel the freedom and release that only came with surrender.
He paused, despite my insistence. Looking down into my eyes, he placed a hand beneath my chin and forced me to look deeper into him. My heart skipped a beat when he whispered, “You already have me.”
Unmistakable human emotion filled his eyes. Try as I might to deny it, something was there, something more than I had ever expected from my vampire lover. It frightened me; it truly did, even as it excited me. I already held Shaz’ heart in my hands, precariously at that. Could I honestly say that I didn’t love Arys, in some way?
I don’t give myself to any man without reason. Perhaps the power had joined us, but it wasn’t what kept me coming back. Not entirely. Was it possible to be in love with two men, albeit very different ones? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was what I felt when I was with each of them.
It wasn’t the same. What Arys brought out of me was unlike anything I had felt with Shaz and vice versa. They each held a part of me that was all their own.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I admitted, my lips brushing his as I spoke. I paused to nibble the silver ring in his pouty lower lip. He made a sound that was a combination of a sigh and groan. “I don’t know how to love you.”
Arys ran a strong hand through my hair, balling a handful in his fist. The extremely possessive gesture spoke through dominance to the wolf in me. “You don’t know how to admit it.” The room felt alive with energy as our power danced around us. My skin almost burned with the need for release as the pressure built.
He was right. I hated when he was right. His firm hold kept me still as he dipped his tongue into my mouth, tasting of me fully. When his fangs drew blood from my lower lip, it was no accident. Sucking on the tiny wound, he pressed harder against me so there was no mistaking that his need was as great as my own.
The coppery taste of my blood in his mouth was delightful as it stirred the desire building within me. When his fangs grazed my throat, I gasped, and the adrenaline blasted through me.
“My beautiful wolf … you don’t even know what it is you mean to me.” Arys maintained his gentle but firm hold on my long blonde locks as his other hand slipped beneath my top. His cool touch was soothing. I clung to him, desperate to get my hands on any part of him that I could.
The sharp points of his fangs came to rest lightly over my jugular vein, and I could feel the sudden urge to kill rise up in him. He would never do it though. I trusted him completely, only realizing now how deep that trust went. Every time we were in a moment like this, I allowed him the choice to take my life. Dear God, I did love him.