chapter 38
By the time all human witnesses to the fight had had their memories wiped and the injured had been taken care of, it was almost daytime.
Blake’s injury had healed quickly, and he seemed to suddenly be all excited about the fact that he was related to two vampires.
“So, tell me more. What was it like to see history happen?” Blake asked Rose, his eyes wide.
She smiled. “You don’t think it’s history when you’re right in the middle of it. It becomes history later.”
“There you are.”
Rose turned to see Quinn enter the living room. Her heartbeat instantly spiked. They hadn’t had a single minute alone since the fight, and she yearned to feel his arms around her. But she also knew that she owned him something—the truth.
“Can we talk?” she asked him. “In private.”
“Of course.” Quinn smiled at his grandson. “Excuse us, Blake.”
As Quinn followed her out of the room and up the stairs, her body tensed. The moment they entered their bedroom, she turned to him.
“Now that Blake is safe, it’s time for the truth.”
His expression was serious when he nodded without saying anything.
“We have to talk about Wallace, your sire.”
She avoided looking at him, tears threatening to overwhelm her. She forced them back. Once he knew the truth, her life would be over. But she was ready. Blake was safe, and Quinn would make sure it remained that way. She had fulfilled all promises she’d made to Charlotte.
“Wallace turned me against my will. He attacked me as I tried to flee London, murdered my coachman, and made me into this. Wallace is dead. I killed him the night I awoke as a vampire.”
Lifting her chin, she looked at Quinn. Her revelation didn’t seem to surprise him much.
He simply nodded. “I know.”
Shock coursed through her veins. “You do? How?”
“I guessed it when I read Keegan’s text messages. Thomas set it up so he got duplicates of everything that was sent. I put two and two together. I realized that the only reason why you couldn’t tell me about your turning had to be because it would lead back to Wallace.”
She swallowed hard, wondering why he had even bothered saving her, knowing what she’d done.
“Now that you know, do what you need to do. Kill me to avenge your sire’s death.”
She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow that would end her life.
Quinn stared at her. She had confirmed what he’d assumed ever since he’d read Keegan’s message. And it made his heart bleed. Anger welled up, made his chest heavy with pain and guilt. How could his sire have betrayed him like this? How could he have let it happen?
“I would have killed him myself if I had known what he did to you!”
Rose’s eyes shot open, her surprised gaze pinning him. “You would have . . . but . . .” Her voice faltered.
“Of course I would have. He hurt you! Wallace hurt you. And I promised to keep you safe. When I married you, I pledged my life to you. And I failed you.” Because he now realized that it was all his fault. He had caused this.
“But I thought you would avenge your sire’s death. It’s an unwritten law. An urge . . .”
“Where do you get that notion from?”
“You mean it’s not true? But I was told by multiple vampires. And I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen a vampire kill his lover because she’d killed his sire. I’ve seen it,” she insisted.
“It’s a vampire law, all right. But I don’t subscribe to it. I never did. It’s savage. And it’s certainly not an urge. It’s an excuse vampires use as an outlet for their rage.” He stretched his arm out to stroke her cheek. “I would have never hurt you.”
“Oh God,” she whispered, a tear running freely down her cheek. “I wasted all those years.”
He pulled her into his embrace. “You hid from me because you thought I’d kill you. Oh, Rose, I wish you would have come to me, talked to me. We could have . . .”
He stopped himself, easing her away from him. She’d come clean; now it was for him to tell her the truth too. He had no right to hide his own guilt.
“It’s all my fault, Rose. What Wallace did to you . . . it’s because of me.”
She stared at him, an expression of dread on her face. “What do you mean?”
Quinn ran a shaky hand through his hair and dropped his lids. “I told him that if he couldn’t help me gain your love back, he might as well leave. He left. But I didn’t know he would turn you. I didn’t realize that’s what he thought would bring your love back.”
There was a long pause. He listened to Rose’s breathing, to her steady heartbeat, but he didn’t dare look into her eyes, didn’t want to see the realization in them that he was the reason for what had happened to her. She’d hated this life for two centuries. Would she hate him for it, knowing he had caused all this?
“I never stopped loving you, not even when you came back a vampire. I was afraid for our daughter and for myself that night, but I still loved you.”
He sensed her step closer. Her hand came up to cup his cheek. “You’re not responsible for Wallace’s actions. You didn’t know what he intended. He told me that night that you didn’t know. He was deranged, Quinn, misguided. He had no idea what love was. And that you can’t force it. Just as you can’t will it to stop.”
He lifted his lids, looked at her. “Forgive me, Rose.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to forgive. You loved me all these years, you grieved for me, and I hid from you. I made you believe I was dead. I’m so sorry.” Rose slanted her lips over his. “Make me forgot those years. Make me forget the pain. Show me how wonderful this life can be. Pretend the last two hundred years never happened.”
Quinn snaked his arm around her waist, dragging her against his body. “In that case, my love, I owe you something. I believe you’ve never gotten to enjoy a honeymoon.”
“A honeymoon?” she whispered against his lips, but he drowned out the sound by capturing her mouth with his.
Quinn felt her love radiate through him as her body molded to his and her lips yielded to his kiss. They had wasted two hundred years because Rose had not trusted him, because he hadn’t been gentle enough when he’d come back as a vampire; because he’d scared her. He would never make the same mistake again. He would never give Rose another reason to be afraid of him and not trust him. From now on, there would be no secrets between them, only openness and trust.
And there was one way of assuring this.
Quinn released her lips and peeled from her embrace, taking her hand in his in the next instant. Her eyes widened in apprehension, then softened when he dropped to one knee.
When she smiled at him, he chuckled. “See, I remember how it’s done. You taught me well.”
“Are you intending to propose marriage to me, Quinn Ralston? If that is the case, I shall tell you that I’m already married, and I have no intention of getting a divorce.”
Her playful tone trickled down his body like a sensual caress.
“Alas, I can’t offer you marriage since, like you, I am already wed, so would you, my impetuous Rose, please give me a chance to speak?” He looked into the depths of her eyes, drinking in her beauty and grace.
“Why, Quinn Ralston,” she began, sounding exactly as she’d sounded on their wedding night. “You are still a scoundrel, because if it isn’t marriage you’re after . . .” She suddenly stopped herself, then let out a soft “Oh” as she realized his true intention. Moisture suddenly rimmed her eyes.
He tried to do his scoundrel nature justice and let a wicked grin play around his lips.
“So, what’s your answer then?”
“Quinn Ralston, you’ve still not learned how to propose!”
“Because you keep interrupting me!”
“Well, then do it and don’t keep me on tenterhooks,” she urged.
He cleared his throat, pressing his hand over his heart. “Will you, Rose Haverford, become my blood-bonded mate?”
A second later, he found himself lying with his back flat on the mattress, having been catapulted there by Rose who now straddled him.
“I’m assuming that’s a yes?” He smirked and pulled her down to him.
“Before I can say yes, there’s just one more thing you need to know. I hid the flash drive in—”
He pressed his finger to her lips, interrupting her. “I don’t need to know.”
“You do. There’s no need to keep the flash drive anymore. I’ve decided to destroy it.”
“Are you sure?”
Rose nodded. “Keegan is dead, he can’t hurt us anymore.”
Then she lifted her left arm and allowed the fingers of her right arm to turn into claws.
“What are you doing?”
She made a three inch incision into her bicep before he could stop her, then dug into the open wound, pulling out a rectangular item covered in blood.
“The flash drive,” she whispered.
Surprise and relief collided in Quinn. “Oh my god, you kept it inside you all this time!”
“It was the safest place.”
She lifted her arm to her mouth to lick the wound so it would close, but this time he was faster and grabbed her arm.
“Allow me.”
His tongue licked over the incision, lapping up the blood that dripped from it. Within seconds, the wound closed, leaving only the delicious taste of Rose in his mouth.
Instantly, more blood pumped to his loins.
“And now?” he asked.
She balled her hand holding the flash drive to a fist, crushing the item. When she opened her palm, it had broken into a thousand tiny pieces. Leaning toward the nightstand, she let the debris fall onto it, then wiped her hand.
“It’s done.”
All obstacles between them were gone. They were free to love now. “Thank you.”
“Now there’s nothing between us anymore.”
He winked mischievously. “Only those clothes. And I believe you still owe me an answer.”
“Can’t you guess?”
“Rose, you still haven’t learned how to properly reply to a proposal.”
“Well, let me try again then.” She snatched his wrists and pressed him down into the mattress. “Yes! I’ll be your blood-bonded mate.”
As her mouth descended on his, he freed his hands and ripped her top in two, exposing her breasts. Capturing them, he allowed the flesh to mold to his palms and her warmth to seep into his body.
He finally had her back. Rose was in his arms, arms that would never let her go, arms that would always protect her. Quinn drunk in her kiss, letting all tension drain from him. Everyone of her moans acted as a stone thrown against the wall around his heart, tearing it down one by one. And every sigh that left her breathless body drove into his heart, lodging there for good.
As he frantically tore her clothes from her body, he lifted her off him and dropped her to his side, so he could pull her pants off her.
“Dresses were so much easier,” he complained.
“For you maybe,” she chuckled and helped him, then turned the tables on him and undressed him just as impatiently.
Wherever she touched him, his skin burned with desire. As soon as he was naked, he reached for her to bring her under him, but Rose had other ideas.
“Oh, no,” she whispered seductively and let her eyes trail down to his groin. “First I get to do what I never had a chance to do on our wedding night.”
When he followed her look to where his cock stood hard and heavy, he almost choked. Rose had never sucked him. She had been a virgin on their wedding night, and he hadn’t suggested it then, but now . . .
Rose pressed him back into the mattress. “Don’t move.”
“I can’t promise that,” he answered.
“I might have to bite you if you do.”
Her words coupled with the lusty gaze she ran over him, made his heart pound into his throat.
“You don’t like biting,” he reminded her, even though he knew that tonight she would bite him as part of their bonding ritual.
“We’ll find out,” she murmured and dropped between his spread legs, lowering her head to his erection.
As she gripped his eager shaft, his entire body jerked involuntarily.
“So impatient,” she said and licked over the head of it.
Rose barely heard his words, his taste and smell drugging her. She knew instantly that she’d missed out on something by never having licked his gorgeous cock, and promised herself not to make the same mistake twice. Without letting him recover from the first lick, she wrapped her lips around the throbbing head and slid down on it, taking him into her mouth in one long and smooth glide.
With a harsh breath he let out a curse. “F*ck, Rose! You’re killing me!”
She pulled back and blew air against his hard flesh. “Shhhh.”
Then she descended again, sliding her tongue against the smooth underside of it to capture more of his taste.
Her hands released his thighs, which she’d gripped tightly, and now moved upwards, one cradling his balls. As she scraped her fingernails lightly against the soft sac, Quinn moaned and pumped his hips, demanding more.
Her other hand gripped the base of his shaft and together with her mouth, moved up and down on it.
“Oh God, Rose!”
Her own body throbbed in concert with Quinn’s heartbeat. Tasting his arousal, allowing his scent to engulf her, to drown her, turned her own body into an inferno despite the fact that Quinn wasn’t touching her. His hands were gripping the sheets, his sharp claws slicing them to pieces. The cords in his neck bulged from the obvious effort not to scream out as she unleashed more wicked caresses on him.
Still, she wanted more, couldn’t get enough of him, of licking his aroused flesh, of giving him pleasure and igniting her own in its wake. How had she ever lived without this, without Quinn? It had only been half a life. But starting tonight, she would live to the fullest, the way it was meant to be. No more holding back, no more regrets.
As she sucked him harder into her mouth, she suddenly felt him pull away from her.
“Stop it, Rose!” he cried out and freed himself.
A split second later, he catapulted off the bed, his eyes staring at her, full of untamed lust. It thrilled her to see him like that. She ran her eyes over his naked body, admiring his hard muscles, and particularly the one that now pointed straight at her.
“Am I not doing it right?” she asked coquettishly.
He growled in response and moved behind her, his hands gripping her thighs, spreading them. She fell forward, landing on all fours.
“You’re doing it too well, but then, you already knew that, my wicked wife, didn’t you?”
Her tongue came out to lick her lips. “You taste good.”
“Just good?” he asked and moved between her legs, nudging his iron-hard cock against her core.
“Delicious actually, but then, you already knew that, my wicked husband, didn’t you?”
On her last word, he drove into her with one perfect thrust. Had he not held her hips in a vice grip, she could have flown off the bed on the other side.
His cock, long and hard, reached all the way to her womb, his balls slapping against her flesh, the sound amplifying in her ears.
“You’re mine, Rose!”
His words knocked at the door to her heart, which already stood wide open, asking him to enter.
“Always have been, always will be,” Quinn added as he pulled from her sheath, only to plunge back in with more force.
Her sex clenched at each thrust and each withdrawal, and her * throbbed in the same rhythm as her heartbeat.
“I’m yours,” she murmured between pants.
And he was hers. She felt it with every fiber of her body. Her heart filled to the brim with love, with trust, and with the knowledge that they had a future together.
“I want your blood,” she confessed. “I want it now.”
He pulled from her sheath only long enough to turn her onto her back, then settled between her legs again. As he looked down at her, she noticed his fangs elongate. Excitement filled her as she sensed her own fangs descend, longing for a bite.
This would be different from all other bites. She knew it even before he drove back into her and lowered his neck to her lips.
“Take me,” he demanded.
The vein in his neck pulsed invitingly, the blood beneath his skin rushing through it, whispering encouragements to her. Take me, take me, it repeated over and over again.
When she scraped her fangs against his neck, she felt him shudder. It sent a bolt of electricity into her sex. Then her sharp teeth pierced his skin and the scent of blood intensified. The moment the first drop of it reached her tongue, tremors shook her entire body. Her * was on fire, and her sex clenched. Then it hit her: like a massive ocean wave she was swept up and crested, pleasure flooding her body without end.
His blood tasted like heaven on earth.
Quinn drove his fangs into Rose’s shoulder, pulling on her vein. She was trembling, her tight channel convulsing around his cock so violently that he couldn’t hold onto his control. Without a thought, he let go and gave himself over to the sensations that rolled over his body.
His orgasm took him and whipped him like a flag in a gale. He didn’t fight it, instead he let himself fall, knowing Rose was there to catch him just as he would catch her. A sense of weightlessness befell him, of floating on a cloud. It was better than on his wedding night. This time he wouldn’t have to leave the next day; this time no uncertain future was waiting. This time he would not leave her behind. If they fought any more battles, they would fight them together.
But most of all, they would lead a life of love together, just like they had promised each other that night in London.
When Rose’s spasms stilled and his own subsided, he withdrew his fangs and felt her retract hers. Then he rolled to the side, cradling her in his arms, planting soft kisses on her eyes and cheeks.
When a sob unexpectedly tore from her chest, panic struck him.
“Did I hurt you? Did you not like my blood?”
If she didn’t, he would be devastated.
Rose shook her head, fighting tears. “No. I did. I loved your blood. I want more of it.”
His heart rejoiced at the same time as his mind continued to wonder why she appeared sad. “Then what is it, my love?”
She looked at him. “I wasted so much time. I deprived us of this for two hundred years.”
“Shh, my love.” He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “Don’t think of it anymore. Think only of the future. Our future. We have eternity now.”
He kissed her tenderly and she responded by pressing him closer. When she severed the kiss, a smile sat on her lips. She opened her mind to him, and for the first time he could hear her thoughts.
Eternity. Just you and me—
A knock sounded at the door. “Uh, Quinn, Rose?”
“. . . and apparently Blake,” Quinn added dryly before raising his voice to respond. “Not now, Blake.”
“It’s just,” Blake continued, “there’s something . . .”
Quinn rolled his eyes and caught Rose’s suppressed grin. “Your grandson has bad timing,” he whispered to her.
“He’s yours too.”
He stole a quick kiss, then turned his head toward the door again. “Why don’t you hang out with Oliver?”
“Like I wanna be bitten again! And besides, that’s what I wanted to tell you: he isn’t here. I think he’s still at the brothel.”
“Oh crap!” Quinn exclaimed and reared up.
Rose pulled him back down to her.
“Blake,” she called out. “Don’t worry about it, Vera will make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble. Why don’t you go and help Wesley pack?”
A grumble came from outside the door, then the sound of footsteps.
“Did you just use mind control on him?”
She shrugged. “Is that a problem?”
He grinned and shook his head. “No problem at all. Saves me from doing it. But Oliver? Are you sure Vera will take care of him for the day? There are an awful lot of humans in that house.”
“Trust me on that.”
“I do.” Quinn sighed contently. “So now that you have me all to yourself, what are your wicked plans?”
She winked at him. “Now that would be telling. I’d rather show you.”
THE END