chapter Thirteen
Later that night after the formal mating ritual of William and Katie
Katie was mated. William was carrying her up to his room. They had already started the ritual on that night long ago at his house.
“I can walk,” she whispered against his throat, her spread hand playing automatically with the hairs at his nape.
“I want to feel you in my arms.”
Katie let out a giggle as he kicked his door open. They entered the room and he slammed the door closed with the heel of his boot. He moved to place her on the edge of the bed.
Katie swallowed past the lump in her throat. She wanted William more than she wanted to take her next breath.
“You’re mine now, Mrs Katie Valentine.” He kissed her lips, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.
Katie moaned as he took her mouth, tasting him on her lips.
She pulled back. “Really? Mrs Valentine? I didn’t see a church,” she teased.
He chuckled, sitting next to her on the bed. “Might not have been a church but in my heart you’ll always be my wife.”
The tears came to her eyes. Such sweet and tender words.
He cupped her cheeks between his large palms. “Please don’t cry.”
Katie loved him as he kissed each of her cheeks, then her eyes, kissing away her tears.
“I’m not sad. I’m just so happy.”
“I could have lost you,” he whispered as he buried his face in her neck, absorbing her scent.
She chuckled. “I’m here.”
“But I could have lost you. I did lose you.” Katie closed her eyes as she felt him kiss her neck. She had to tell him.
“There are a few conditions to me being here…” she began.
William pulled back, concern instantly written all over his face.
“It’s nothing bad,” she tried to reassure him.
“What is it? Then I’ll decide if it’s good or bad,” he said.
Looking away for a second, Katie wondered what would be the best way to tell him. “I struck a deal. Well, not a deal. I was ordered, in a way, to come back.” She glanced at his puzzled expression. “Just hear me out. This will sound completely crazy, I know, but just listen.”
She told him about the angel, Tara, and everything she’d said, about the upcoming battle, finishing with the condition that when William passed away, she would as well.
“I can’t let you do that—” he began to argue.
“I’ve already done it, made the deal. Besides, when you go, I won’t want to stay behind.”
William sat next to her on the bed and grasped her hand between his, kissing the knuckles. “I love you so damn much.”
Katie smiled, enjoying his attention. Soon he moved from her knuckles to the tender, delicate pulse on the inside of her wrist. Slowly, caress by agonising caress, his touch moved up her arm until he kissed her on the neck, nipping the flesh. Her breath caught in her throat. Katie couldn’t move. He made her stomach flutter, her p-ssy heat as her nipples tightened to unbearable peaks.
Goosebumps erupted along every inch of skin. She knew her pale skin would be showing the blush she felt spreading through her.
“You’re so turned on right now,” he growled, making her jump.
William placed his hand on her thigh, the contrast of the silky white fabric with her smooth, creamy thighs peeking out of the bottom against his large, very masculine hand made her legs shake. Katie didn’t know where to rest her hands, so she leant back against the sheet, watching his hand as his fingers circled the edge of her gown. She waited, watching, wondering what he would do next.
“You’re so beautiful,” William whispered as he took her lips in a searing kiss. Katie realised he wasn’t watching his hands—he was watching her.
She gazed into his eyes, wondering what he was feeling. Her body was a jumbling mass of nerves.
Without speaking, William took her hand and rested it against his shaft. He hissed as instinctively she curled her fingers around him.
“I want you so badly I could burst,” he confessed to her. Katie saw the emotion in his eyes, the agonising need, and she wasn’t afraid. She wanted to be near him, to love him.
He placed his hand back on her leg and moved his fingers up under the fabric covering her legs, up the smooth inner skin of her upper thigh, and rested them against her mound. The only thing separating him from her was the cotton of her panties.
“Take me, William. Make me yours,” she whispered against his lips.
All she had dreamt about since meeting this strange, crazy vampire was being with him. She knew that now—knew the fear and the exhilaration had come from being near him. William Valentine was her everything and by some strange trick of fate she was his. With the coming battles and the coming war, she didn’t have time to wait, to wonder, or have the delightful long courtship she’d always dreamt about. Life was uncertain in these trying times. If William and she made it through, it would be wonderful, but if they didn’t then she would regret waiting; regret not acting on these glorious feelings consuming her.
She had no time, no room for second guessing. She gasped with pleasure as he pressed his fingers against her swollen * through the damp panties.
Katie gave herself up to him, and she did it willingly, with all the love in her heart.
William saw through his heavy-lidded eyes the pleasure that his simple touch evoked in his innocent bride.
Katie had given him back hope, his life and, not least, she had given him the chance to love again. He would cherish her, look after her, love her for the rest of his life.
“This is for you,” he told her as he moved away from her off the bed. He needed the distance to allow him to make it as good for her as possible. He would complete the binding by taking her virginity and saying the words. He wouldn’t be able to complete it if she was hurting.
She sat up on the bed, watching him as he removed his shirt. William smiled as her eyes caught each muscle of his chest. He was sure she was counting. He went to her, pulling her up off the bed and into his arms. He secured her there against his body, in the warmth he felt for this woman.
Her eyes met his and he lost himself. He sealed her lips with his as he reached down, removing her gown, breaking the kiss to pull it up and over her head. She wore no bra and her full breasts were exposed for him to see. He cupped the weight in his hands, flicking the tips of her nipples with his thumbs. She hissed against his touch and she pressed more fully against him.
His little witch was becoming impatient to feel more of him.
“Patience, my dear,” he chuckled as he moved her, bringing her body against his.
“I’ve waited for over twenty-three years, William. Please don’t make me wait any more.”
She sounded so desperate that he took her at her word. He pulled the panties off and lifted her in his arms as he placed her on the centre of the bed. Within seconds he had removed the rest of his own clothing, not drawing it out. There would be time for that later. Now he wanted to feel everything with her.
He moved onto his side, resting his head on his hand so his other was free to do with as he wanted. He began by cupping her cheek. This was his seduction of Katie, after waiting weeks to be with her. He plunged his tongue between her quivering lips, melding them together as they had always been meant to be.
He kept her lips occupied as he cupped her right breast, feeling the nipple, moving to her left breast and giving it the same attention. Once she was gasping and arching against his touch, he moved further down, swirling his fingers along her tummy. It shook and tightened as he smoothed a path from one hip bone to the other until he dipped his finger down and circled her swollen, dripping wet *.
She whimpered against him, covering his hand which was touching her p-ssy. With the speed of a vampire he grasped both her hands in one of his and pinned them against the bed above her head. She tried to break free of the trap he’d set. His strength came in handy. With his other hand, he pressed between her thighs.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
She stopped her struggling for a split second as his meaning took effect. “I trust you with my very life.”
“Then stop struggling and trust me to give you pleasure. To make your first time a time you will never forget.”
She pouted. He smiled but refused to do anything more. He could smell her heady fragrance but he kept his finger still even as she tried to move her hips to get him to help her.
William rewarded her instantly as he moved his finger over her *. She opened her legs wider to accommodate him. He still had her hands cuffed in his.
“Keep your hands there and don’t move,” he ordered her. He waited until he got her nod of understanding.
He kissed her one last time as he moved down her body, going straight for what he wanted. Using his large hands, he separated her legs, getting himself comfortable. He looked up at his woman.
He fell in love all over again. She was beautiful everywhere. Her plump lips were dusted with amber curls, open slightly for him to see her *, red, swollen and pulsing. William licked his lips. He was so hungry for a taste. He could smell the musky scent of her arousal and he wanted more.
William used his lips to open her p-ssy. Only then did he move his tongue through the slit, gathering her juices on his tongue. He heard her cry echo off the walls as she absorbed the new sensation of having him lick her p-ssy, so different in the real world compared to the dream world.
“Oh…my…God…”she panted every word.
William feasted on her, showing her the magical power of his mouth.
He held her legs open as she tried to shut him out. He wouldn’t allow it—he needed to bring her to climax with his mouth. He wanted to taste every drop of her sweet cream.
“It’s too much, it’s too much, it’s too much,” she chanted, over and over. He circled her *, taking the sweet nub between his teeth, applying enough pressure to cause pleasure but with the bite of pain.
He touched her stomach, pressing down, and could feel the muscles tightening as her release began to build.
He took her to the point of release and brought her back down again. He repeated this process until she was begging and whimpering for him to continue. He wanted her mindless, so consumed by lust, desire and love as not to register the pain of her first time. The pain that must happen for the blood bond to be cemented. In the dream world there hadn’t been any pain, only a numbed sort of pleasure. Whereas now every touch, kiss and lick was heightened.
When he knew she was past the point of no return, he built up the sensation, drawing it out for as long as he could.
“Not again—please, not again,” she moaned, obviously expecting him to deny her.
William smiled against her quivering p-ssy.
He moved his tongue faster, bringing her closer and closer to the delicious peak. She pushed her pelvis against his face, fighting for more. He held on, circling his tongue; tasting, flicking the small nub that created an entire world of possibilities.
“William,” she gasped as it became too much.
He hurtled her into a climax so powerful that he held her down to keep her safe, riding the wave with her. Holding her, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. Katie was still writhing with pleasure. William moved up, looking into the face of the woman he loved. Katie was uninhibited and showed her pleasure so freely that it made his heart ache. She gave him so much.
“I’m sorry, my sweet witch,” he whispered, kissing each of her eyelids. He reached down between their bodies, grasped his cock, stroking himself along her juices, coating himself with plenty of her natural lubricant. He seated himself at her entrance and pushed his cock in.
He looked up into her eyes and lost himself.
“Do it, William,” she encouraged him. She held on to his upper arms. Her touch electrified him. He refused to look away as he thrust all of himself into her; one long thrust inside her moist, tight centre. He felt the small trickle of her virginal blood as her p-ssy accepted him into her body, pulsing greedily, sucking him into her tight heat. He felt the tip of his cock hit deep within her.
She sank her nails into his arms. He knew he was hurting her—he hated himself for it—and felt her try not to move but instinct took over and she tried to push him away. This was what he’d feared—the pain he could see on her face.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I love you so damn much.” He kept still as he the spoke loving words to her, allowing her to grow accustomed to him inside her.
“You’re so big,” she moaned and his cock jumped.
“Sorry—you make me feel loved with compliments like that.” He leant down and kissed her.
She groaned. “Can’t you make it go smaller?”
William couldn’t control himself. He started to laugh, the jolt plunging him a little deeper, hitting her pleasure centre.
She tensed but within seconds she writhed around him.
“Soon you’ll be begging me to get a hard-on, my sweet witch,” he assured her.
“Move again, William—please.”
William could see the desperation on her face, not for him to get off and leave her alone, unsatisfied. No—now she was getting used to his body.
He wanted to hear her beg, just a little.
William moved to get off her. Katie pressed her little talons in, stopping him in his tracks.
“Don’t leave me.”
I have no intention of ever leaving you.
“Tell me what you want,” he instructed.
“I don’t know how.”
“Tell me to f*ck you.” William wanted to hear her say the words, at least once.
Katie only hesitated for a split second. “F*ck me, William. Make me yours.”
Pulling all the way out of her, William kept his eyes firmly on hers as he ploughed back inside.
They both cried out as they accepted each other. Katie held on as William took charge, f*cking her for the first time.
Her body opened for him and tightened around his hard cock when he pulled most of the way out.
William took her on a rollercoaster ride, taking control of their love-making.
“Watch us—watch me take you,” he told her, moving enough that she could watch as he f*cked her, took her and made her his. Could watch his shaft as he pulled out, glistening with her cream. He knew he wouldn’t be able to last. His balls had already tightened and his shaft was thickening as it pulsed inside her, leaking streams of pre-cum.
But this wasn’t about him. It was about Katie.
He pulled one of the pillows from above their heads, lifting her pelvis up to rest on it, creating an angle that meant he could go deeper, hitting her G-spot. Katie moved her body in time with his.
William could feel the flutters of her p-ssy as she began to build towards a climax. He knew it was time to start the ritual. They’d completed the first initial bond, of his taking her blood and giving her his, but the bonding wouldn’t be complete until he took her virginity and said the words that made her his. This was the private part of the ceremony, between him and Katie, and he intended to relish every second.
Placing one of his hands between their bodies, he fingered her *, pulsing and ripe for another orgasm.
He pounded into her, waiting for the peak when he knew it would be the best time. Within seconds, her p-ssy was swallowing him whole.
Now was the time to make Katie White his—truly his.
William spoke the binding words. “I, William Valentine, take Katie White as my bond mate for all eternity and let nothing part us. By blood, by love and by all things pure, I cement her to me for life.” He bit into her neck, sealing the bond with her blood.
This was the moment to see if their feelings for each other were true. The brightest of lights shone out of their bodies, highlighting the room around them. He burst with happiness as he took a ride into a surge of love, happiness and all purest pleasure one could ever know.
Katie White was his true, blood-bonded mate. His heart had spoken the truth.
He drank her blood and felt the power of her witch, the hint of the death that would always cling to her skin, and everything wonderfully Katie—the amber of honey and the hint of vanilla. He immersed himself in her happiness.
“I love you,” he whispered, not speaking the words out loud but communicating to her with the gift of a bonded mate.
Katie didn’t shrink away—she’d known he would speak to her in her mind. Her head confirmed what her heart already knew. It was meant to be.
They reached their peak together and brought each other down, knowing that their love-making was as magical as a sunset, fleeting yet forever with them, for all of their immortality.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
Before the darkness fell, she felt him slump against her, protecting her body and holding her to his heart. The heart that, if it could still beat, would be beating for her.
Katie awoke lying near a stream. She looked up into the surreal beauty of a sunset like the one she’d imagined while making love with William.
“You’ll miss it.” It was a little boy who had spoken. Frowning, Katie took his offered hand and stood. She followed the little boy. She didn’t recognise him at all.
She went with him past the blurs of the woods, the ice on the mountains, the little boy getting faster and faster.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Katie tried to make sense of where she was, but nothing came to mind. It was the land of in-between. An ocean of nothingness but distant memories.
“A new king is about to be born.”
The little boy was talking in riddles.
“Katie, baby. Wake up—wake up!” Katie looked behind her trying to find the owner of the voice she loved so much.
“No, they said you would see.” The boy tugged on her hand, pulling her back towards the clearing. She glanced back one final time before she was plunged into darkness…and into hell.
William shook her. She wouldn’t wake up. She wasn’t breathing. He was freaking out. He heard the banging on the door outside and didn’t care. He pulled the blanket around Katie, trying to keep her modest as the door splintered, torn off its hinges, and was thrown across the room.
Robert charged in first, followed by Sophie, the necromancer and Adam, then the rest of his family.
“She won’t wake up,” he cried, not caring that his family saw his tears; saw his weakness.
Robert walked over to the bed and tried to touch her. William hissed at him, prepared to strike.
“William, I was just feeling for a pulse.” Robert held his arms up in a pose of surrender.
“She’s not dead,” the necromancer whispered from the corner. She no longer had her cape around her and William welcomed her scars. The battle signs of a true warrior.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
“The dead have a spirit around them, like a black cloud. She doesn’t have one.” She pointed at Katie, then shrugged.
“Don’t fear, vampire.” Everyone in the room turned to look at the mirror.
William got up from the bed, not caring about his nakedness.
He approached the mirror. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m a friend.”
“Tara?” he asked.
“Katie isn’t one for secrets, then?”
William shook his head. “Not with me.”
“Wait and you shall see.”
The mirror returned to normal as Katie gasped back to life. William ran to her side, holding her as she took lungfuls of air.
“It was so horrible—they tortured him.” She cried out in pain as a red welt suddenly appeared on her back.
She screamed, releasing the energy of all she had just witnessed.
Everyone in the room gasped as they saw everything she had seen, every image of slaughter deadly and brutal within their minds. Most of them didn’t know what was happening, who they were seeing or what it meant, but each person saw it in their head.
William held Katie as the welt disappeared and she became calm as if nothing had changed.
“What the f*ck?” Adam growled.
Don came into the room to look at Katie. “You’ve got her power. Abigail—Emma’s sister?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Katie mumbled.
“Yes, she has.” Tara appeared in the room as an unclear shadow.
“How is this possible?” Don asked. He’d seen some crazy shit in his time but this had taken the lead.
“Katie had to come back—it was destiny for her to take her role in this coming battle. As Emma killed all the witches of her bloodline, she absorbed their power. That power had to go somewhere when she died. Katie is the bearer, now, and as such she will need to get control; to gain stability,” Tara said.
“She’ll die with that much power,” Robert said.
“Only when William dies will Katie die. Let’s hope Katie has a child before then…” Tara started to leave but turned back. “Oh, and that little vision—that was a premonition of what’s to come.”
Tara disappeared, leaving behind a lot of questions.
Silence surrounded them as they looked at each other.
“This shit is real, isn’t it? We’re in a war where uncertainty reigns?” Jason asked.
“Yes,” Don answered.
“What have we just witnessed?” William questioned.
Don ran his hand over his face. He looked as though he had aged, just within the last few minutes.
“Every war has a point where it began—like a tipping point. That was the tipping point. Me and your father. F*ck. The entire council missed it.”
“Donald!” Mary said, disgusted with his language.
“Don’t, Mary. We f*cking missed it and because we did, Robert is in the ground.” Don yelled. Mary stormed out of the room.
“Anyone who is not older than f*cking sin please tell me what the hell is going on,” Adam shouted at the group.
“James killed the true Alpha of the Beyer West Pack. That was the tipping point. James is not a true werewolf. He’s a mongrel. Part werewolf, part human. By killing the true Alpha, he appointed himself the throne. Problem is, balance is everything. Without a true Alpha, the war begins.” Don took a breath, running his hand through his hair.
“How could you and Dad have missed this?” Robert asked.
“Because we thought Simon had appointed him, stepped down and died in battle.” Don yelled. He stormed out of the room, the others following.
Robert took Sophie by the hand and looked at William. “Study. Half an hour.”
William nodded.
As they left, Katie looked at the door.
“So much for our privacy.” William smiled, trying to bring some laughter to her eyes.
Katie looked at the door and chanted a small spell. Seconds later, the door was back in place as though nothing had happened.
“I knew you’d come in useful,” William said.
Katie laughed, hugging him to her.
She didn’t know where she would be if she didn’t have his arms wrapped around her, protecting her.