Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 83401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
I saw a flash of long golden-brown hair, glimpsed strips of too much alabaster skin on display. She was tiny, waiting behind those ropes, the bouncer Ivan dwarfing her so she looked like a fragile, breakable doll. Ivan unhooked the rope and gestured to her and the women behind her. Every predator instinct in me fired up as I tracked her down that short hallway to the opening of the main club floor.
I felt something in my body shift, come alive. Although my heart had been beating for a century and a half, this was the first time it functioned other than keeping me alive. It beat for her. The air I took into my lungs was for her. Every single thing I did from this point on would always be with her in mind, for her protection, her happiness… her pleasure.
My eyes glowed red, illuminating my office in a hazy ruby glow as I tracked her through the club, took in every single inch of her as if I hadn’t consumed a drop of blood in a millennium and was so starved I was a dried-out husk inside.
My dick hardened, the first time I’d ever had any kind of arousal, the ache in my balls painful. I panted and braced my hands on the glass, curling my fingers against it until I worried I’d crack the partition separating me from everyone else, like releasing a beast on the vulnerable.
Mine. Mine. Mineminemine!
That one word was a roar in my head, filling my body, coursing through my veins. I’d never known bloodlust like this… never felt desire like what was licking at my fingers and toes and spreading inward to consume my very dark and dangerous soul.
Things had gotten exponentially more interesting.
And as I tracked her through the club, unable to look away, knowing what I’d do and the lengths I’d go to link her to me, to fuse our bodies and souls as one, I knew the situation had just gotten very real and very dangerous for that tiny—very human—female.
Only mine.
Oh, I’d make her mine, and she’d hate me for it. I’d take her body but wouldn't be able to give her my heart. How could you, when it wasn’t something you had to offer?
And so I let my feral grin spread even more over my lips as anticipation for the hunt of my prey took root in my body.
She didn’t know it yet, but she’d just become the mate to the most dangerous vampire in the world.
Epilogue
Cian
Several weeks later
I’d never been a male who looked forward to anything, who felt excitement or nervousness. I’d felt yearning, hoping to one day have a mate, to be lucky enough to be gifted such a thing, but I was realist enough to know that probably would never happen.
But it did, and I had the proof of having that hope sitting right beside me as I drove Evie and myself down the long, graveled driveway to her surprise.
“I hate surprises, FYI,” Evie said softly and looked over at me with a teasing note in her eyes.
“I promise ye’ll like it, lass.” I hoped she did, anyway. The fact that I hadn’t asked her input on this particular thing was damn near giving me hives, but I hoped that once she saw it, she’d fall in love and see her future with me.
And then the sprawling ranch-style house came into view as the driveway peaked at the top of the hill. I heard the soft gasp come from Evie, and I couldn’t hold in my smile. My mate was pleased, and it was the best fucking feeling.
The one-story house had a wraparound porch and was surrounded by fifty acres of wooded land, and it even had a small pond behind the house.
I pulled to a stop in front of the porch, cut the engine to the SUV, and just sat there staring at my female as she looked out the front windshield with her large, gorgeously blue eyes full of wonder.
“I’ve never been to a place that had so much space.” She looked at me then, and her shock made way for a beautiful smile that made my heart beat faster.
I didn’t stop myself from leaning in and cupping the back of her head to pull her closer and steal a kiss. The fact that I could do this whenever I wanted to, that I could kiss her, touch her, spoil her unconditionally, had a surge of possessiveness moving through me. It had my wolf stirring in approval.
We finally have her. We’re never letting her go.
And when I felt her tongue pressing gently against the seam of my mouth, wanting access, it took a hell of a lot of strength I was shocked I even possessed to pull away. Because if we started that, we’d never get out of the vehicle.